Mountains of the Caucasus as part of the natural heritage of the ancestors

The Caucasus region has always attracted enough attention to itself, not only because of the ongoing hostilities at some point. The Caucasus is, first of all, a virgin nature, which has not yet been completely subordinated to man. The Caucasus Mountains, their alpine meadows and fast cold rivers remain today among the most picturesque in the world. Some of them are located on the territory of our country, but about everything in order.

The entire mountain system, located between the Caspian, Azov and Black Seas, belongs to the Caucasus mountains . The entire mountainous Caucasus is divided into the Great and the Lesser. The kilometrage of the whole system of the Greater Caucasus amazes imagination: 1100 kilometers! Its maximum width is 180 kilometers in the region of Elbrus. The Great Caucasus in turn is divided into: Western (from Elbrus to the Black Sea), East (from Kazbek to the Caspian Sea) and Central (from Elbrus to Kazbek). The highest peaks of the Greater Caucasus are Kazbek and Elbrus. The height of the first peak reaches 5033 km, the height of the second - 5642 km. Both are covered with glaciers, snow does not come off them even in summer. In general, the Caucasus Mountains are rich in glaciers. They number more than two thousand. Most of the glaciers are concentrated on the peaks of the Central Greater Caucasus (the Bezengi Wall, Elbrus). Likhsky Range connects the Great Caucasus with the Small. The length of the mountain surface of the Lesser Caucasus is 600 kilometers, the highest peak reaches 3724 meters.

The Caucasus Mountains are considered relatively young, their approximate age is 29 million years. Because of the relatively high seismic stability, the Caucasus was part of a fairly large area of residence of the ancient man. As a result of archaeological excavations on the territory of the Kuban, there were discovered the sites of people of the Stone Age (3 thousand years ago). In the area of Pyatigorsk, researchers still find axes, chisels, incisors and other materials that were preserved in the thickness of the rock, necessary for the livelihoods of our ancestors tools.

Rest in the Caucasus Mountains is represented mainly by visiting the main natural attractions - caves, lakes and alpine meadows, rafting along steep mountain rivers, conquering snow-covered peaks. Tourist routes in the Caucasus are very diverse, many of them require special training and equipment. Most of the Russian tourists who prefer mountain holidays, chooses the mountains of the North Caucasus located on the territory of Russia (the North Caucasus Federal District). At the present time, the opinion that the Caucasus is very unsafe, that the war is still going on, and local people hate the Russians is widely spread. The weekly notes in the newspapers about how "the car was blown up by a mine in the Caucasus Mountains" and the like are even more terrifying. Such stereotypes are mainly due to ignorance. Firstly, the Caucasus is not necessarily a "constantly fighting" Chechnya. Secondly, if you travel, for example, on a tourist bus, the opportunity to get into the area of military operations is extremely low. For many years each season dozens of tourist buses from all over the Black Sea coast of Russia storm the Caucasus Mountains on the territory of Abkhazia and the Krasnodar Territory.

As for the local population, it is extremely friendly to tourists, as they are the main source of income for the majority of the inhabitants of the mountains (they buy honey in apiaries, eat in local cafes, rent rooms in a few hotels, pay for visiting the main natural monuments, etc.) .

And finally I want to say, often we are looking for beauty in the far corners of the planet, and maybe it's quite close. Perhaps, it is only necessary to buy a ticket to the Krasnodar Territory ...