Friends of my wife and I had recently returned from where they live (Germany, his home country) to Georgia (hers), which they do periodically. Could we go somewhere for a short holiday together, they asked? “Just not the Black Sea! How about Khevsureti?” they suggested, a new place for them.
We bit the bullet and committed to going right across Georgia from our Svaneti house: a return for us, as we had both seen the area around Shatili before, but no less special for that. Two nights and three days there, with our own driver, just us two couples. They would stay in a guest house, we in our massive six-person, two-room tent. We also took most of our own food, to reduce costs, and even a small gas bottle to cook on, sleeping bags, mattresses and so on. Camping, yes please!
An 8am start from the bicycle sculpture at Tbilisi’s Republic Square got us going nice and early, heading north on the road to Stepantsminda before branching off further east. The last 40 km would be dirt road, but up until that it was all asphalt or cement.
Our driver first took us up to a hiking place leading to the base of some mountains, famous for its three little lakes each of a different color: white, then blue, then green. The trek wasn’t very arduous at all, just long, and the four of us could set our own pace on the path and occasional rocky uphills or downhills. As we progressed, the way became more and more rock-strewn, as if giants had had a fierce battle using boulders. Ahead, the mountain wall and its glacier loomed. Below this ice mass was the white lake, a cloudy white, likely from the mineral content of the glacial meltwater feeding it. Small, but big enough for reflections; ice cold, of course. The weather spat a tiny bit, but for now we were spared a drizzle or worse.
Then on, following signposts, back down in a loop to the blue lake, which was next. This was startlingly clear, the cleanest looking of the three, although dotted with clumps of algae. But still beautiful, its bottom clearly visible. Likely from the same glacial source as its first and next siblings, so the color change was mysterious.
More path down to the third lake, the green one, also distinctly colored and well named. By now it was threatening to rain a bit harder, so the others continued apace, while I stopped at the green lake for more photos. Then I hurried on. The spitting turned into definite drizzle, but nothing worse, although it was enough to wet camera equipment if I didn’t protect it in bag inside backpack, which I did. None of us had rain gear with us (we had left it in the van), so we were all a bit damp by the time we met the driver again. No real harm done; and a whole new trek experienced, to a place I had not even heard of before.
Zig-zagging back down to the road, then onwards to Shatili itself. This gem of Georgia is something you only see as you turn a corner and practically stumble into it: there’s no far-off view, just the sudden reveal. Although I had warned my wife that I wasn’t prepared to set up the tent in pouring rain, by the time we stopped, the rain had dried up, so we were able to proceed with erecting the thing before the light faded to night. The next day would give us many more adventures, which I will cover in next week’s article.
Blog by Tony Hanmer
Tony Hanmer has lived in Georgia since 1999, in Svaneti since 2007, and been a weekly writer and photographer for GT since early 2011. He runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now with over 2000 members, at www.facebook.com/groups/SvanetiRenaissance/
He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri: www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti
