Spread across 83,007 hectares on the eastern slopes of the Greater Caucasus, the Tusheti State Reserve is a breathtaking expanse stretching between 900 and 4,800 meters above sea level. This vast area unfolds like the layered arrangement of traditional Tushetian architecture. Its step-like terrain is marked by the stunning gorges of Chanchakhovani, Pirikiti, and Tushetian Alazani rivers, their confluences, alpine meadows, and snow-capped glaciers that rise like sentinels in the clouds. Among these are the majestic peaks of Tebulo (4,492m), Diklo (4,285m), and Borbalo (3,294m).A journey into Tusheti begins with greetings from Caucasian oak, mountain ash, and goat-willow trees. Soon, however, the true hosts of this unique habitat—pine (Pinus kochiana) and birch (Betula litwinowii and Betula raddeana) groves—invite you into their domain. These groves alternate in perfect harmony, eventually forming a vast, natural chessboard across the Tusheti slopes.Each spring, a magical phenomenon unfolds on these slopes: the Tusheti pines enter a flowering phase, releasing a gentle haze of pollen, hovering like a veil over the green-cloaked slopes and forest crowns. As June winds rise, they carry these pollen brumes across villages, meadows, and hills, wrapping all of Tusheti in a magical healing and revitalizing pine atmosphere. Ascending further on your journey, you’ll encounter Tusheti’s iconic alpine meadows, carpeted in vibrant wildflowers and adorned with rare species like the Caucasian snow rose (Rhododendron caucasicum) and junipers (Juniperus oblonga, J. depressa, J. sabina). From below, the murmur of lively rivers, home to rare trout (Salmo trutta) and the Caucasian toad (Bufo verrucosissimus), rises like an echo, harmonizing with the rustle of forests in the middle reaches, where bears, jackals, foxes, lynxes, and wolves roam, and rye deer and chamois occasionally dash across your path. At the border between the forest and alpine meadows, mysterious creature of myths and legends, often called the ‘solitary hunter’ may shimmer along the cliffs like a comet. There is a fleeting chance to glimpse this elusive and nearly invisible animal’s golden-yellow body marked by unique black spots. This is a rare Caucasian Leopard (Panthera pardus), locally known as the ‘Jiki’. Experts believe that with a bit of luck, one might spot in the subalpine rocky sparse woodland another treasure of the Caucasus — the majestic Bezoar goat (Capra aegagrus), one of the region’s most vulnerable and prized species. At the highest elevations, where rivers are born and earth meets sky, in speechless silence lives the king of the peaks, the East Caucasian tur (Capra cylindricornis). During summer, it rarely descends below 2 800 meters above sea level, preferring the inaccessible cliffs of the Atsunta Ridge, where it is protected by the rugged terrain that keeps human threats at bay. In the ‘Atsunta section,’ much of the landscape remains nearly unreachable year-round, not just from the ground but even from the air, as helicopters rarely fly over this fog-covered region. Instead, cutting through the Caucasus sky, flies the last of an ancient lineage—the Caucasian snowcock (Tetraogallus caucasicus); it nests at the highest peaks, close to the Caucasian tur, amid rocks and crevices. In the desperate winter months, when food is scarce, it feeds on the turs grazing grounds, where these “highlanders” loosen the snow with their hooves, helping the snowcock find food. In return, this cautious bird watches over its mountain companions, giving them an early warning call in case of danger. Its whistle echoes off the peaks like a boomerang, waking the Caucasus and heralding the arrival of a new day. As the first rays of sunlight break, the Caucasian grouse (Tetrao mlokosiewiczi) appears and the black figure of a male bird is well visible on the slightly grassy green slopes. Awakened, the Caucasus skies fill with arching cinereous vultures (Aegypius monachus), lammergeiers, (Gypaetus barbatus), griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus), and golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos). They soar drawing circles and gazing down upon the varied landscapes—steep, expansive, flat—where rare, endangered animals roam and rare ecologically ancient plants of this region thrive. Here, amphibians, reptiles, fish, insects, plants, animals, and groves all breathe the same air, weaving together an unbreakable chain of coexistence and harmony.