Shaori Reservoir

The Shaori reservoir, which people simply call Shaori lake, lies in the Shaori basin on the northern slope of the Racha range, exactly where the road that crosses the Nakerala pass from Kutaisi enters Racha. The lake stretches 7.1 kilometres from south-west to north-east, its greatest width is 2.7 kilometres, its area 9.2 square kilometres, its greatest depth 14.5 metres and its mean depth 9.8, and it holds 90.6 million cubic metres of water. It is fed by its tributaries and by the rain that falls directly on its surface, 1,500 millimetres a year. The basin is built of Lower Cretaceous limestone and the karst is strongly developed: before the reservoir there were two small karst lakes here, Kharistvali and Dzrikhistvali, which now lie under the water. The shores are mostly low and gently sloping, with bluffs in places; a broad-leaved forest surrounds the lake, and above it stands the village of Nikortsminda with its eleventh-century church.

The reservoir was created in the 1950s for the Shaori hydroelectric plant: a rockfill dam 11.5 metres high and 1,210 metres long holds back the river Shaori, which used to vanish periodically into karst sinkholes, and throws the water by a 3,750-metre canal, a 1,326-metre tunnel and a 2,895-metre pipeline into the Kvirila basin, into the Tkibuli valley, with a head of 478 metres, the highest in Georgia. The first unit started in 1955, and the plant has a capacity of 40 megawatts. So Shaori lies in Racha, but its electricity is born in Imereti.

Today Shaori is one of the busiest places of rest in Racha: tents go up on the shore, picnics are laid out, people swim in summer, anglers bring in carp and trout, mushrooms and berries are gathered in the forest, and a path climbs the Nakerala range above the lake. It is at its finest in autumn, when the forest around the lake turns red and the Nikortsminda ridge is mirrored in the water.

The Shaori basin was always a place of water: two small lakes, Kharistvali and Dzrikhistvali, lay on its karst floor, and the river Shaori lost itself in sinkholes and ran underground; in the description of Prince Vakhushti this corner of Racha is wooded and full of lakes. The eleventh-century church of Nikortsminda was built above the basin partly because the road to the Nakerala pass and the lowlands could be watched from here.

In the middle of the twentieth century Soviet power engineering used the basin as a natural reservoir: for the upper step of the Shaori–Tkibuli cascade an earth dam was built in the 1950s and the water was sent by tunnel into the Kvirila basin with a head of 478 metres. The first unit of the Shaori plant was switched on in 1955, and the station remains the hydroelectric plant with the highest head in Georgia. The lake covered the old karst lakes and created a new landscape below the village of Nikortsminda.

Since 2007 the Shaori plant has belonged to the Czech company Energo-Pro. The reservoir is today part of the tourist routes of Racha, since every road from Kutaisi towards Nikortsminda and Ambrolauri passes along its shore.

Shaori is about 60 kilometres from Kutaisi by way of Tkibuli and the Nakerala pass, and about 20 from Ambrolauri; the asphalt road follows the shore and several tracks lead down to the water. Marshrutkas to Ambrolauri run from the Kutaisi bus station. The lake is open, entry and camping are free, and no ticket or permit is needed; food and lodging are found in Ambrolauri and the nearby villages. Check the fishing rules locally. It is at its finest in autumn.