Makarov is a small town in the middle of Sakhalin island, and its name carries a history. Until 1945, it belonged to Japan, and was called Shirutoru, one of the settlements of the Japanese territory of Karafuto. After the Soviet occupation, it was renamed for Admiral Stepan Makarov, the Russian naval commander and polar explorer who died in 1904 when his flagship struck a mine off Port Arthur. About six and a half thousand people live here, and the town has a modest, working feel.
Sakhalin is a rich and unusual island, and the landscape around Makarov reflects it. It is covered in dense forest of fir and spruce, with thickets of dwarf bamboo, and in the clearings the plants grow to huge size, including giant butterbur and a towering knotweed that can reach the height of a house. The rivers fill with salmon in late summer and autumn, and the brown bears of the island gather to feed, so anyone walking by a river should be careful and make noise. Fog and rain are frequent, and the weather can change in minutes.
The roads on the island are a patchwork. The main north-south highway links the larger towns and is mostly paved, but the secondary roads can be rough, with potholes and gravel, and bridges over the many rivers may be narrow. Traffic is light, and trucks carry timber and fish. The road toward the east coast leads to quiet bays and long beaches where the Sea of Okhotsk rolls in cold and grey, with driftwood piled on the sand and seabirds overhead.
The island also has old railway lines from the Japanese era, some of which are still used, and the narrow gauge of the local track is a legacy of that time. Look out for old stone and concrete remains of Japanese buildings in the forest, covered in moss.
Fuel is available in Makarov, but stations are few on the island, so fill up whenever you can. The town has a few shops and simple cafés where you can eat fish soup, dumplings and salads. Summers are short, cool and damp, with mosquitoes and midges, and the best period is late July to early September. Winters are long and heavy with snow.