 Nikolayenko also documented several lucky escapes during his time with the bears.He described how he had fallen down bluffs to avoid charging bears and been chased up trees.He helped conduct an inquiry after Michio Hoshino, the renowned Japanese bear photographer, was pulled out of his tent and eaten by a bear in 1996 in the southern reserve, a more remote region neighbouring the Kronotsky state reserve where Nikolayenko was based.