One of the most dangerous roads in the world

The road to Tusheti is regarded as one of the most dangerous roads in the world and has been listed into BBC-s agenda. The road is cut on the 45% degree slopes and goes up to 3000 metres over into the first Chanchakhovani gorge of Tusheti.

My friends and I shared the same desire to sleep in the mountains one last time this year, so we chose to camp in Tusheti. We packed our stuff and headed off with Magical Caucasus!

So going to Tusheti was memorable for many reasons: the road to Omalo, the main village in Tusheti, is quite terrifying as you often have to look into the eyes of abyss, and is only accessible during a few months of the year due to heavy snow, possible landslides and  inaccessible roads. Although technically Tusheti is in Kakheti region, but culturally is totally different own thing (for example people in Tusheti still strongly believe that pork will bring you bad luck, so bringing pork for food is unacceptable, or women not allowed to come inside churches, monasteries or fortresses).

The ride to Omalo from Telavi took about 5 hours – it’s a short distance (105km) but it’s profiled in a “world’s most dangerous roads”, so it’s very very slow ride and the 4×4 wheel drive journey was an adrenaline rush in itself.

Here some pictures of the road:

We set up a camp in Upper Omalo on the little hill overlooking the old fortresses and beautiful valley.

Isn’t it an epic place for camping :)?

Morning coffee, morning tea

Next morning  while everyone still sleeping I was exploring around our campsite:

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Beautiful morning promised more joy for our eyes and we headed to the next destination – unique and mysterious village of Dartlo. Village is situated 2,000 meters above sea level by the Alazani River. Only 9 family live now in Dartlo. Most of them leaves the village before it snows and takes their sheep back to Kakheti.

Our second campsite in Dartlo:

 

Tusheti has a lot of small fascinating villages, and most of them you can reach by foot. However, we had our transport and experienced driver so we chose to save some time in order to see more. 

Shenako village

Located just 5km from Omalo.

 

Diklo village

Located 4km down the valley from Shenako village. Elevation is 2152 m and population – 16. From the Diklo you can see Dagestan border mountain range Batsi-Butsi and Dagestan Mountains.