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Husband, wife, three kids eight-years-old and under set off from our guest house in Ureki on a semi-grim day with rain and storm clouds threatening. We drove north towards Poti, and the rain did pour in two brief curtains. but we were determined: we were going on a boat tour!
We arrived at the Kolkheti National Park administration on the left-hand side before entering Poti and had a look around at the information boards while the kids explored the interactive program which allowed them to choose from images of native birds and listen to their calls. Then we paid 90 GEL for our 3-hour tour and set off to find the boat.
A few hundred meters up the road towards Poti, a small brown sign on the right directed us down a track to a T-Junction. A left, then right and over a very old concrete one-lane bridge with no safety-barrier. The other side were the ruins of a military camp, the barracks building now occupied by poor local families. And in front of us, the huge Paliastomi Lake. Clouds still threatening, the driver of our chosen speedboat (the newer of the two) was reluctant to take us. The situation was made worse when another guest, a fisherman, slipped on the broken wooden dock and stuck his leg down the hole where a board should have been.
Finally, some blue sky and we got the green light. We all clipped into life-jackets (no child-size ones, so my 4-year-old ended up peering out of the armpit hole when he sat down!), we climbed on board and the driver set off nice and slowly across the lake (he chose not to don his life-jacket at all). When he was sure we were holding on and comfortable, he opened up the motor and we understood the "speed" behind the name speedboat!
We saw a few birds on the way and the children enjoyed the salty spray. Then we were on the other side and moving into one of the multiple rivers that zigzag through the Park. It was, as promised, a real everglade feeling- we could almost imagine the fallen logs were crocodiles! Not much wildlife to be seen, but I suppose if we had stopped a while at the bird-watching tower, we would have seen more. The driver was not so talkative, though my husband is Georgian and tried to engage him with a few questions (he didn't speak English), which was a shame because we could have learnt a lot more had he been more engaging.
After some ten minutes, we arrived at the picnic spot- two sheltered tables on the bank, a toilet area and a lot of forest! We went on a small exploration. The up was the horses- three whites, a gray and a small brown foal. Of course, I told the kids they were unicorns! The downs were the mosquitoes and the amount of plastic bottles that were strewn around from river floods and lazy picnickers. "Doing our bit," we collected arm-fulls of bottles and left them near the single bin in the picnic area. Not sure how often they have cleaning services.
We'd come prepared with our own sandwiches. We had around 40 minutes to eat and explore some more- and the sun came out! There is a fire-pit for campers and guests staying longer. We'd also passed a wooden hut on the way, meant for those who wanted to spend the night, I suppose.
Exhilarated by the isolation and nature, we set off back to the Lake and dock. The wind had picked up and the open water was choppy, slapping the underside of the craft hard. We're a fearless bunch, though, and smiled all the more because of the rough ride. Birds seen were seagulls and black and white storks. We also glimpsed a flash of blue in the river area- a kingfisher, perhaps?
While leaflets are available in Georgian and English at the administration building, and the displays there are up to the latest international standards of presentation, I would say a lot more could be done to improve the tour experience itself. Being left to our own devices was liberating but we all felt the guide could have been more engaging, especially with the children, throwing in some fun-facts along the way, pointing out some of the wildlife or divulging some local history or legend. As with many things in Georgia, the concept is still "in development" and I look forward to seeing the final product a few years of tourism-training down the line!
Lake Paliastomi is a small lake near the city of Poti, Georgia, connected to the Black Sea by a narrow channel. Its surface area is 17.3 km² and the mean depth is 2.6 m. Some ancient pieces of Colchis have been found near and in the lake by archaeologists. It is also an important fishery site.