The Caucasus region has always attracted enough attention, not only because of the ongoing hostilities at any of its points. The Caucasus is, first of all, a virgin nature that has not yet been submitted to man in full measure. The mountains of the Caucasus, their alpine meadows and fast cold rivers remain today one of the most picturesque in the world. Some of them are located in our country, but first things first.
The Caucasus Mountains include the entire mountain system located between the Caspian, Azov and Black Seas. The entire mountain Caucasus is divided into Big and Small. Kilometer of the entire system of the Greater Caucasus is amazing: 1,100 kilometers! Its maximum width reaches 180 kilometers in the Elbrus region. The Greater Caucasus, in turn, is divided into: Western (from Elbrus to the Black Sea), Eastern (from Kazbek to the Caspian) and Central (from Elbrus to Kazbek). The highest peaks of the Greater Caucasus are considered Kazbek and Elbrus. The height of the first peak reaches 5033 km, the height of the second - 5642 km. Both are covered with glaciers, the snow does not leave them even in summer. In general, the mountains of the Caucasus are rich in glaciers. There are more than two thousand of them. Most of the glaciers are concentrated on the peaks of the Central Greater Caucasus (Bezengi wall, Elbrus). The Likh Range connects the Greater Caucasus with the Lesser. The length of the mountain surface of the Lesser Caucasus is 600 kilometers, the highest peak reaches 3724 meters.
The mountains of the Caucasus are considered relatively young, their approximate age is 29 million years. Due to the relatively high seismic stability, the Caucasus was part of a rather large area of residence of ancient people. As a result of archaeological excavations on the territory of the Kuban, sites of people of the Stone Age were discovered (3 thousand years ago). In the Pyatigorsk region, researchers still find axes, chisels, chisels, and others preserved in the thickness of rocks that are necessary for the life of our ancestors of the gun.
Rest in the Caucasus mountains is represented mainly by visiting the main natural attractions - caves, lakes and alpine meadows, rafting on steep mountain rivers, conquering snow-capped peaks. Tourist routes in the Caucasus are very diverse, for the passage of many of them require special training and equipment. Most Russian tourists who prefer mountain vacations choose the mountains of the North Caucasus located on the territory of Russia (the North Caucasus Federal District). At present, the opinion that the Caucasus is very unsafe, that the war is still going on there, and that locals hate Russians, is widely spread. Weekly newspaper articles about how “a car was blown up by a mine in the Caucasus Mountains” and so on are even more fearful. Such stereotypes are formed mainly due to ignorance. Firstly, the Caucasus is not necessarily “constantly fighting” Chechnya. Secondly, if you travel, for example, on a tourist bus, the opportunity to get into the war zone is extremely low. For many years, every season, dozens of tourist buses from all over the Black Sea coast of Russia storm the Caucasus mountains in the territory of Abkhazia and the Krasnodar Territory.
As for the local population, it is extremely friendly to tourists, since it is they who are the main source of income for most mountain residents (they buy honey in apiaries, eat at local cafes, rent rooms in a few hotels, pay for visiting major natural monuments, etc.) .
And finally I want to say, often we are looking for beauty in the far corners of the planet, and perhaps it is very close. Perhaps you just need to buy a ticket to the Krasnodar Territory ...