October 04, 2004

Svaneti - Tips for travellers

Svaneti, Georgia

Some practical tips for anyone planning on travelling to Svaneti in the near future. Despite all you hear there are not bandits around every corner and it can be done safely if you take a few precautions.

I took the overnight train from Tbilisi to Zugdidi. It leaves at 11:30pm and costs 7 lari. Arriving at 7am I found my way to the marshrutka "station" (just a patch of dirt on the side of the road). I managed to find the one marshrutka of the day (I'm pretty sure) leaving at about 9:30 (13 lari, 5 hours or so). Enough time for breakfast!

The marshrutka trip to Mestia was terrible. Mostly because the marshrutka was so bloody uncomfortable and the roads are pretty rough. In any case, I arrived okay and started looking for a place to stay. Nasi in Tbilisi (I'm sure you know her) recommended Nino Ratiani. Nino owns the little mini-market about 500m before the main square in Mestia. Look for the sign, walk back along the road from where the marshrutka drops you off, or just ask someone. In my case her brother-in-law(?), Dato, found us and gave us a lift back down the road. It's that kind of place. Comfortable bed, hot shower and all meals is $10 a night.

Next day, after checking out the town, which has some pretty cool towers but wasn't "villagey" enough for me, I decided to head up to Ushguli. Nino found a car for us for a price of 100L (about $50). Pretty expensive as I'd heard it was possible for 60 - 80 lari but I thought it better to go with someone she knew than just pick some random person. Nino was pretty sure that that was a fair price.

The drive up to Ushguli is great. About 3 hours passing through some wonderful terrain and a few cool villages. When things are safer this would make a good multi-day hike, staying in the villages each night. Not much (well, any) traffic really. Just a couple of logging trucks on the side of the road.

At Ushguli I stayed with the afore-mentioned Dato, who, it turned out, lives here. It also turned out that he's in the new LP (I've got the old one) but the price isn't $25 as quoted there but the same $10 as at Nino's.

Ushguli is awesome. A great little village, heaps of towers, and some stunning scenery all around with snow-capped mountains. Just pretend to ignore the mobile phone tower on the highest hill in the village.

The following day I took a walk up one of the valleys towards Mt Shkhara. Just head towards the church on the hill (you can climb the tower) then keep going. It's a fairly easy three hours to reach the bottom of the glacier. You can walk right up to it but watch out for falling rocks. The views here are nothing short of sensational.

Next day I decided to try to do a loop rather than go back to Mestia and Zugdidi. Dato's price for the trip to Lentekhi was 140 lari. Ouch! No other way though. In the end his 4WD was out of action though. I thought about trying to hitch whilst he tried to fix it but he recommended against. "While you are with me you are under my protection. Out there you are alone." Hmmm. Okay, I'll wait. In the end he couldn't sort his car out so I ended up going with his cousin (I think everyone is related). The original plan was to get to Lentekhi in time for the alleged 2pm bus to Kutaisi. As it was we didn't get going until about 2pm so I asked Dato if he knew somewhere I could stay in Lentekhi. He recommended a doctor friend. "Tell him Dato sent you", he said.

The trip took about four hours in the end but is really excellent. You go through a variety of scenery. First climbing to an alpine pass, then down in to a gorge. After an hour or so there is a very small village. The gorge eventually opens out a little and some pastures appear on the far side of the river, the mountains reappearing in the distance. Highly recommended.

I got to Lentekhi at about 6pm and found the doctors house but the doctor wasn't in. Eventually his wife appeared and seem a bit puzzled but invited me in all the same and was very hospitable. It turned out that her husband, who appeared later, only really knew Dato's father but they were very nice, giving me dinner and a comfortable bed and expecting no payment.

Next day I headed off for the 8am marshrutka to Kutaisi (5 lari) but ended up in a share taxi for 8L. I think I got the world's most cautious driver and the journey took almost four hours but in the end I made it to Kutaisi and safely completed my Svaneti odyssey.

Safety-wise, the key thing I think is to always be with someone that the previous person knows. If you go from one known person to another you should be fine. Things are definitely much safer in general than they have been and the Svan tradition of honour will ensure your protection if you stick with reliable people. That said, a friend in Tbilisi still thinks I'm crazy to have done this.

But I'd say definitely go! It's fantastic!

Posted by David at October 4, 2004 12:16 AM