Eco Tour, #2

Eco-tour from Tbilisi – 

Visiting the Botanical Garden, old Tbilisi, monuments of medieval architecture, nature reserves and others

Dedoplistskaro

This region (Dedoplistskaro) has been famous for its vineyards and high grade wines.
You will travel among calcareous plants and relict elements such as: Campanula kakhetica, Hedera pastuchovii, Thuja orientalis etc. You’ll be able to see Alazani hunting thrift.
The forests of river Alazani groves (tugai), where you meet the following vegetations: Quercus pedunculi flora, Populus hybrida, Vitis sylvestris, smilax excelsa, Carpinus caucasica, Alnus barbata etc.

Flora

Trip goes througt the unique arid thim woods formed of: Pistacia mutica, Jiniperus foetidissima. J.policarpos. These woods are in the steppe and half desert zones, where the general character of plants are identified by: Bothriochloa ishaemum, Stipa lessingiana. St.capillata, Artemisia fragrans, Salsola nodulasa. Here one can see fast development of ephemeroids and ephemers: Merendera are very important. You‘ll walk through lekis tskali (Leki water) gorge occupied by the arid forests and shibljak bush ecosystems.

Fauna

You will see co-called Daly’s hunting economy which consists of reservoir, grove forests, arid thin woods, mixed deciduous thin-woods, steppe and half desert landscapes. In this territory you may see the variety of water birds such as; swan (Cygrus olor), geese (Anser erithropus), duck (Anas platyrhynchos). In the reservoir there are some different kinds of fish. Also birds spread in arid ecosystems: partridge (Aquila chrysaetos). (Gyps fulvus) etc. In the grove forests there are wild pig (Sus scrofa), hare (Lepus europaeus) wolf (Canic lupus) Jackal etc.

In the low part of the river lori there are steppe and half desert vegetations. Along the southern slopes of the ridges and in similar places so-called “badlands” you can found the following vegetations: Salsola nodulosa, Stachys fruticulosa, Atraphaxis spinosa, reaumuria alternifolia, Artemisia fragrans, Galanthus pilosus, Petrosimonica brachiate, Salsola ericoides. S.dendroides, Astragalus bungeanus etc. Phriganoid Astragalus microcepalus,Caragana grandiflora and shibljak (Paleurus spina-chisti, Rhamnus pallasii) bush territories. You will visit the semi-arid region of the area especially rich in endemics such as: Tulipa eichlerii, T.biebersieiniana. iris iberica. Pinus eldaria. Nitraria schoberi. Ulmus georgica. U.suberosa. Populus euphratica. Pyrus sachociana. Bongardia chrisogonum. Berberis iberica. They are threatened by extinction.

History of Tbilisi

City was founded by Vakhtang Gorgasali in the 4th century. The city is located in Eastern Georgia. The oldest architectural monument in Tbilisi is the 6th century Christian church Anchiskhati. Christianity was spread in Georgia in 4th-5th centuries. Since the foundation of Tbilisi, there are ancient shrines of Hebrew, Islamic and Catholic confessions.

Battles for Tbilisi

Until the 19th century, Tbilisi was conquered many times. This is the obvious illustration of conquests chronology: As a result of the conquest of the 4th and 6th centuries the city was occupied by the Persians; In the beginning of the 7th century Byzantines and Khazars with united powers had an attempt to conquer Tbilisi. In the first half of the 8th century The Arabs occupied Tbilisi, but in the second half of the 8th century Khazars raided the city. At the beginning of the second half of the 9th century, The Arabs occupied the city with many battles. In the middle of the 11th century, by the first time the Elders Council took over the city authorities. By the end of the 60s of the 11th century the Turk-Seljuks took over Tbilisi;

12th century

At the beginning of the 12th century Tbilisi was liberated by King David IV Builder and from that time Tbilisi is a capital city of Georgia (before that Mtskheta was a capital of Georgia), as a result in the 12th and the 13th centuries the population of Tbilisi exceeded 70 000 inhabitants. In the 20s of the 13th century, the Kvarezians took over Tbilisi. Within a few years Tbilisi was occupied by the Mongols; In the first quarter of the 14th century Tbilisi was exempted from the invaders. By the end of the 14th century Amir Timur took over Tbilisi (who has battled 8 times in Georgia); In the 15th century the Persians took over and occupied Tbilisi 2 times.

Division of the state into principalities

At the end of the 15th century Georgia was divided into principalities and Tbilisi Became the capital of Kartli. In the first quarter of the 16th century Tbilisi was again taken by the Persians and King David X soon exempted it; At the end of the first half of the 16th century Tbilisi was once again taken by the Persians; From 1578 year Tbilisi was occupied by Ottomans; In the 18th century, because of these battles the number of inhabitants of the city decresead by 20 000 and within a weak economic conditions at the beginning of the 18th century the first printing house was founded in Tbilisi.

In the first quarter of the 18th century Ottomans conquered Tbilisi, within 10 years Persians occupied the city; In 1748 King Erekle II liberated Tbilisi. Since then the development of the industries began in the city but the trace of it faded away quickly because of the occupation of the city by Persian Shah – Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar in 1795. These conquests made it impossible for Georgia to develop economically. In 1801 Georgia was merged by Russia.

Fight for State Independence

Since 1802, fighting for restoration of state independence of Georgia has begun, which was achieved only in 1918 year. Georgia has restored state independence, but it soon was lost in 1921 year. After a great standoff, Georgia was able to re-establish the statehood in 1991 and the avant-garde of this 2-century battles and struggles was permanently Tbilisi.

• The Eco tours from Tbilisi is mainly reserved for groups