Skip to main content

Spring snow in Georgia's Upper Svaneti Region


On the week of 8-9 April, I traveled to Upper Svaneti (Zemo Svaneti) in the Caucasus Mountains, with a work colleague and his family.

Most people travel to Mestia, the main administrative centre of Svaneti, by air, but we traveled by road. The distance from Tbilisi to Mestia is 456 kilometers and typically takes 8-10 hours.

Because it was to be a crazy brief weekend in Mestia, we left at 3:00am. By the time we arrived in Zugdidi it was 8:00am. Tako had prepared traditional Georgian food of bread, potatoes, Gurian khachapuri (bread, like Turkish pide, with boiled egg inside), cheese khachapuri, mushroom khachapuri, and meatburgers. It was raining and cold, so we stopped at the Turkish Doner Café, the only eatery open. There were no bathrooms there, so we drove to the Wissol gas station before returning to the café. We were permitted to eat our “picnic food” inside, thanks to the hospitable Turkish owner. We ordered coffee and sat at the red tables.

A sealed road from Tbilisi to Zugdidi was completed in 1934. Currently the route from Zugdidi to Mestia is a combination of sealed and unsealed roads. A new road is under construction which is estimated to reduce the time from Zugdidi to Mestia from 3.5 hours to 2 hours. It is expected to be completed by August this year (although it seems an ambitious schedule to me). It took 11 hours to cover the entire distance with a one hour stopover at Zugdidi. As we neared Mestia, the rain had turned the unsealed road to mud and in some places we had to wait for bulldozers to move out of the way (and there was very little wriggle room on the narrow mountainous route).

It was the beginning of spring, and although we arrived in Mestia under blue skies, it snowed continuously overnight, and the whole region was covered in a thick white blanket. The region is described as humid and cold with virtually an absence of summer. The annual average temperature is 5.7C, which ranges from -6.4C in January to 16.4C in July.

Upper Svaneti is one of the most isolated areas of Georgia. The Svaneti Mountain Range bisects Upper and Lower Svaneti, but Upper Svaneti is in the Caucasus Mountains. Mestia is situated 1,500 meters above sea level, nestled in a valley, and is surrounded by some of the tallest mountains in the world. The tallest in the region is Mt Shkara (5,068 metres), with Mt Rustaveli (4,960m), Mt Gestola (4,859m), Mt Tetnuldi (4,851m), Mt Ushba (4,700m), and Mt Ailama (4,546m).

Mt Shkara is Georgia’s highest peak and the third highest peak in the Caucasus Mountains.

The snow prevented us from traveling to Ushguli, a historic settlement and a UNESCO protected site in the east of Upper Svaneti. From Ushguli, on a clear day, you can see Mt Shkara. Ushguli is one of the highest settlements in Europe (2,000-2,200 metres above sea level). Some say it actually is the highest village in Europe.

Although it took 11 hours to reach our destination, it was well worth it. The views were spectacular. The tourism season is typically May to October, although many do come for the winter ski season. We saw it looking like a Winter Wonderland in early spring, but we’ll be back in summer or autumn to see a completely different aspect of the magnificent, isolated region.


MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Comments

  1. Hello. We are thinking to go to Gerogia on the 1st of May. I've read that at that period it's not possible to do the trek between Mestia and Ushguli, but are the rest of the 1 day treks from Mestia possible (glacial, lakes and so)? do you think if we can't do the 4 day trek to usghuli it's better not to go to Mestia or even just doing the 1 day treks are worth visiting the Svanetia area

    thank you very much

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello David,
    I think it's worth getting a second or third opinion from travel companies or experienced trekkers. Personally, I would still go to Mestia, even if the Ushguli trek is not possible. I do not know whether the other 1-day treks will still be possible - it may depend on the weather, particularly if it is snowing. The Svaneti region and the Svan culture is certainly worth experiencing at any time of the year.
    Good luck on your journeys.
    Martina

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. ...

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass...

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing...