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Lagodekhi Protected Areas
This 244-sq-km nature reserve climbs to heights over 3000m in the Caucasus above the
small town of Lagodekhi in eastern Kakheti near the Azerbaijan border. It features
deep river valleys, alpine lakes and some of Georgia’s best-preserved forests, and is
home to several hundred East Caucasian tur, deer and chamois
Lagodekhi Protected Area is one of the
oldest natural reserves of Georgia, it
dates back to 1912 when Georgia was
part of the Russian Empire. It is also one
of the world’s best-preserved, primitive
area with diversity of natural landscapes
- rivers and waterfalls are abundant
here, flowing from the high mountains
into the wooded lower zone, which
includes virgin forests of beech and
hornbeam virgin forests. The alpine
valleys are home to the chamois and
endemic East Caucasian tur and red
deer, all of which are listed on the IUCN
Red List. Other animals include, wolves,
brown bear and lynx the Caucasian
black grouse and snowcock.
There are good half-day walks to two
waterfalls, and from about late June to
mid-October you can hike a very scenic
24km trail from Lagodekhi up to
picturesque Shavi Kldeebis Tba (Black
Rocks Lake) on the Russian border (three
days there and back, with an ascent of
2200m), with nights at a mountain
shelter about halfway to the lake. In
2016 a second trail between the lake
and Lagodekhi is due to open, with
another shelter, making the lake trip into
a circular rather than there-and-back
route.
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