Lakes are a bit of a sacred thing in Armenia. And that's not due to the nation's strong religious beliefs. But more that the country is landlocked. It craves water. It longs for sandy beaches and an ocean horizon that seems infinite. There are a lot of small lakes throughout the nation, but the largest one isn't too far from Yerevan's centre: Lake Sevan. Though smaller lakes are scattered throughout the nation, mostly found up high in the mountains, mostly void of a general human presence. Dilijan's most famous lake Lake Parz is not one of those that remains untouched. It's still rather remote, requiring a short drive into the mountains from the town centre. Hidden away within a wall of forestry and mountains. A beautiful environment that definitely adds to the unique experience of being at the lake. I recently posted a few drone pictures of the lake, and if you'd like to see how this looks from a more aerial perspective then check that out. But I'll also post a few new images here.
Lake Parz has a bit more of a touristic feel to it, and I don't think that's actually a bad thing at all. It made the park have a nice balance to it in which people had various outdoor activities to pursue as well as hiking trails to walk off into and escape everything. This ranged from a zipline which took you to and from each side of the lake, directly over the water for a 6000 AMD (about $15) fee. 3000 Armenian Dram each direction. They also offered an additional service which could grant a little bit of a dip into the cold water if you so please. Though I'm not sure how popular that addition is, especially going into the colder autumn months! In the surrounding area there's also a series of little activities: an obstacle course in the trees that ranges in height, to various types of boat rentals which seemed quite popular with the few people also there that day.
The lake itself was quite beautiful, a lot of shady areas in which you could hide from the sun, and it really added to the feeling of being surrounded by nature. Trees overhang from all areas of the lake, and there's a few seating areas scattered around. It's a great place to go to for a little picnic and to relax by some water. But we ended up choosing to go for a little walk deeper into the forest surrounding the lake. This is where plenty of wildlife opened up to us; first we saw a wild fox just curiously roaming around, really close to another group of people. This fox was hardly afraid of anyone, though still kept a little bit of distance. It seemed healthy and of no danger to anyone. Wildlife in this region is incredibly high, and fortunately a fox was the largest animal we saw that day. For some additional context: this is also bear territory. And coming into autumn it is when they're roaming for the final weeks before hibernation, fattening up. To give you an idea of how close the fox was: this lens was a 35mm focal length. So it's only a few metres away.
A group (I have no idea what they are called in a group) of Geese reside in the lake and they weren't all that friendly. I was snacking on some Gata to boost up the sugars and they each came over trying to get some. Getting closer and closer to me. Though in typical Geese fashion, they'd hiss at me and display quite an unfriendly set of character that wouldn't warrant sharing with. So, instead I snapped a few shots of them with the Helios lens. A portrait lens so it produced some fun shots with them in it.
Deeper in the woods it was silent. Fresh air everywhere. Away from the little bits of noise near the lake. It had rained a few hours prior so the ground was damp, muddy, and full of autumn leaves that had already fallen despite how early on in the season it was. This was meant to be a long walk around the lake which ascends up into the mountain as it goes around, but we didn't go the full route this time around, mostly due to not having a lot of time to do it. Though it remains a little trail I intend to follow again next time I visit. I liked that the lake had little hiking areas around it still. A place where you can go and sit and relax by the water, but also walk out into the nature a bit more.
I'm mostly looking forward to revisiting the area once the autumn tones have really set in though. Dense forestry all orange and brown. The view around the lake then must be incredibly beautiful. And I'm really excited for the different ways it can all be captured, with the camera and with the drone.