Skip to main content

Meet the Street Dogs of Chernobyl on a One-of-a-Kind Airbnb Experience

If you like radioactive fallout, post-Apocalyptic towns, and dogs, Airbnb has the perfect niche travel experience for you. Amid Chernobyl’s growing popularity as a tourist destination, the company is now offering travelers a unique opportunity to visit the infamous disaster site and do some animal-friendly good in the process.

The Chernobyl meltdown forced residents of neighboring Pripyat to abandon their town literally overnight. All 40,000 inhabitants left almost everything behind, including their pets. Most of the remaining dogs and cats suffered massive doses of radiation. Many died in or soon after the blast, and many more were culled by Ukranian soldiers to stop the spread of radiation outside the containment area. Surprisingly, however, many also survived. More than three decades after the disaster, hundreds of wild dogs still roam the streets.

dogs of chernobyl clean futures fund
Clean Futures Fund

It’s a bleak existence. The dogs face food scarcity, attacks by wolves and other wild animals, brutal Ukranian weather, and the lingering effects of the nuclear meltdown. The good folks at Dogs of Chernobyl work to treat the dogs who are forced to call the Exclusion Zone home. More than 1,500 have been helped in the last three years. Volunteers can now join the program’s staff on a unique day tour to help provide food, water, and basic health care for the 250 pups. According to the Airbnb listing, “They love being fed, cared for, and meeting people from around the world who want to give them some extra attention.” The experience is an exclusive part of “animals on Airbnb Experiences” — an Airbnb initiative to promote responsible animal interactions under the guidance of World Animal Protection.

The Dogs of Chernobyl - Abandoned In The Zone

Dogs of Chernobyl is part of a larger non-profit called Clean Futures Fund. It’s a U.S.-based, 501(c)(3) program that provides human health services to those most affected by the Chernobyl disaster — namely, past and current Chernobyl workers and sick and disabled children in the area.

The Dogs of Chernobyl experience is bookable exclusively through Airbnb. The 11-hour tour includes ground transportation, entrance into the Exclusion Zone, lunch at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and a full day’s work alongside vets and volunteers from the Clean Futures Fund. Every dollar of the roughly $400 ticket price goes directly to the fund.

If you’re looking to do some canine-centric good right here at home, the TSA is seeking good homes for its unwanted bomb-sniffing dogs.

Editors' Recommendations

All the reasons to visit Dublin (that have nothing to do with St. Patrick’s Day)
There's more to Dublin than shamrocks and leprechauns and drinking Guinness on St. Patrick's Day — a lot more
dublin ireland river

Since its founding by Vikings well over a thousand years ago, Dublin's fortunes have waxed and waned with successive waves of migrants and invaders. From the Celts that first inhabited the lush landscapes of the Dublin area to the Norman invasion of the 12th century and on through more than half a millennium of colonization by the British, Dublin has remained the center of Irish commerce, culture, and craft.

And it's no different today. Ireland and Dublin, in particular, are riding high on a wave of tech-industry powerhouses, making this city a global player. For anyone planning a visit to Dublin, we recommend you stay at the Conrad Dublin Hotel, prep yourself with a Dublin Pass, and go over this list of the best reasons to visit Dublin — and not one has anything to do with St. Patrick's Day (though this city certainly does that day, well four days, right).
The food

Read more
A Stitch Fix expert tells us what to pack for a long weekend getaway this winter
Use this expert's advice to create a packing list for your next weekend adventure
Various dress clothes out ready to be packed.

The winter months give you a lot to put up with, depending on where you live: Inches (or feet) of snow to be cleared off the drive, salt stains on your pants and coats, biting winds that hurt your face, and drivers sliding on ice. So it isn't all that surprising that many of us dream of a long weekend away to take a break from our winter blues. Of course, if you do decide to take off for a long weekend, you'll need to pack — and figuring out what to put on your packing list may be one of the most stressful parts of your journey.

Lauren Nelson has been a stylist for Stitch Fix for nearly a decade, the majority of it as a stylist supervisor. She knows style, and she knows what you should take with you. Here are the five things that she believes should be on your list of what to pack for vacation.

Read more
Travelers beware: These are the worst U.S. airports that lose the most baggage
There are two types of air traveler: Those who've had their luggage go missing, and those who will eventually
A man in a suit listening to music while hauling his luggage in the airport.

Flyin’ ain’t easy. Sure, modern air travel — especially long-haul flights — is a technical marvel, but it can be pretty awful, too. And, in the last three years since the pandemic, it’s only gotten worse. Ever-shrinking seats, constant COVID concerns, in-flight booze restrictions, and random air rage are all enough to make even the most patient air passengers crack under the pressure. Now, there’s one more worry to add to the mix: Lost luggage. A new report finds that there are two kinds of travelers: Those who’ve had their luggage lost and those who will eventually.

Price4Limo.com combed through an official report released last year by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Unless you’re really bored or have a strange fascination with airline industry statistics, we don’t suggest you comb through the 57-page document. But there are a few key takeaways. The first and most surprising is that a whopping 55% of air travelers have had the pleasure of an airline losing their luggage. That means your odds are better than half that, at some point in your flying career, your favorite new luggage is bound to go missing. What’s worse: Only one-third of those passengers ever see their luggage again. According to Price4Limo.com, the average wait time to get those bags back was almost a week. For most vacation travelers, that usually means being without their belongings for their entire time away.

Read more