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Did You Know That…?
The Shaki (also known as Shake) waterfall is located in the Vorotan Canyon north-west of the city Sisian in the Syunik province of the Republic of Armenia. The area has abundant cliffs and caves, where manmade tools and traces of human activity dating back to the Paleolithic period have been discovered. The Shake waterfall is named in honor of the beautiful Shake. According to legend,an invader was captivated by Shake’s beauty and fell in love with her. Shake, unwilling to obey the invader, threw herself off a cliff. As she fell, her dress became the waterfall that is now called the Shaki waterfall.
There is another interesting legend associated with the Shaki waterfall, which says that 93 girls were sent from the Gegharkunik province to their leader who set up an army in Mughan. When the caravan of abducted girls reached Mughan, the girls wished to escape and asked their kidnapers to let them bathe in the river. The kidnappers agreed and the girls dove into the Vorotan River and disappeared. A single blue-eyed girl named Shake tried to escape by diving into a rivulet that pours into the Vorotan River. The kidnappers tried to catch her, but at the moment they reached her, a cliff magically appeared. The water hid the beautiful girl and from that day forth the waterfall was called the Shaki waterfall.