“Twenty
years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than
by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe
harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Mark Twain
It was warm
autumn day. A mini bus is driving to Kakheti. Kakheti region is rich in sights.
History is waiting for us so we quickly buy some food-Georgian shoti (bread)
and cheese in Badiauri and continue our way To Dedoplistskaro. The members of
the tour consist of six person-three men and three women.
Our destination is Vashlovani protected area.
We have seen much spectacular photos of the reserve before and want to see
everything with our own eyes.
Vashlovani
protected area is located in the far south-east of Georgia,
the Dedoplistskaro District and is home to ecologically unique area of Georgia. It is
located between two main rivers of Kakheti the Iori and the Alazani.
The sun is
shining brightly. It is like autumn is wearing her wedding dress with full of
red, gold, brown green colors…
Our first
destination was Elia Hill. In the rocky hill St Elia Ezbeteli church is built. .
The church is dated 6th century, though the church was restored in
2007. Locals celebrate Eliaoba on August 2. People prayed to St Elia for rain
in times of drought. It is an old tradition and today has become a public
holiday.
.Our next
destination was the Khornabuji (Tamari) Fortress. Khornabuji Fortress is
located near Dedoplistkaro. The archeological findings confirm the existence of
a settlement in the area even in Pre-Christian period (4th -3rd
centuries BC). Khornabuji started to develop in the 5th century
during the reign of King Vakhtang Gorgasali. The latter established the episcopacy
there. A trade road used to pass through Khornabuji. The fortress was renovated
and modified many times between the 5th and the 17th century.
The Town was well developed during the reign of Queen Tamar in the 12th
century. This is why the fortress is designated as Tamar’s Fortress.
We felt
history here, climbed the ruins of the fortress and took many photos. The view
of colorful forest down from Khornabuji fortress was spectacular…
But more
spectacular scenaries of Eagle’s Canyon were waiting for us…No
words can express the beauty of the nature, waterfalls, greenness, caves…
I nearly
forgot to mention, that Vashlovani strict nature reserve was created in 1963 by
two famouse Georgian scientist Niko Ketskhoveli and Vasil Gulisashvili. The
territory of the reserve includes Pantishara Vashlovani Massive.
We got
tired. So many impressions to see are much for a day! But we still had a little
time and also our rout included Takhti-Tefa. It was created on 2003 in Vashlovani area. So
we got in our mini bus and drove to the Takhti-Tefa.
We drove more than three or four km and saw
the changes of flora and fauna. We passed bad-land like landscapes of dessert
and semi-dessert steppe vegetation and arid and deciduous forests. It is also a
home to the remarkable cliffs-of-the canyons, locally called the “Sharp Walls”.
Yes, the
scenary was really inspiring but nobody was seen around us. After driving more
kilometers we saw horses eating grass and cowherds nearby. We asked them the
way but they spoke neither Georgian or Russian nor English. Unfortunately, on
the territory of Georgia it was difficult to understand
Georgians. Fortunately, our guide knew a few words in Azerbaijanian and we were
able to ask them the way to Takhti Tefa…
It was
about 5 o’clock. It was starting getting dark…Our guide offered us to go back
to Tbilisi and
have some khinkali and Mtsvadi at Mirzaani restaurant. I will remind you, that the
only food we had was bread and cheese and some water. We were really hungry but
loved every inch of our country so much that preferred to see the much-talked
canyons and refused the offer.
Soon a
black Jeep drove past. Later as we found out they came here from Tbilisi to hunt.
Soon we
came to the reservoir. There we met a local man and the passengers of the Jeep.
When we told them we wanted to go to Takhti-Tefa, he was happy. He said we were
the first visitors who wanted to visit the site. As it was impossible to go
there in a mini-bus, he offered us take there in his Jeep.
Takhti Tefa
was another marvel of Vashlovani Protected area. The car was driving in the
grass which was higher than our car. Our shepherd-guide took us to the mud
volcano. We had a feeling of being in another planet rather than a foreign
country. The volcano is a whitish plane hill that bubbles and throbs. Gas and
therapeutic mud flow from the crates and airways and flows down the gorge. The
shepherd, whose name I don’t remember unfortunately, told us that there were
eagles’ nests. It worth seeing, but as the sun was setting down we would see
nothing.
So left the
place in hope to visit the place once more in the daylight…
Driving
back to the place where our mini-bus was waiting, the local told us much about
their lives. We found out that a few Georgian people lived there. Youth didn’t
want to live there as there was no water and no jobs. They preferred living in
towns. As a result the area was emptying little by little… Talking about the
problems, we reached the shepherds’ camp to give them some food, kerosene and
water. We saw many sheep together guarded by shepherd dogs…
So the day
was full of impressions…
We came
back to Tbilisi
without a good supper at the restaurant, but the full of impressions: how
beautiful country we have and don’t know the value of our treasure.
“All travel
has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to
improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy
it.”
Samuel Johnson
Photos are taken by Avto Khantadze
