"WESTERN CAUCASUS IS A MOUNTAINOUS COUNTRY OF A THOUSAND LAKES"

The expedition to explore the mountain lakes of the Western Caucasus, organized by the expedition center of the Krasnodar regional branch of the Russian Geographical Society under the leadership of Alexander Belousov, will take place along the paths of the Kyshkadzher Ridge from 14 to 30 July.

The route "Blue Necklace of the Kyshkadzher Ridge" will be the continuation of the multi-stage research project "The Western Caucasus is a mountainous country of thousands of lakes", which won the national prize "Crystal Compass-2017" in the category of "Best Regional Project". The purpose of the expedition is to popularize the unique natural objects of the Caucasus, to obtain data on the current state and dynamics of the region's lakes, taking into account global climate changes and large-scale anthropogenic transformations of high mountain landscapes.

 

 

The expedition stage of 2018 will be held in specially protected natural areas of the Teberda state natural biosphere reserve and the federal Dautsky zakaznik in the basins of the rivers Jemagat, Daut, Kyshkadzher, Kendelensu and Epchik. On the ridge of Kyshkadzher, there are about 20 poorly studied lakes in only the Daut river basin. The project also studies the fauna of the lakes of the Western Caucasus. Researchers are eagerly awaiting a meeting with a yak - a cloven-hoofed individual from the Bos genus of bulls. The Daut River basin is one of the few places in the Caucasus inhabited by these high-altitude animals.

The expedition of 2018 is timed to the 80th anniversary of deputy chairman of the Krasnodar branch of the RGS Yuri Vasilievich Efremov, a famous scientist and traveler, a researcher of the Caucasus, the Himalayas and other mountain systems of the world. Yuri Vasilyevich is an authoritative expert on the lakes of the Caucasus. Out of his pen came such books as "Mountain Lakes of the Western Caucasus", "Blue Necklace of the Caucasus", "In the country of mountain lakes", "Lakes of Kuban", "Lake Teberdinsky Reserve and adjacent territories".

The project "The Western Caucasus is a mountainous country of thousands of lakes" is carried out by the Expedition Center of the Krasnodar Regional Branch of the Russian Geographical Society in cooperation with the Teberda and Caucasian natural biosphere reserves.