Why go
Shaori Lake is a 4.8-square-kilometer reservoir created in 1957 when the Shaori River was dammed to generate hydroelectric power, drowning a valley of villages and orchards beneath its surface. The result is one of Georgia's most hauntingly beautiful bodies of water: forested Caucasus foothills plunge directly into water so still it inverts the sky. Local memory preserves the lost settlements—divers have found submerged church foundations, fruit trees still standing in the depths—lending the lake an elegiac quality rare in engineered landscapes. The Racha region remains Georgia's least visited province, making Shaori a sanctuary of solitude where wild swimming, forest hiking, and the simple act of watching mist unspool across the water feel genuinely discoveries rather than checkboxes.