# Ureki Magnetic Sands
- URL: https://explore-georgia.ge/en/places/ureki
- Type: place to visit
- Region: Guria
- Coordinates: 41.994444, 41.760556

Ureki is a township and seaside climatic resort in Ozurgeti Municipality on the Black Sea shore, 4 metres above sea level, 24 kilometres from Ozurgeti, 60 from Batumi and about 20 from Poti; the mouths of the Sepa and the Supsa bound it to the north and south, Mount Tsvermaghala rises to the east, the township has a railway station and the S2 highway, and the census of 2014 counted 1,166 inhabitants. The name is a hunting term for an impassable wooded place from which game cannot be driven. The climate is maritime subtropical, with warm snowless winters and hot summers: the mean annual temperature is 14.5 degrees, January's 5.8 and July's 22.6, and 2,080 millimetres of rain fall.

What sets Ureki apart is its sand: unlike the pebble shores of the Black Sea, here lies fine black sand holding 2–7 per cent magnetite iron ore and producing a raised magnetic field. In 2014 staff of the Dusheti geophysical observatory measured an average of 150–250 microtesla along the whole beach, in places up to 850, and the anomaly is recognised as a natural healing factor for the cardiovascular, respiratory and musculoskeletal systems and for neuroses. The resort quarter is called Magnetiti, a strip 2–2.5 kilometres long and 500–600 metres wide between the Kuchkha and Sepa rivers, whose beach is 1–1.5 kilometres long and 60–80 metres wide; the sea is shallow by the shore and for 20–40 metres does not reach an adult's neck, which suits children especially. A grove of Pitsunda pine planted from 1949 shades the shore, in the 1970s the year-round sanatoria Mtis Broli, Kolkheti and Megobroba were built, and today there are many hotels and guesthouses.

## History

The seaside land of Ureki, the so-called Nazurgebi, was settled in prehistory: at the mouth of the Supsa several hoards of bronze objects have come to light at different times, known together as the "Ureki hoard" and dated by scholars variously between the eighteenth and fourteenth centuries BC, among them a gold agraffe set with agate now in the Georgian National Museum. In the Iron Age the magnetite of Ureki was used as ore for smelting iron, and excavations in the 1970s uncovered on Tsvermaghala a cemetery of 72 Early Iron Age graves with pottery, weapons and ornaments. At the start of the eighteenth century the Sepa fortress was built at the mouth of the Sepistskali, held by an Ottoman garrison by 1804.

In 1931 a citrus farm of 489 hectares was laid out at Ureki, and archaeological surveys were made in 1936, 1938 and 1948. In 1944 the mining of magnetite began; German prisoners of the Ureki camp loaded the sand for the Rustavi metallurgical works, and one of them, the scientist Erich Andere, who suffered from cardiovascular disease and severe arthritis, noticed that the sand did him good and reported it to the Soviet authorities. In 1949 it was decided to lay out a resort zone along the 50-kilometre coast of Guria from Kobuleti to Poti and the Pitsunda pines were planted, and building of the resort began in the Magnetiti quarter; in 1953 Ureki received township status, in 1955 new magnetite sands were found, in 1963 the first observations were made, from 1977 the resort factors were studied systematically, and in 1987 the eight-storey rest house Mtis Broli was built.

## Visit info

Ureki has a railway station on the Samtredia–Batumi line, the S2 highway runs through it, and roads link it with Ozurgeti and Kobuleti; by car it is about an hour from Batumi, an hour and a half from Kutaisi and half an hour from Ozurgeti. Beach services and the bathing season are best checked locally.

## Tips

Run a magnet over the sand and the black grains cling to it, an easy experiment for children. The magnetite beach lies in the Magnetiti quarter between the Kuchkha and Sepa rivers, shaded by the Pitsunda pines planted from 1949.

## Safety

The black sand heats up strongly in the sun, so shoes and shade help at midday; the sea is shallow for 20–40 metres from the shore; where lifeguards are on duty, follow their instructions. Those with heart disease should agree sand baths with a doctor.

## Sources

- [Ureki — Georgian Wikipedia](https://ka.wikipedia.org/wiki/ურეკი)
- [Ureki — English Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ureki)
- [Ureki — Russian Wikipedia](https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Уреки)
- [Ureki — Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3651285)

## This page in other languages

- [ქართული](https://explore-georgia.ge/ka/adgilebi/ureki-magnetitis-sanapiro)
- [Русский](https://explore-georgia.ge/ru/mesta/ureki-magnitnye-peski)