The Gily-Su natural boundary, which is known primarily for its healing mineral springs, is located in Elbrus region. This place is practically not built up with infrastructure and is not inhabited by tourists, therefore it is especially interesting for lovers of wild tourism. We can say that the tract is located on the slopes of the heart of the Caucasus at an altitude of about 2400 meters above sea level. It offers breathtaking views of Mount Elbrus. True, it is unlikely to climb the highest point of the mountain, but you can enjoy the view.
Sights of Jilah-Su
The lunar landscapes of this magnificent place amaze with its beauty, the soft lines of green hills, stone outcrops resembling huge castles and mushrooms, noisy waterfalls and pristine rivers. And over this magnificent nature majestically rises the snowy two-headed Elbrus. There are no hotels, restaurants and cafes, there are no cable cars and an asphalt road is not laid.
When a person enters Jily-Su, he plunges into the atmosphere of untouched nature and can fully experience the indescribable energy of Elbrus. Waterfall lovers will also find many interesting things for themselves. There are two beautiful waterfalls - Sultan and Emir, with a height of about 40 meters.
Mineral springs
But this area is famous not only for its location, its main attraction is the sources scattered in the tract in large numbers. The springs located in the Jil-Su tract are healing, and bathing in them is incomparable pleasure. The temperature of mineral waters is in the range of 20-25 degrees. The water of these sources is saturated with air and during bathing balloons give a person a pleasant sensation, incomparable with anything. It is worth paying attention that prolonged swimming in narzan waters is contraindicated, but short water procedures can heal and invigorate any person.
Domestic use of narzan waters
Experts have found that the internal use of mineral waters for a long time helps to stimulate the hormonal and secretory functions of the body. In addition, water from sources has a beneficial effect on the immune system. To cleanse the body of excess salts and toxins, it is recommended to use carbonated water of low salinity. Mineral baths, which are famous for the Jily-Su tract, calm the nervous system, tone the body, stimulate the activity of the cardiovascular and circulatory systems, and increase mood.
Beneficial effects of mineral springs
The tract is not a place that can be understood in one day. It’s not so easy to get here. Therefore, if you have already decided to come here, then be sure to stay here for four to five days, and it is best to stay here for two weeks. It takes so much time for a full course of recovery in the narzan waters of Jily-Su. You will remember the road to this place for a long time, you will return home a completely different person, rejuvenated and refined.
Malka River
The course of the river, escaping from volcanic rocks, falls forty meters down. Around the waterfall there is a cloud of spray, a little lower, on a mountain green cape, under rocks and in caves, people put up tents and build huts from branches. This is a resort camp around the famous "hot narzan" that emerges from the still warmed lava masses of Elbrus. There is a small reservoir near the river bank - a stone-lined swimming pool. In this improvised pond, medicinal narzan water “boils” and pours over the edge with a whole stream at a temperature of 27 degrees.
Kislovodsk, Dzhily-Su
Sources in Kislovodsk are much stronger than narzan waters. Here double mineralization and double carbonation. The doctors who heal here from any disease, starting from tuberculosis, rheumatism, all kinds of female diseases and much more, bathe the sick and all the relatives who came with them three times a day - in the morning dawn, at noon and at sunset. Several people are sitting in the water, while others are watching them closely, as the patient may become ill. In the intervals between bathing, patients are given blood banks.
Then they are steamed in bathtubs dug right in the meadow. The bottom and walls of small baths are heated with bonfires, then ash is selected from them and the burka is spread. They put the patient on it, and then hover until he is able to withstand the procedure. The camp is designed for about two hundred people. The only building presented in this place is a barn made of stone. There is no medical supervision and no doctors. All visitors eat what they brought with them or get food from local residents. Narzan warm baths are very popular and famous all over the world. There are legends about the healing properties of this water. People come for treatment and prevention to this source from all over the country.
Current sources
It is known that until about the middle of 1909 there were three outlets of warm narzan water. Moreover, in one of them, water rose under the influence of gas by a griffin in the form of a cap about a meter wide and about 50 centimeters high. But in the future, all three exits were blocked by a powerful landslide, and the left-bank one completely died, since the Malka River laid its course in this place. If you now decide to go for treatment and prevention in the Jily-Su natural boundary, the map will help you find current sources. Now there are four of them functioning - one of them forms a reservoir, from which warm water flows at a temperature of 22 degrees into a stream.
About 120 meters below Jila-Su there are two more sources: one on the right bank of the Malki River - the Sultan, the second - Gara-Su - not far from the first. They are also called "Misost-narzan" - that was the name of the Kabardian who showed their location to the researchers. There is a spring located three and a half kilometers from the main warm narzan, just below the mouth of the Kara-Kaya-Su river. Its waters are manifested by three griffins with a water temperature in them of about 9 degrees.
How to get to the tract
The road to the Gila-Su tract was broken in the early 80s from Tyrnyauz. Not every car will be able to drive here, you need off-road vehicles. The length of this road is a little more than 60 kilometers, if you start the countdown from the processing plant - the plant in Tyrnyauz. Now this plant has already ceased its activities, and indeed existence. Overcoming the serpentine after the serpentine, climbing up the steep mountain slope, as a result, you will find yourself on the Shaukam pass. Then the road stretches along the source of the Shau-Kop River to the place of its confluence with the left tributary of the Islamchat River.
It is worth recalling one important point. The resort of Jily-Su is wild and undeveloped, and people go to these healing, and just wonderful places to relax exclusively in tents. The road is so difficult and bad that you can’t even get here, for example, in a van. You can only drive on a good SUV from Nalchik or Kislovodsk. If there is a possibility and a suitable vehicle, then you can get to Gil-Su and on your own. Otherwise, you can use the delivery and even order it in advance. Finding private traders is not a problem. There is also the opportunity to take a tour to this area, which is organized by travel agencies.