A trip to Sabereebi Monasteries, in the Vinichio Valley, South-East of Georgia, Part 3/3:

Fauna & Flora, and a little bonus at the end!

Good morning good evening good afternoon, travelers! Time is irrelevant, as we are here to talk about space, spaces we visit and spaces we become a part of!

Two days ago, I went to hike and visit old troglodyte monasteries in the Vinichio Valley of Georgia, at the border with Azerbaijan. Some of them were relatively accessible, as others were practically impossible to get to, for time and weather hazards have participated in the destruction of these places.

The pictures of this third and last part will mainly be bonuses, pictures taken of local flora and fauna, and a little bit of me talking about the georgian desert!

In the group that I was part of during the hike, one man had a spectacular eye for spotting things that would otherwise pass-by without us realizing it at all. Hive account@rossthompson was able to spot birds of prey and smaller ones from an insane distance, and managed to capture a few of them on camera!

As I was climbing up a ridge to get a better view of the valley on the other side (the ridge you can see on the picture below), I noticed a bunch of holes in the ground, and wondered if they were snake holes or bird nests. A short wait in silence got me the answer I needed, as I started hearing baby birds crying coming from insides the holes. I quickly came down the cliff-side to stop disturbing the life of soon-to-be birds of prey.

Another thing that Hive account@rossthompson was very good at, is spotting insects. From flipping over stones and rocks, to crouching in bushes, he showed me scorpions, stick insects (we call them "phasmes" in French and I think it sounds cooler), wood lice piles, ant colonies, and even a huge flat headed lizard and a small turtoise trying to catch some shade!

I wouldn't want to be around when that thing is full of life

Can you spot the stick insect?

On the bigger side of the animal kingdom, the Vinichio Valley is home of sheep, goats and bucks/rams. Cows and horses can also be seen. All of these are a big part of the reason you can also find wolves in the desert. Of course, we haven't managed to actually see any (besides the protective and aggressive shepherd dogs which we had to bribe with bread to be able to pass the farm without harm) but we did find some paw-prints on the sand next to the riverbed!

I know what you are gonna say, they might dog paws, but hey, where would be the fun in that story.

Finally, on the vegetation side of the spectrum, the desert is full of short bushes and scrubs, the usual cacti-family plants, as well as some very nice trees with visible roots longer than 10m up a cliff side! Here are some panoramas of the valley from different locations and hill sides.

Of course, everything gets radically greener when you get closer to the riverbed

Bonus! A picture of a wild me, refusing to take the word "inaccessible" for granted!

This was the last part of my little story and pictures (thanks Hive account@rossthompson) from my exploration of the Sabereebi monasteries and the Vinichio Valley, in South East Georgia, at the border of Azerbaijan.

I hope it was interesting and entertaining for you, and I'll see you in 2 weeks after my next hike for some more pictures and exploration tales! Until then, thanks for reading!