Northwestern Georgia
Northwestern Georgia is a region of the country of Georgia.
- Not to be confused with the Northwest Georgia region of the US state of Georgia.
Regions
Cities
- 🌍 Mestia — The "capital" of Svaneti and a UNESCO World Heritage site
- 🌍 Zugdidi — The capital of Samegrelo.
- 🌍 Jvari — A small town with a couple of great attractions nearby, namely Enguri Dam and Silver Lake. The latter is one of the most impressive alpine treks that you can do in Georgia.
- 🌍 Poti — A fairly uninteresting port city, albeit one with an interesting ancient history. Headquarters of the Georgian Navy. Also serves as an entrance point to Kolheti National Park.
- 🌍 Ushguli — Perhaps the most picturesque Svan village, at the bottom of Georgia's highest mountain, Ushba.
- Soli
- Kala
- Lentekhi
- Melle
Other destinations
Understand
Northwestern Georgia is a very diverse region, which, due to its many languages, cultures, and even governments, can feel like several different countries. The Svans of Svaneti and the Mingrelians of Samegrelo are Christian, Georgian sub-ethnic groups who have cultures and languages distinct from, but closely related to Georgian. The Abkhaz, however, are a completely unrelated South Caucasian people, who for much of their history were predominantly Muslim, until the Russian Empire's "Muhajarism" practice in the 19th century of mass deportation of Muslim Caucasian peoples, which cleansed the region of nearly all non-Orthodox Abkhaz.
The climate of Northwestern Georgia ranges from subtropical to high alpine, and is one of Georgia's greenest, lushest, and wettest regions.
Since Georgian independence in 1991, Northwestern Georgia has been a hotbed of complicated political violence and conflict. The first president of Georgia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, was an ethnic Mingrelian with ties to Samegrelo. His presidency was intensely controversial within and without Georgia and sparked a civil war, which quickly resulted in a murky coup d'etat in late 1991. Conflict between pro-Gamsakhurdia and anti-Gamsakhurdia forces continued as a new separatist conflict exploded in Abkhazia in 1992. The Abkhaz military, fighting alongside paramilitaries from the North Caucasus (and possibly with help from the Russian government) defeated the Georgian military in September 1993, allowing the Abkhaz government to establish de facto independence. In an even more strange and convoluted twist, Gamsakhurdia then returned to Georgia from Chechnya in late 1993, set up a government-in-exile in Zugdidi, and began a full scale civil war with the central government, relying on the support of Samegrelo and Abkhazia. Gamsakhurdia's war was very successful and his forces routed the Georgian military and threatened the capital. But the resulting instability threatened Russian interests and the Russian government sent its military to the aid of the central government, resulting in a quick defeat for Gamsakhurdia's forces, the firm establishment of Georgia's Shevardnadze government, and the mysterious death of Gamsakhurdia himself. But Northwestern Georgia never really accepted the Shevardnadze victory, leaving the Samegrelo region in particular a turbulent, volatile center of unrest. Moreover, the wide-scale ethnic cleansing of Abkhazia's ethnic Georgians led to continued low-intensity warfare between Mingrelian paramilitaries and the Abkhaz military.
The most powerful force shaping the region today is the protracted separatist conflict between Abkhazia and the Georgian central government. The current situation is more or less a stalemate. Georgia's president has vowed to reintegrate Abkhazia into Georgia, but only by peaceful means. The Abkhaz government demands nothing less than full de jure independence from Georgia. And the ever important Russian government, which still has peace-keeping troops in the region, gives tacit support to its Abkhaz client government while trying to avoid renewed regional conflict.
Talk
Although the Georgian languages of Mingrelian in Samegrelo and Svan in Svaneti are widespread, Georgian is the main language in the region, but much of the older generation speak Russian as a second or a third language and the younger generation is increasingly speaking English due to hostility towards Russia, and also because English is taught in schools since independence and has replaced Russian as a second language in schools nation-wide. When in need for help, look for younger people, as they are more likely to know some English. Speaking Russian is recommended in areas where non-Georgian minorities live.
Get in
Marshrutkas head to Zugdidi and on to Abkhazia from the bus stations in Batumi and Kutaisi, and Tbilisi. Poti is the easiest destination to get to, and is widely served by public transport. Marshrutkas also make the long, steep climb from Kutaisi and Tbilisi to the Svan capital, Mestia.
Get around
There are reasonably good roads in the region with a new highway built to connect with Mestia. If you have your own transport it will be easy to get around. If not, marshrutkas run most routes in the region. Most of the drivers will not speak English, but if you state your destination they will usually point you in the right direction.
See
Do
- Trekking in Upper Svaneti
Eat
The food differs from region to region within Northwestern Georgia, but its Mingrelian cuisine is perhaps its most famous, which is notably spicier than most Georgian food, and is just generally delicious.
Drink
Stay safe
Northwestern Georgia is generally a safe travel destination. The Abkhazia conflict caused some destabilization in the region, but this has largely been settled (not in Georgia's favour). Samegrelo took in a number of the "refugees" from the Abkhazia conflict, but apart from stretching government, education and health resources this has not led to any ongoing security issues. A tourist in Samegrelo should experience no worse problems than in the rest of the country.
Svaneti was largely untouched by the conflict to its west. The Svans were once renowned as being an aggressive and insular group, however, this has changed in recent years as tourism has boomed. Now the biggest problem tourists will face is rising prices, especially if you are a foreigner or don't speak the local language. On the other hand, if accepted as a guest of a Svan, the Svans are renowned for their legendary hospitality. You should not have any security concerns when visiting Svaneti; it is far too wonderful a travel destination to miss.
Go next
- From Svaneti, there is a lonely and poor quality mountain road leading east to the beautiful and safer mountain region of Racha