Donetsk Camping Park "Is Growing" Visibly (Photo)

The number of foreign fans, who come to Donetsk, is constantly increasing.

If according to the Saturday data in Donetsk camp there were registered three hundred residents, so according to the Sunday data, there were more than seven hundred of them. The guests of the camp-site are 60% of fans for England and half-and-half approximately 20% of fans for each team of France and Russia. In addition, there are fans from Japan, China, Ireland and Australia in Donetsk camping park. In all, the camping park expects the arrival of one thousand and five hundred guests before the match "England-France".

At the register desk of the fans arrived to the camping park.

New guests are ready to be accommodated in the tents.

"We deliver new tents. In general, the fans live in our tents, but today (on Sunday, reports "OstroV") many people came with their own tents. Now ten vans are at the car park. We observe that the majority of people come to us without reservation", as a worker of the camping park’s personnel told the reporters of "OstroV".

Among the guests there are mostly young people, but there are elderly people, families with children as well.

The camping park is designed for 3900 sites and is situated at the entrance to the city from the South (between the highways Donetsk-Mariupol and Donetsk-Zaporozhye) occupying the territory of about 17 hectares. The Camping Park is divided into three zones: parking for carhouses, catering area and residential area.

The catering area is 600 square meters. There is a dance floor, where the parties are held. The guests of the camping park are entertained by DJs battles, discotheques and football matches between fans. For example, on Saturday there took place the first foam party at the campsite, which was organised not only for residents of the campsite, but for Donetsk residents as well.

Here one can find the first ice bar in Ukraine. People enter a small room where they should acclimatize for a few minutes, then they take a cocktail and go to the ice bar. There one can cool for about five minutes, as it becomes dangerous for health to stay there more. The admission to the ice bar is 35 hryvnias, and includes the cost of the cocktail.

Here you can sip a cocktail standing in the ice.

"In the food courts fans can eat and drink beer. Prices are quite democratic: beer is from ten hryvnias, the soup is sold for 8 hryvnias, and kulesh (gruel) is for 6 hryvnias. It is cheaper than in Donetsk fan zone. Acceptability of the prices on food is certified by many fans. 

Fans in the food courts.

The kitchen.

In the camping park there is a large swimming pool, which has been delivered from Miami, as staff said. They clean it, so there is no garbage, every two days a water sample is taken. In some cases the water is poured out and replaced with fresh water.

There is a police station, but it is more "to gain authority," as at the camp no incidents have happened. Fans of the opposing teams, England and France, sit next to each other at the tables in the food courts and sing songs together. There is a security office as well. The more people come to the campsite, the higher number of the security representatives becomes.

Moreover, the representatives of the French police and Scotland Yard came here and inspected everything: they checked whether the security standards are in compliance with all rules, whether there could be any problems during the match, and they were satisfied with the situation.

At the campsite, there is on duty the emergency room where two doctors, a nurse and a driver work round the clock. Once a day other team of doctors arrives. Due to the hot weather there are two kinds of people’s visits that are "skin callosities and thermal shocks”, as doctors say.

According to the Sunday data, in the residential area, there were installed about 120 tents and some of them were installed in connection with the expected arrival of fans. There is a toilet, a shower, area for smokers, a sports ground. Both residents of the stationary tents and people with own tents and carhouses have equal access to the named places.

The tent camp.

A place for sleep in a tent.

Parking for carhouses.

After one of foreigners compared the camping park with a concentration camp Auschwitz in Twitter, it was decided to install the webcams, so at the website people could watch what the campsite looks like, what is happening here, how many people live here. Webcams should be installed within a short time.

The only disappointing thing the “OstroV” reporters noticed is a transport problem. To come to the camping park one can take buses route 25, but only those which have special signs. Such trifles are unknown for foreign fans, and nobody will tell them about it. In addition, the bus drivers sometimes do not announce the stops. There are not conductors everywhere, and some foreigners do not understand, why locals ask them to pass "five hryvnias for two” to the driver.

Those who did not manage to take the bus refer to a taxi service whether on-call, or from the "street kerbs". Evidently, the taxi drivers from the street kerbs have already known about the camping park, and they stop here to find new customers and offer their services. The correspondent of the "OstroV" witnessed the visit of such a taxi driver who drove up to the bus stop in front of the camp and offered to take someone to the city centre. The taxi driver was honest: he was ready to bring the Russians to fan zone, near the Scherbakov park, only for 50 hryvnias. By the way, if the customers had called to the local taxi service, such a trip would have cost them 7-10 hryvnias cheaper. At the same time, as two Russian fans told us some time earlier they tried to leave the campsite for the centre, but the taxi driver asked 200 hryvnias for it.

Russian fans like being in Donetsk very much. They say that they have come to support England.

In general, the fans, whom the reporters of the “OstroV” talked to, are satisfied with the living conditions in the camp. "We like all very much. We were at other campsites at the festivals. The territory of yours is smaller, but the conditions here are better", said Aleksandr from Samara.

There people are waiting for the big football match. We would like to remind you that on June 11 at 7.00 pm at "Donbass Arena" stadium in Donetsk there will take place the match between England and France.

"OstroV"