“If you can find me a better place than Kamchatka on this earth, I will argue with

you!” exclaimed Alexei Ozerov, the exuberant chief volcanologist on the entrancing peninsula hanging off Russia’s Pacific Coast.

Leaping from behind his cluttered desk at the Institute of Volcanology and

Seismology, he tore a tabletop globe from its stand and traced his finger around the

“Ring of Fire,” the chain of volcanoes encircling the Pacific Ocean.

Only the Kamchatka Peninsula stands directly over the grinding tectonic forces,

that forged its volcanoes, he said, with about 30 still active among more than 300.

Four to seven erupt annually. That makes it a unique vantage point for

volcanologists and everybody else, said Mr. Ozerov.

Unesco seemed to agree. The international organization has designated the

volcanoes of Kamchatka a world heritage site because of what it called their

exceptional beauty, concentration and variety.

Indeed, say “Kamchatka” to a Russian, and many will respond with a dreamy look

and ...