03/11/2019
Amazon Jungle in Georgia - Kolkheti National Park
Kolkheti National Park is located in the western part of Georgia and intends to protect the wetland nature of Kolkheti. The park includes east coastline of the Black Sea and Lake Paliastomi basin. Districts of the national park are located on 5 administrative regions – Zugdidi, Khobi, Senaki, Abasha and Lanchkuti and are part of two historic parts of Georgia – Samegrelo, and Guria.
The park was established during 1998 and 1999 as part of Georgia’s Integrated Coastal Management Project, which was backed financially by the World Bank (WB) and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). The park organizes educational and eco-tours. Visitors can indulge themselves in a boat tour on Lake Paliastomi and the river Pichori gorge. Offers are available all year round.
Kolkheti National Park covers an area of 28,940 hectares and with protected wetlands protected area spans to 33710 hectares,[3] incorporating the land of the former 500-hectare Kolkheti State Nature Reserve, which had been established in 1947, and its surrounding wetlands, including the lake Paliastomi.
Around 2000 BC, the first Georgian state, Kolkheti, better known as "Colchis," was created here and was the place in which the first Georgian coinage, “Kolkhuri Tetri,” was minted. Colchis features in Greek mythology as the rim of the world and has been mentioned in historical chronicles across western Asia and eastern Europe since ancient times. Colchis appears in the myth of Jason and the Argonauts and his pursuit of the Golden Fleece.
