Caucasian Biosphere Reserve

The Caucasian reserve covers about two thousand eight hundred square kilometres of the Western Caucasus and is the core of the UNESCO Western Caucasus World Heritage site, inscribed in 1999 - a rare case of a large European mountain area with no permanent settlement, no roads and no grazing inside it. It holds old-growth fir, beech and chestnut forest, subalpine and alpine meadow, glaciers and karst. Its founding purpose in 1924 was the Caucasian bison, hunted to extinction in the wild here by 1927; animals were bred back from hybrid and European stock and reintroduced from the 1940s, and a free-living population of over a thousand now exists in the reserve. Bear, red deer, chamois, tur and lynx are present. Access is by permit on marked routes with fixed campsites, most famously the multi-day Route 30 from Guzeripl over the passes towards the sea.

What you actually see

• The old-growth forest - fir, beech and chestnut with no logging history.
• The bison - a free-living population over a thousand, reintroduced after extinction.
• The UNESCO core - a large European mountain area with no roads or settlement inside.
• Route 30 - the classic multi-day crossing from Guzeripl towards the coast.

When to go

June to September; the passes hold snow into July. Three days to two weeks. Permits and campsite bookings from the reserve are compulsory.

Honest expectations

Permits are required, checked and limited on popular routes. Bears are present and food storage rules apply. Weather on the passes turns fast and people have died in summer storms. No shops or rescue inside - everything is carried.

Nearby

Guzeripl and Lago-Naki are in Adygea; Krasnaya Polyana and Sochi are south.