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The road to the high-mountainous village was rocky and unimportant, we had to crawl at a snail's speed. I wanted to sleep, but only a professional can fall asleep on such potholes. Niva roared and walked strained, mainly in first gear, the second was no longer enough. Apparently, the left 92nd gasoline, which we poured in Akhty, had an effect. Anton turned on the low. He gazed ahead intently and maneuvered between the scattered stones and bumps, every now and then shifting gears up and down, as if churning butter. It was drizzling rain. Sasha russos reported that the temperature of the oil in the box went up in the Trailblazer. Now both cars switched to lower gears and crawled further along the Caucasian winding serpentine.
We drove into the clouds and it quickly got dark. Visibility dropped to 10 meters, it became noticeably cooler, and the Trailblazer began to cool down. The only navigator who still understood where we were, reported that only 20 kilometers remained to the village. It's about an hour and a half walk. We did not meet a single oncoming car during the entire ascent.
The village was already asleep when two dirty cars, loudly rustling with engine cooling fans, like panting travelers, climbed to the first houses of Kurush - at the same time the highest inhabited locality of the Caucasus and all of Europe, as well as the southernmost town of the Russian Federation. The village is located on the border with Azerbaijan on the southeastern slope of Shalbuzdag Mountain, in the valley of the Usukhchayna River at an altitude of about 2600 meters.
1. The village is over 2000 years old, although no one knows exactly when the first inhabitants appeared here. But it is known that the first road to the village appeared in the 60s. Until that time, only their own legs and horses were the main means of transport. Today "down" can be reached by minibus, which runs every two days in winter, and every day in summer. A ticket to Derbent costs 300 rubles. The journey takes three hours.
2. The harsh climate does not allow for farming, despite the fact that the land in these parts is fertile. The maximum that we manage is to collect a small crop of potatoes during the warm summer, and then, only for ourselves, not for sale. Therefore, everyone lives only by animal husbandry and fully supports themselves. Everything goes to work: milk, meat, wool, even dung.
3. On almost every site, like frozen mammoths, there are huge haystacks. Winters are long here ...
Sometimes, in cold winter, the water flowing through the pipes from the Shalbuzdag mountain freezes and then you have to wait until spring. Run with buckets to the spring all winter.
4. Life in mountain villages is a paradise for asthmatics. The purest discharged mountain air with light notes of burnt dung. What could be better?
5. You can wake up in the morning in fog and see nothing, or vice versa, in sunny weather, admire the kilometer-long wall of Mount Erydag. During the Soviet Union Kurush was very popular among tourists and climbers. Now there are much fewer newcomers.
6. Due to the fact that livestock are kept in the village, the streets are dirty. It is better not to go out without boots after the rain. In general, everything is like in an ordinary Ryazan village, only with four-thousanders in the background.
7. In the center of the frame, Mount Bazarduzu is the highest mountain in Dagestan and Azerbaijan (4466 meters). The state border runs along its ridge.
Translated from the Turkic Bazarduzu means "market square", more precisely as a specific landmark - "turn to the market, bazaar." The fact is that in antiquity and the Middle Ages in the Shahnabad valley, located to the east of this peak, annual large fairs were held, where traders and buyers from many countries came. From a distance, on the way to the fairs, the main landmark of the "market square", the "turn to the market" - Bazarduzu was striking.
A dialogue from the Middle Ages presented itself.
- Excuse me, but how to get to the market?
- Up to the mountain, and to the left.
There were many relatives on the other side of the pass. They are also Lezgins, but they live in Azerbaijan. To go on a visit - the road takes the whole day. Now just so few people go. Only for a big holiday, wedding or funeral. To cross the border you need a passport. And at the very border, you can spend up to 8 hours standing in lines.
8. Talking about life in the mountains, one cannot but tell about food. No wonder they say that the most dangerous thing that can happen in Dagestan is to be fed to death. Oh, this trip was real food terrorism! We have never eaten so much. What are the delicious and always different (depending on the area) Khinkal!
Khinkal should not be confused with Georgian khinkali, which is a significantly different type of dish. Digastan khinkal is a piece of dough cooked in meat broth (actually "khinkalins"), served with broth, boiled meat and sauce.
9. And this is Miracle, a dish for a large solemn feast, also a national dish of the peoples of Dagestan. This is a kind of thin pie made from unleavened dough with a variety of fillings. The dough is rolled out as thin as possible. The main taste is created by the filling, it can be meat, potato, with cheese and herbs, or just vegetable. After baking, the miracle is necessarily oiled with oil, so they become more aromatic and tender.
10. And this is a school "flat cake". In one of the mountain villages, we went to a local school, where they prepare their own bread for the children in the canteen. Do not take him out of town every day.
13. In many mountain villages there is no concept of streets, alleys or driveways. Moreover, there are no avenues and highways. Sometimes even houses do not have their own numbers. The postman and the district police officer know all residents by their first and last names.
14. “Our ancestors climbed so high that no one would touch them. The Dagestan mountains are harsh. Not everyone will go to them. So they got away from endless wars and devastation. " - says Bashirov Tagi Aslanovich, head of the village of Kurush.
18. Sometimes a neighboring village speaks its own language and communication with neighbors takes place only in Russian. As the universal English language in Europe, so is the Russian language in Dagestan.
21. Dung cakes on the wall of the house. This is both fuel and insulation at the same time.
27. Young girls are afraid of photographers like fire.
28. Guys, on the contrary, pose with pleasure.
29. Class of mathematics.
31. Director of the school.
“Almost all young people are leaving. Many go to Derbent and Makhachkala, who go to Russia. Many are sent to serve on a contract basis, it is profitable. Young people are just bored here. "
33. A series of photographs "Sasha is coming".
36. It's almost like Tibet, but only Russia. And they speak Russian here.
What amazes and delights any person who comes to Dagestan? Of course, mountain ranges. The mountains of Dagestan are perhaps its main attraction. At the same time, guests from the central part of Russia often do not even ask the question of how one peak differs from another. But for the Dagestanis themselves, many mountains have their own history and names.
Geographic and climatic features
Almost half of the entire Dagestan territory is occupied by mountains. They surround the republic from the southeast and northwest, but at the same time they are considered foothills. The alpine part is the central territory. Few people know that there are 30 highest mountain peaks on the territory of the republic - peaks with a height of more than 4,000 meters. The largest of them is Bazarduzu, it (together with the ridge) is the border with Russia and the southernmost point of the country. In general, the area occupied by the mountains reaches 25.5 thousand square meters. kilometers.
Despite the abundance of mountains, the republic has a fairly dry climate. It belongs to the temperate continental. This is because the Dividing Range does not allow humid air currents from the south. In part, this also contributes to the brightness of the famous Dagestan alpine meadows - the so-called flat areas on the mountain slopes adjacent to forests.
Finally, Mount Sarykum is of great interest to researchers. Its height is small - only 351 meters. But Sarykum attracts scientists by the fact that it is, in fact, the dune - the largest in Eurasia. The sandy mountain is constantly "dancing", changing its shape under the pressure of the winds, but it does not crumble.
Alpine glaciers and climbing routes
Not only peaks and ridges are the hallmark of the region. Speaking about the Dagestan mountains, one cannot ignore the glaciers. There are many of them here, but they do not make up some kind of integral massif and are distributed along the peaks and ridges. The largest glacier is observed on the Bogos ridge, here the glacier area reaches more than 16 km2. At the same time, some glaciers descend quite low - for example, Belengi (2520 meters). Here are the most famous glacial sites:
- Bogos massif. It is the largest glacier in the eastern part, and in addition, the largest in length - over 3 km.
- Butnushuer - Korkagel. The glacier area is 2.2 square meters. km, and it is clearly insufficiently studied by specialists.
- Bishinei-Saladag. It occupies the second largest area after the Bogos glaciation and includes 27 glaciers. The area is about 10 sq km.
- Snow ridge. This glaciation is the northernmost in the republic, its area is 7.72 sq. Km.
- Dyultydag. On this ridge, glaciation is located along the northern slopes. Glaciers are not represented here by vast areas, but their boundaries are well explored.
It should be borne in mind that, despite the fact that the mountainous area as a whole is well studied by both geologists and historians, there are still many discoveries ahead of researchers. In the meantime, the beautiful mountains of Dagestan continue to attract tourists and climbers. Quite a lot of tourist routes have been laid here, and they are replenished due to the tourist business.
Today you can go, for example, along the Main Caucasian ridge along the catchment area of \u200b\u200bthe Sulak River (the route takes about 46 km). Another interesting option is along the Snow Ridge through the plateau of the Celestial Falling Asleep Lakes to the same Sulak. Of considerable interest among tourists is the passage Oritskali Dagestanskoe Gorge - Moshota. Finally, there is always the opportunity to walk along the Bogos ridge along the watershed of the Avar and Andean Koisu rivers.
These are not all possible routes. The region is as diverse as it is. Tourists are always welcome in villages where residents have long been famous for their generosity and hospitality. to personally see its nature and people who live here and can tell a lot about their native mountains.
The Caucasus Mountains occupy half of the entire area of \u200b\u200bDagestan. There are about 30 peaks on the territory of the republic, the height of which is more than 4000 meters.
The highest mountains of Dagestan are Addala-Shukhgelmeer (4151 meters), Dyultydag (4127 meters), the Diklosmta mountain range (4285 meters). Shalbuz-dag (3925 meters) rises in the south of the republic. Nearby there is a large dining summit Yaru-dag (4116 meters), its vertical walls have repeatedly become a place for mountaineers from all over Russia to compete.
The largest mountain in Dagestan is Bazarduzu. It is located in the very south of the republic. The state border of the Russian Federation and neighboring Azerbaijan runs along the top of the mountain.
In the south and west of the republic stretches the Dividing Range of the Greater Caucasus. It retains moist air masses from the south, which is why the climate in Dagestan is dry.
Despite the great height of the mountains, the local glaciers are not as grandiose as their counterparts in the Central and Western Caucasus. The largest of them are located in the Bogos mountain range. The largest glacier in Dagestan, Belengi, is 3.2 kilometers long, and its ice thickness reaches 170 meters. Recently, glaciers have significantly lost in size, and many have disappeared altogether.
The highlands of Dagestan are the kingdom of alpine meadows. Close to their lower edge is a forest that rises to a height of 2000 - 2200 meters. It is inhabited by many different animals: Dagestan tours live here, sometimes the shadow of a mountain goat flickers among the rocks, or a herd of swift chamois skips by. Brown bears and Caucasian deer, hares and martens live in the thickets. Flocks of stone partridges and mountain turkeys can be found here. Eagles soar high in the sky above the mountain tops.
Inner Dagestan is an endless labyrinth of mountain ranges, peaks, rocks and gorges. Many rivers are born in the mountains, which carry their waters to the Caspian Sea. Their path lies in deep valleys and gorges.
The northern regions of the republic, where the Tersko-Kumskaya lowland is located, meet the traveler with completely different landscapes. In ancient times, waves of the ancient sea splashed on these plains. Salt marshes and shells of sea mollusks found in the sands still remind of this. Today it is very dry, and the surrounding landscapes are more like a desert. The main local inhabitants are saigas, hares, foxes and, of course, a huge number of rodents.
The salt plain is crossed by a few rivers, but not all of them manage to get to the sea. Only the high-water Terek, Samur, Sulak, Uluchay and Rubas, having overcome the sand dunes, flow into the Caspian Sea. In front of the sea, rivers form large deltas, which change their shape every year. Here, on the coast, among the reeds, there is a real oasis of life. Sandpipers, herons, geese and cranes nest in the water. In the coastal thickets, flocks of partridges live and you can hear the loud meow of a jungle cat. Despite the fact that the local forests are not so large, they are home to wild boars, jackals and red deer.
The deepest canyon in Russia is located on the Sulak River. Its length is more than 50 kilometers, and the average depth is 1200 meters. The canyon is divided into three sections - Glavny, Chirkeisky and Miatlinsky. The most mesmerizing of them is the Chief. Where the walls of the canyon converge especially close, its depth reaches a maximum of 1920 meters (for comparison, this figure is only 1600 meters near the Colorado Canyon). The bottom of the abyss is immersed in twilight. The roar of the raging water below is heard with a booming echo in the surroundings, and clouds of water dust constantly hang in the air.
Inner Dagestan is an endless labyrinth of mountain ranges, rock peaks and gorges.
Dagestan is a country of rocky and age-old mountains, this is how Dagestan is translated from the Turkic dialect. Half of the territory of Dagestan is occupied by the Caucasus Mountains (56%), it is surprising that the average height of the entire territory of Dagestan is 960 m.
The highest and most colorful peaks of Dagestan
The southernmost point of Russia, Bazarduzu peak, 4466 m high, is located on the border of Azerbaijan and Dagestan. This mountain is also the top of Vodorazdelny, a ridge of the Greater Caucasus. Bazarduzu is an unusually beautiful and inaccessible peak, which climbers from all over the world dream to conquer.
The second highest mountain in Dagestan is Central Diklomasta with a height of 4285 m, the third place is occupied by the Addala-Shukhgelmeer peak, whose height is 4151 m.From a bird's eye view, the Addala-Shukhgelmeer mountain massif looks like the outline of a star, 7 glaciers flow directly from this massif. It is these glaciers that feed the Belengi River, give rise to the Tunsadaor, Saraor, Kila rivers. In places where the relief is broken, glaciers form real icefalls. Blue-green masses of ice slowly move downward under their weight, while carrying a unique echo along the gorge. Formidable glaciers live their centuries-old life, reminding themselves from time to time with a distant roar.
Not far from the Addala Severny glacier there is a meteorological station, because the mountains of Dagestan are a real "weather cuisine", the whims of which are difficult to predict.
In total, there are 30 mountain peaks on the territory of Dagestan, the height of which exceeds 4000 meters, and about 20 peaks are close to this mark.
Sacred mountain of Dagestan
The southern and western regions of the country represent a real inaccessible mountain kingdom, with mountain peaks lost in the clouds, eternal snows and glaciers, stone rivers.
Many peaks of Dagestan are shrouded in myths and ancient legends. Mount Shalbuzdag (4142 m.) Is considered sacred by the local population, having conquered it one can hope to fulfill any desire. For centuries, locals made a pilgrimage to this mountain, and now the mountain is a popular place among esotericists and mystics. Shalbuzdag is located separately and creates the impression of an unusually high and majestic mountain.
Relief of mountainous Dagestan
The mountainous part of the country is characterized by a very complex and intricate relief; it is a whole labyrinth of mountain peaks, sharp rocks and mysterious gorges. Many mountain rivers originated in the Dagestan mountains, which flow into the Caspian Sea. Rivers dissect the relief and give a special charm to the inaccessible mountains, flowing through gorges and deep valleys. Glacial landforms such as moraine deposits and glacial lakes have survived in the highlands.
The powerful and formidable mountains of Dagestan attract many climbers, each mountain organizes ascents to the highest peaks.
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The unique and only sandy mountain can disappear in the Land of Mountains
There are many mountains in Dagestan, but there is only one sandy one, and it is the highest in Europe. This dune Sary-Kum is translated from Kumyk as “yellow sand”. It is located several dozen kilometers northwest of Makhachkala.
A group of Dagestan bloggers visited the dune. It is very interesting for tourists. This could feed the Kumtorkalinsky municipal district. However, nobody cares about tourism. The protected area is not protected from the harmful effects of humans and livestock, and is not suitable for visiting tourists.
The desert islet is not accessible to tourists
Sarikum is the largest dune not only in Russia, but throughout the entire continent of Eurasia, reaching an absolute height of 262 m. Here, for 5 months, from May to September, the average monthly temperatures exceed 20 °.
At the foot of the dune, an absolute temperature maximum of 42.5 ° was recorded for Dagestan. This is due to the strong heating of the sandy surface of the dune. In summer, on the slopes of the southern exposure, the surface temperature of the dune reaches 55-60 °. Already in April the temperature of the sand in the daytime exceeds 30 °.
A railway line leading to Buinaksk passes near the dune. It was laid in the century before last to connect the Russian provinces with the then capital of the Dagestan region, Temir-Khan-Shura.
Since the times of Nikolayev, the walls of the railway station stand at the foot. Chicken coops were added to the walls of the historical object, and rabbits are also kept right there. The building itself and the land are administered by the Railways Administration. But the department, you see, has no time for history. And tourists, in general, are not their profile.
Why careers threaten the dune
It turned out that the unique natural monument, the Sary-Kum dune, is threatened by the sand mining career. Rare animals and plants on this desert island are disappearing.
Not far from the sandy mountain, a large glass factory is being built, where bloggers have also safely landed. Representatives of the plant reassured that they would not take sand for glass production from the vicinity of the dune.
The reason is good. It is not suitable for glass production. The building material is cast from quartz sand. It will be imported from abroad, the plant explained.
For whom the winds have collected sand for thousands of years
There are several hypotheses for the origin of the sandy mountain. I will try to talk about them without scientific scientific terminology. According to the first version, the winds for hundreds of thousands of years, bit by bit, collected sand here.
The sand from the dune is different from the usual sea sand. The grains are very fine. They are yellow and transparent. But it also speaks of the "wind" version. The usual wind can lift very fine, selective grains of sand into the air.
Fragments of shells remain slightly larger. This happens when the chaff is separated from the grain. The light chaff flies away, but the grains remain. In this case, the fine sand from the coast of the sea is carried away by the wind.
But it's good that nature has found a place where the wind can collect this sand. At the site of the dune, the landscape created a wind tunnel.
The mountain is losing height
But the problem is that the landscape of the sandy mountain itself is crumbling. Opposite Sary-Kum, there was another dune, smaller in height. An unnamed neighbor, once outside the territory of the reserve, was eaten by excavators of a sand pit that has been operating for 25 years.
The unnamed dune covered with rare vegetation was razed to the plain. 20 years ago, the quarry began at a cliff above the Shura-Ozen river valley. Now it has advanced hundreds of meters deep into the mountain, removing a 15-meter layer of sandy deposits.
High-quality fine sand is transported by trucks practically hourly. The quarry, although located outside the territory of the reserve, brings irreparable damage to the dune of Sary-Kum itself.
The fact is that between the dunes located on both sides of the river a kind of "exchange of substances" took place. South winds carried sand from a small dune to Sary-Kum.
The north winds were returning the sand to a small neighbor. As a result, Sary-Kum changed its appearance. The highest point of the dune was moving.
But now the sand from Sary-Kum is irretrievably eroded into the void formed by the quarry. This is one of the reasons for the decrease in the mountain. For 50 years, the height of the mountain has dropped by 25 meters.
A desert island in the middle of a semi-desert
There is one more hypothesis of the formation of a dune. Sary-Kum and its small neighbor are part of one sand dune formed several tens of thousands of years ago, when the sea coast came close to the foot of the forward ridge of the Caucasian mountains, Narat-Tyube.
Sand accumulated at the mouth of the river, forming a huge dune. When the sea retreated several tens of kilometers, the sandbank remained in the form of a huge dune. It was divided into two parts by the channel of the Shura-Ozen river.
The dune is in the administration of the State Natural Reserve "Dagestansky". The director of the reserve, Kurban Kuniev, claims that the sands on the Sary-Kum mountain are absolutely identical in composition to the sands found everywhere on the slopes of the Narat-Tyube ridge within a radius of 20-30 kilometers.
The development of a quarry in the immediate vicinity of the dune, the interlocutor considers undesirable. Sand can be mined anywhere to the south or north of the reserve. However, a quarry in this place was opened only because there is a road leading to the old village of Korkmaskala.
