Kolkheti's National Park — Attraction in Poti

Kolkheti National Park Kolkheti National Park was established in 1999 and is located in western Georgia. It includes part of the water area adjacent to the Nabadi and Churia districts on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the Paliastomi Lake basin. The park was created to protect and preserve the internationally important wetland ecosystems of Kolkheti. It is distinguished by its high biodiversity of wild flora and fauna, an abundance of endemic and relict species. Various types of landscapes, separate ecosystems and coenoses are represented here.

Its total area is 44,308.5 ha, of which 15,276 ha is sea water.

The National Park is located on the territory of 5 administrative districts - Zugdidi, Khobi, Senaki, Abasha and Lanchkhuti and is part of two historical regions of Georgia - Samegrelo and Guria. Kolkheti National Park belongs to the IUCN Category II of protected areas. Since 1997, it has been protected by the Ramsar Convention, which is an intergovernmental agreement aimed at protecting areas suitable for the habitat of migratory, migratory and waterfowl.

Visiting Kolkheti National Park is recommended throughout the year. In the gorges of the rivers, Churia and Pichori, as well as on Paliastomi and Golden Lake, you can plan a boat, motorboat, pontoon and kayak trip, and then you can visit the Colchian forest and unique swamps. In the Kolkheti National Park, observation towers have been set up to observe more than 100 different species of migratory birds.

Of particular interest in the park are Lake Paliastomi, the Black Sea, unique swamps and the Colchian forest. The administration of the Kolkheti National Park offers visitors boating tours in Lake Paliastomi and the Pichori River Gorge, as well as sport fishing, bird watching and...

While touring in Georgia, our driver told us that there is a beautiful Amazon like jungle in Georgia and that we must go there. Then we looked it up online- he was talking about Paliastomi Lake and Kolkheti national park. It's a part of UNESCO world heritage site so we decided to go for it. When we went to visitor's centre they asked for 200 GEL (official rate) for a boat and then you drive another 2/3 minutes to the actual boating location. Upon reaching we were shown a basic boat and there was another boat for additional 100 GEL to be paid in cash. Not sure if it's a way to attract people by quoting 200 GEL and then asking for another 100 GEL on site for a better boat coz the one shown earlier was kind of trashy and old. Anyway the 1.5hr round trip was good. Good nature. But if I can be brutally honest, I have seen similar scenery many many times before wherever I have travelled. There is nothing unusual about it. There are two stops in the boat trip one is picnic point - which is like a fenced camping area where you can take photos, nothing else to do there..and second stop is a not so tall watch tower- again nothing wow about it. Don't expect to see any wildlife on this boat tour except some birds and frogs here n there. Overall good but 300 GEL for something like this did not...

The booking process for a motorboat trip is quite weird. If you call the visitor centre they will tell you to call the boat company. After you've arranged a boat trip you have to go to the visitor centre to pay for the boat trip there...?! Very weird and annoying, especially if you don't travel by car but public transport. (We took a marshrutka from Poti that dropped us off at the entrance of the visitor centre, then walked 20 minutes along the road to the pier at the lake). The boat trip is only worth it if you're into thrilling speed boat rides for fun and don't mind getting a bruised bum because you are being bumped around the metal boat while hitting the waves. I have no idea how you are supposed to admire the nature or spot any wildlife while speeding along the river with incredible noise. The two stops, one at a picnic area and one at a lookout tower, are a joke. You can spend a few minutes there and are then ushered back into the boat. We saw more birds and wildlife while sitting at the shore of the lake later on than on this whole boat trip. Definitely not...