Lake · Kazbegi Municipality, Mtskheta-Mtianeti
Abano Mineral Lake
აბანოს მინერალური ტბა
A tiny protected lake in the Truso gorge, Kazbegi, whose surface bubbles as carbon dioxide rises from Upper Jurassic carbonate rock beneath it. Not the Abano Pass in Tusheti.
Where it is
42.5882, 44.4220
Why go
The protected-areas agency (APA) describes Abano as a small lake created by a carbon-dioxide-filled stream rising from Upper Jurassic carbonate rock, which keeps the water moving as if it were simmering. The natural monument covers just 0.04 hectares at 2,127 metres, on the left bank of the Tergi east of Abano village in the Truso gorge, so it is one stop within the valley rather than a trip of its own. APA measures it as 35 kilometres from Stepantsminda and 2.8 kilometres from Keterisi on a footpath and horse track along the river. The Truso Travertines natural monument is about 700 metres away. This lake has nothing to do with the Abano Pass on the road into Tusheti.
Safety
APA: carbon dioxide from the lake accumulates in the lower layer of air in still conditions, and small animals that come near the lake suffocate.
Near Abano Mineral Lake
Geological feature
Truso Travertines
White and pinkish travertine fields still being shaped by carbonate-rich spring water on the floor of the Truso valley, protected as a natural monument about two kilometres from Keterisi.
1 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Valley
Truso Valley
The high upper valley of the Tergi west of Kobi in Kazbegi Municipality, with mineral springs, travertine, abandoned villages and the Zakagori fortress along its floor.
2 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monument
Russia–Georgia Friendship Monument
A circular stone-and-concrete monument of 1983 on the Georgian Military Highway between Gudauri and the Jvari Pass, lined inside with a tiled mural of Georgian and Russian history above a deep valley.
11 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monument
Stone Heads of Sno
An open-air gallery of monumental stone portraits carved by self-taught sculptor Merab Piranishvili into granite boulders on a hillside at the edge of Sno village, Kazbegi Municipality, begun in 1984 and still growing today.
17 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ