A former restricted zone in Russia's far east has seen a surge in tourism in recent months and years, thanks to a colony of wild bears.The Kamchatka Peninsula was, until the 1980s, off limits to most people, due to the presence of a number of military facilities, but was later opened up to tourism and designated a special economic zone in 2015.In 2016, 17,000 foreign tourists visited the area, with 1,655 of these coming from Japan, many especially to see the region's brown bears, as well as its mountain plants and natural hot springs.More than 20,000 brown bears live on the peninsula, with …READ FULL ARTICLE
