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russian caucasus
Written by sophie et jeremy   
Sunday, 06 September 2015

Roads are bad and checkpoints are numerous, but we did enjoy beautiful landscapes in complete tranquility.

44 dans la nature 44 dans la nature

Because of the persisting conflicts in this area, we have probably been amongst the first travelers to wander there for some time. As a matter of fact, policemen and soldiers most of the time don t know what to do with us and think we are lost. In anyway, they were all nice and willing to help, but only in russian language. Many the big green 4WD helped, as it created interest almost everywhere. The main drawback of traveling by car in Russia are the russian drivers, slightly more civilized than the georgian ones, but much more aggressive.

landscape 1 landscape 1 landscape 2 landscape 2

landscape 2 landscape 2 landscape 2 landscape 2

After having crossed Ingushetia, without significative issue, going into Chechnya came out to be a bit more difficult. At the second attempt, thanks to a group of nice soldiers and google translation, we are in! We go through some chechen villages, each of them having it s own new golden mosque, lots of burger restaurants and bullet-holled road signs.

mosques mosques panneau panneau

Some kilometers later, we reach a checkpoint where the soldiers have again, very few ideas about what to do with us. They call their superior and we all wait for him some minutes. He proceed again the whole paper check (passport, car registration...) and show us to turn back. At the last moment, he changes his mind and drive us to a refurbished old tower where we take souvenir photos with the russian army gear before being allowed to continue our trip further into the chechen mountains.

tour tour kalash kalash

The next day, we will be catched again by a police car chasing us flat out on a road in the worst condition we ve seen. We eventualy have to turn back, but it was worth it as this valley was suberb, and we ve seen a lot of these old typical defensive towers. We also came across an ancient necropolis full of bones in the open air. And we had some contacts with locals making hay, worried about us having lost our directions. We eventually went across the state by a less isolated road (but still doted with checkpoints).

tours tours necropolis necropolis

tour2 tour2 hay fields hay fields

At the border with Dagestan, we camp near a beautiful mountain lake, supposed to be a future international touristic spot. We continue our route after a roof top breakfast.

lac lac breakfast breakfast

soph dagh soph dagh dagh dagh

A handful of checkpoints later, we reach the city of Derbent, on the Caspian sea.

 

Comments  

 
#1 Simon 2015-09-11 10:03
Quelles vues!
C'est quoi ces tours carrees? Des habitations? Abandonnees?
 
 
#2 kijang 2015-09-11 19:36
Il s'agit à priori de tours médiévales défensives, dans lesquelles ils stockaient aussi des objets de valeur notamment en temps de guerre... Bon maintenant c'est plutôt du folklore local
Et sinon l'autre photo c'est une nécropole
Contente que la vue te plaise ;-)

Sophie