Dozens of cyclists ride along the smooth, pine-tree scented path running through the forest. They emerge from the woods to a noisy, sandy beach, where other holidaymakers dance to music or water ski under the brilliant summer sun.
Greece? Croatia? Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, perhaps?
No, this is a typical weekend scene in the heart of Kyiv, on the city’s lush, sand-trimmed Trukhaniv Island.
Trukhaniv Island is easily found on the map of Kyiv — it is by far the largest island in this neck of the Dnipro River, boasting 430 hectares of pristine nature in the heart of Ukraine’s crowded capital. Only the partially constructed Podilsky Bridge is a concrete reminder that there is a city of millions all around this spot of unspoiled nature. Even some 200 or so people illegally live on the island, squatting in former Soviet resort cabins.
Forgotten treasure
But until 2013, Trukhaniv Island was neglected by Kyiv’s authorities. Then in 2014, the city gave the go-ahead to more development. Since then the island has started to take off as a recreational spot.
The South Coast of Kyiv Beach Club, one of the most popular new sites, opened on Trukhaniv Island in 2015. Rostyslav Rusakov, the co-founder of the club, told the Kyiv Post that Trukhaniv Island had been a pretty wild place before, and only had some cheap fast food stands near the Park Bridge to cater for visitors.
“We moved to the island from Mala Opera art space together with our faithful public – mostly young Kyivans. It was an ambitious step, but I’m glad that people liked the idea of a day-and-night club on the beach,” Rusakov said.
And Rusakov said he was glad that the South Coast of Kyiv was also blazing a trail for other new businesses to Trukhaniv Island.
“Every year something new appears on the island. This year the Tree House café opened next to us,” said Rusakov.
According to him, as soon as Kyiv authorities discovered how much people loved the island, they started upgrading it, building good roads and fencing off the beach so that cars couldn’t just drive onto it. 
Trukhaniv Island is a 430-hectare natural playground in the heart of Kyiv on the Dnipro River
Two police squads on bicycles patrol the territory. Cars can get onto the island only through a special checkpoint near the left-bank side of Kyiv’s Moscow Bridge. And there is a speed limit of only 20 kilometers per hour on the island.
Trukhaniv Island can also be reached by foot from the right bank over the Park Bridge (formerly called the Pedestrian Bridge), which is about a half kilometer down river from Poshtova Square in Kyiv’s riverside Podil district.
Rusakov said he has visited 90 countries but never seen a place like Trukhaniv Island in any other capital.
“It is almost like a national park 15 minutes away from the city center. I hope the city council have finally realized what a treasure we have in Kyiv,” said Rusakov.
Lots to do
Every weekend, dozens of cyclists sweep along the smooth new roads and woodland trails of Trukhaniv Island, while beach lovers dance, listen to the music or just sunbathe on the beach for free. Those with more money and time to spend can visit the Trukhaniv Ostriv private resort for Hr 150-200 per person for a day.
More active visitors go to the Breakwater club – which has a café where the one can enjoy a meal for Hr 50-300 or learn how to waterski or wakeboard for Hr 450.
The X-Rhino club, located on the northern part of the island, in Dryzhby Narodiv Park just north of the Moscow Bridge offers quadbike rental for Hr 400 an hour. There are also several cycle rental shops, which have bicycles available for a reasonable Hr 70 per hour, while renting a canoe costs Hr 150 per hour.
The X-Park amusement park, part of the same complex has mini golf (Hr 40 per hour), paddle boats and canoe hire (Hr 90), trampolines (Hr 50), and lots more.
The Horse Riding Club, near Park Bridge, offers horse riding lessons for Hr 200.
Islanders
Kyiv City Council oversees several municipal enterprises that service and maintain Trukhaniv Island. Pleso Company, for instance, is supposed to clean the Dnipro River and the 20 meter-wide beach territory all around the island, the river, and the other lakes and water bodies in metropolitan Kyiv. The inland part of the territory is responsibility of Kyiv’s Dniprovskiy District council.
The Amenity Department of Kyiv council told the Kyiv Post that the city planned in the near future to create a special commission to check all the inhabitants of Trukhaniv Island have permission to live and build there.
There are people who call the island home – but they live their illegally and so their exact numbers aren’t known. According to locals, about 200 people live on the island all year round.
Rusakov described Trukhaniv Island as a world with its own rules. He said that the islanders, mostly traders who own the small cafes, along with the owners of the various private resorts, have set up a type of self-administration.
Cossack camp
Some EuroMaidan Revolution activists from 4th Cossack Sotnya have already become part of that administration. Two years ago these activists moved to Trukhaniv Island from the Maidan protest camp and organized a free camp on the island for kids from all over Ukraine.
While the activists live on the island for free, they have cleaned up 60 hectares of the territory, and in return were allocated 40 hectares of territory for their “Trukhanivska Sich” Cossack camp, where activists teach children the traditional skills of the Ukrainian Cossacks: archery, horse riding, cooking Kulish, a Cossack porridge, and sailing a baydak – a traditional type of Cossack boat.
Children and staff from Trukhaniv Sich Cossack camp, located on Trukhaniv Island, row the oars of an ancient Cossack boat, called a baydak, on the Dnipro River on Aug 5. (Anastasia Vlasova)
The commander of the Cossack camp, Mykola Bondar, a middle-aged man with Cossack-style haircut and long mustache, told the Kyiv Post that it’s not just kids but also adults who take training courses at the Trukhanivska Sich camp: journalists and volunteers take a frontline first aid course there before travelling to the war in the east, he said.
The Cossack said that the camp was financed by several volunteers’ organizations. However, he refused to name them, saying only that they were volunteers who help the Ukrainian army in the east.
“Now we have fewer kids, mostly from Lysychansk (a city in Luhansk Oblast 763 kilometers east of Kyiv). Parents usually bring more children here for the weekend. Once we had 300 children from all over Ukraine,” said Bondar.
Home comforts are few in the camp. The children live in big tents without electricity, cook their own meals in giant kettles over open fires, clean the camp by hand, and take care of the camp’s horses – Ovatsia (Applause), Arab and Atoshka – all of which were rescued from the war zone in the Donbas.
Asked about the life on the island, Bondar said that it could be much better if the authorities took a more active position in controlling its development.
“At the moment I don’t see it as a massive success,” he said. “The potential of the island is huge; there are places here that could become the training bases for the Olympic team. Instead, people are opening more and more clubs and cafes with loud music. That’s too damaging for the ecosystem.”
