Why go
Ghvirdzava Forest spreads across the foothills beneath the UNESCO-listed Gelati Monastery, a protected pocket of Imereti's vanishing Colchic woodland. These humid slopes preserve relict trees—oriental beech, pontic oak, and rare evergreen understory—that once cloaked the entire region. The forest's name echoes through local memory as gathering ground for centuries; monks from above walked these paths, and villagers still collect wild chestnuts and medlar in autumn. For travelers, it offers something rarer than spectacle: the sound of intact ecosystem, woodpecker drumming, and the filtered light where Caucasian salamanders move through leaf litter. It is worth the journey because Georgia's lowland forests are disappearing fast, and this accessible remnant lets you stand inside living history.