Nature of Georgia: Photo Galleries

Gallery 3: Subalpine, alpine landscapes and mountain steppe
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This type of landscape concentrates along the crest of the Great Caucasus mountains and in the volcanic plateau of southern Georgia (Javakheti province). The group of landscapes include grasslands, shrubs of Rhododendron caucasicum , and alpine tundra. Besides the species that live in very wide range of Eurasian uplands (such as various vultures, chamois, besoar goats), the area contains a number of species endemic for the Caucasus region. Those include some adders, lizards of genus Darevskia , snow voles, birch mice, Caucasian turs (mountain goats), Caucasian black grouse, and Caucasian snowcock, a number of spectacular butterflies.The Great Caucasus is a “young” mountain system: it has elevated ca. 5 millions of years before past, after Caucasian island conjoined with the Asia Minor by a terrestrial bridge. It is composed of steep rocky mountains with high peaks. It has four peaks that exceed 5,000 m. The slopes of the Great Caucasus and its branches are covered with primary mixed and broad-leaved forests that at the elevation of 2,000 m are displaced by low-stem birch forest, then by subalpine and alpine meadows and, at the elevation exceeding 3,000 m – by apline tundra, eminent snows, and glaciers. The climate is harsh, with great amplitude of temperatures between day and night. Lesser Caucasus mountains have only a few peaks exceeding 3,000 m. Javakheti is a large grassland area lies at the border with Armenia and Turkey, at the elevation over 2,000 m, crossed with a road of volcanic cones.

Abuli mountain	Alpine flowers	Betula litwinowi	Dactylorhiza urvilleana
Dactyloriza field in Javakheti plateau	Darevskia daghestanica	Habitats of Daghestanian tur in Kazbegi area	Lepidurus apus
Mkinvartsveri peak	Parnassius apollo	Pinus hamata	Rana macrocnemis camerani
Rosa sp.	Slopes covered with pine in Darial gorge	Stony houses of southern Georgia	Stone with lichens near Tabatskuri
Tavkvetili mountain	Trialeti mountains	Tskhratskaro mountain pass	Rhododendron caucasicum