Shikahogh State Reserve

Shikahogh covers around ten thousand hectares of the southern Syunik mountains and holds the densest surviving forest in Armenia: oak and hornbeam on the slopes, and in the Tsav valley a grove of oriental plane trees, some of them enormous and centuries old. The reserve is on the route the Caucasian leopard uses moving between Iran and the Caucasus, and camera traps have recorded them. Bear, lynx and wild goat are present.

Background

The reserve was established in 1958 and covers some 10,330 ha of Syunik Province, which makes it the second largest forest reserve in Armenia. Environmentalists credit its remote position and the care of people in nearby villages for sparing it from the heavy deforestation of the post-Soviet years. About 1,100 plant species grow here; 70 are listed in Armenia's Red Book and 18 appeared in the Soviet Union's Red Book. Its animals have not been fully studied, though surveys have found leopard, bezoar, bear, snowcock, viper and hedgehog. SOS Shikahogh, a film made in 2007 by the Armenia Tree Project, is about the reserve.

Source: Wikipedia, "Shikahogh State Reserve"

What's there

• The plane grove - old oriental planes along the Tsav river, generally counted the largest stand in the country.
• The oak forest - dense hardwood forest across the slopes.
• The leopard corridor - the route the Caucasian leopard uses through the reserve.
• The Meghri road - the mountain highway that crosses the reserve's northern edge.

When to go

May to October is the season. Autumn colour in the forest is the best of the year. Snow closes the higher tracks in winter.

Good to know

Access beyond the road needs a permit and a guide from the reserve. Leopards are effectively never seen; camera traps are the evidence. Facilities are none and the tracks are rough.

Nearby

Kapan is north, and Arevik National Park is south towards Meghri.

Key facts