Borjomi-Kharagauli

Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park was established in 1995 in central Georgia, in the Lesser Caucasus, and protects some 850 km². It was the first national park created in Georgia after independence and to international criteria, with support from the German government and WWF, and it is among the largest in Europe.

Its position is a crossroads: the massif lies on the divide between western Georgia, humid and of Colchic influence, and the east, drier and more continental. That transition produces a very high diversity, with forests of oriental beech, Nordmann fir and spruce, subalpine meadows and rhododendron scrub, and a flora in which Tertiary relict elements live alongside steppe species.

The park preserves a sixth of the virgin forest area left in Georgia and is home to brown bear, Caucasian lynx, wolf, red deer and Caucasian grouse, endemic to the range. On its edge is the spa town of Borjomi, famous since the nineteenth century for its carbonated mineral waters, which during the Soviet period were one of the best-known brands in the USSR and remain the district's main export.