There are 17 stashes to find in the Lesser Zone, some clearly marked as soon as you start your adventure in earnest, others you'll discover as you continue your journey and by pic

Finding all Journalist Stashes requires knowing their locations first, but the rewards are great and worth working toward in STALKER 2.

While it can occasionally be overstated, Stalker 2 really is a difficult game. You have to be on your toes when fighting human enemies, and sometimes it's smarter to run from a mutant rather than spend resources and risk death by fighting it.