Places in Georgia

A volcanic-tectonic lake in Ninotsminda municipality, in the northeastern part of the Javakheti volcanic highland, between the Samsari and Javakheti ranges, at 2,073 metres above sea level: by surface area (37.5 square kilometres) the largest lake in Georgia. It is shallow (3.3 metres at most), freezes in winter and is rich in fish; Poka, Vladimirovka, Tambovka and Rodionovka stand around it, and the Poka monastery on its shore.

The largest reservoir of Racha-Lechkhumi, on the northern slope of the Racha range beyond the Nakerala pass at 1,100–1,200 metres: a lake 7.1 kilometres long and 9.2 square kilometres in area, created in the 1950s by an earth dam on the river Shaori, which covers two old lakes in a karst basin, feeds the Shaori hydroelectric plant with the highest head in Georgia and is a favourite of anglers and campers at the foot of Nikortsminda.

An oval lake in the valley of Lechkhumi at Surmushi, held back since 1953–1960 by a 69-metre arch dam, the first tall dam of Georgia: 3.2 kilometres long and up to 70 metres deep, fed by the Lajanura and by water brought through a tunnel from the Tskhenistskali, it drives the underground Lajanuri power plant and shows as a turquoise ribbon from the viewpoint of Orbeli.

The "Silver Lake": a glacial cirque lake on the southern slope of the Egrisi range at 2,650 metres, up to 35 metres deep, fishless and fresh, attended by the Mingrelian myth of the golden-fleeced ram and the flock led into the water: the goal of one of the most popular trekking routes in Georgia.

One of the deepest mountain lakes of the South Caucasus, in a gorge east of the Gagra range at 884 metres above sea level: the water of the Lashipse dammed by a rockslide, and one of the main tourist sights of Abkhazia, reached by a road from the coast since 1936.