Lukasz Jablonski - Janapar travelogue

From Janapar

by Łukasz Jabłoński

Me and my friend we've managed to get through almost whole Karabakh.

Also see Google map of trip and photo gallery of trip.

We entered Karabakh at night hitchhiking on a truck. We obtained visa and permission, but we were denied permission to Kolatak (which was surprising) and to Mataghis (it was obvious ;) ). We tried also in headquarters in Stepanakert, but without luck. We went to Hadrut.

We had some problems with finding starting point of the route. We were asking many people, showing them the route sign but they couldn't help us. Only some of them told us that they had seen such signs in Togh or Azokh. We decided to take the asphalt road to Togh. We started our walking late and we've just managed to go only few kilometers. We started pitching the tent near the road and in a few minutes the undercover policeman came and asked us for our documents and plans. In a next two days we had two more controls, but as far as we had everything o.k. in our papers it was alright. Besides those cops were quite nice J

Next day, after passing through mountain pass we have found the route :) We get to Togh and thanks to local people who ordered a 10 y.o. boy we've seen churches in the village. The village itself was very depressing view because of destroyed once beautiful buildings. We started our way to G'tchavank knowing that it was impossible to get there in that day. People were always telling us that sleeping in the tent in the forest is very dangerous because of wolves but we were tough ;)

At about 12 o'clock next day we reached the church. We met some workingmen who asked us to accompany them with a lunch. They told us about a small ruins of church and monastery's ruins on the top of the mountain. We started ascending there. It wasn't a long way, but it was hard to find the path. After that those men treated us with "tutovka". We were so drunk that we went around the mountain and we got back to Togh. But we've managed to walk to Azokh this day. Night we spent 5 meters from the entry to the Azokh cave. We penetrated the cave next day in morning, but our batteries in flashlights were very weak and we didn't see much. But the atmosphere there was fantastic, besides those kilos of bat droppings laying all around ;) But the croaking noise of flying bats – exciting!

Route to Shekher is very picturesque! We've managed to get to Karmir Shuka. We went to the restaurant past the river. We were very hungry and we ordered a dinner without asking about price. They used it and demanded a big amount, but we didn't want to protest, also because other clients were some quite rich-looking men in black cars, mafia-looking guys ;)

We spent night in the house of local fireman who invited us. Next day we went to Amaras. This trip took us a whole day. It was very nice to see the grave of St. Grigor Illuminator. In the evening we went to the Skhtorashen Tree and next day to the Avetaranots. During our way we met a student named Boris who showed us a very nice place by the river where we took a bath. He took us to his grandparents in Karabulakh. His grandfather is a renowned beekeeper.

From Avetarnots we went to the Karintak. This part of route was very problematic because of the markings. Probably many of them were destroyed by the local people and we lost the way two times! That is also why we get directly to the Karintak instead of Mkhitarishen. Night we spent in the canyon by the river. It was very beautiful place! But the route there is also hard because in a few places it is not easy to find signs and we needed to cross the river three times, but this last thing was great ;)

Next day we climbed Shushi, taking the road through the rock. In the city centre we ran into our friends from Poland who we had met with in Turkey during our hitchhiking. We got to the Historical Museum. The Director of this site was very nice man who gave us guidance through museum. Especially interesting was when he was talking about the Karabakh war – he was a commander during the war. The city looks very depressing – You can see how beautiful it was before the war but now it is partially ruined. We also climbed minarets of the larger mosque. The view was awesome!! Our friends take us to Stepanakert, because they were traveling by car.

Night we have spent in a friend of Boris (whose grandparents live in Karabulakh) – David. Next day we dedicated to sightseeing of Stepanakert and relaxing. I could recommend to anybody the Historical Museum and Museum of Karabakh War – very interesting exhibitions.

In the evening we started our way to Badara. Few kilometers after Stepanakert between Lernavan and Aygestan we spent a night in the tent. This night we had our first meeting with wolves – to be precise with their howling! At first we thought that it was jackals howling, but we recorded it and my father told me it was wolves' howling :) It was very exciting and a bit scary to hear how many of them are howling and how the sound is approaching and surrounding us. The route past Aygestan is also not very good marked and we lost our way two times, but finally we got to Dagrav and from there easily to Badara. It was late in the evening when we got there and we started to looking for somebody who would like to guide us to Kolatak, but nobody was eager and it was not the matter, because we were ready to give any amount which they consider appropriate, which was 2 times bigger than that suggested by you in email! They told us that none of them has time to guide us through mountains to Kolatak. Next day we get there by car and last six kilometers of walking. Unfortunately we wasn't able to find markings of Janapar and nobody could help us :/ We decided to go back to the road and hitchhike to Gandzasar. We spent night in the village by the river. Next morning we did a sightseeing of monastery and decided to hitchhike to the Sarsang Reservoir. We got to the Drambon – spent whole day chatting, eating and drinking with people in the restaurant near crossroad. Night we spent at the lake shore in a very picturesque place - on a peninsula under a lone, big oak tree! Water was great, night warm. We made a fire and spent evening drinking Karabakh wines and beers J

Next day we were proposed to do a sightseeing in the near mine – it was very interesting. By the evening we managed to pass Getavan. We slept in a tent by the river. Next day we took the way up the river and got to Dadivank. By the way we stopped to take the pictures of the T-72's and BMP's wrecks. We stopped also in the village of Charektar for shopping. We also went up the hill to see an old church. Dadivank was very magical place, especially in the light of setting sun. We were controlled by policeman who wrote were detailed report from our "examination". Of course we did not tell him about our desire to go further to Zuar.

When we started our way to Zuar, just after passing the waterfall we've met a car with two officials in them. They controlled our documents and told us that we could not go further. One of the officials was an prosecutor of the Karvachar Rayon. I told him that we are also lawyers and maybe he could show some professional solidarity with us and help us with obtaining needed permission ;) He told us that if we wanted, we could go, we had his "oral permission". We thank him and went further. On the crossroad we've met the policeman that we met one day before, but he was quite friendly J We got to Havsatagh and met there an Armenian, who invited us for a cup of tea and something to eat. When walking to his home it occurred that he spent 5 years working illegally in Poland and he is speaking very well polish. He also remember his stay in Poland as a greatest time in his 40-years life! He invited us to stay at his home for a night and took us to the hot spring to Zuar. Hot spring in Zuar is very beautiful place! It is a great attraction!

Next day we hitchhiked to Karavachar. The city is also very destroyed but we didn't manage to see much of it, because we had noticed many soldiers, who could be interested who we were and what we were doing there. As fast as possible we started our way up the river in order to get to the geyser. It was a magical place! We were completely alone in a place so unique! None of us ever before had seen geyser! We spent there almost two hours and decided to go back. We met a group of men having barbeque and they invited us, but after that we wasn't able to walk anywhere because of drunken alcohol ;) On of them – also not in his best shape took us to his home in Nor Brajur. There we continued the party with his friends ;)

Next morning was painful, but there was no other way just to continue our way to Mardakert. It was really hard – the traffic was very slight. We only managed to get to Drmabon – but it was great to meet "old" friends from there. Night we spent under "our" oak. We hitchhiked to Mardakert and tried to organize our way to Mathagis, but some policeman started to make us problems and we were forced to go back to Stepanakert. The same day we've "landed" in Goris. Next day we hitchhiked to Iran.

If You are interested, You could see our pictures on my Picasa: http://picasaweb.google.pl/tow.jablona/Wakacje2008GRskiKarabachIIran#