Kolkheti National Park

Listen first. Water moves slowly here, barely a sound against the reeds. A frog calls from somewhere close, then stops. The air is warm and heavy, and it smells of wet earth, green leaves and something older underneath. That deeper smell is peat, soft ground built from plants that died and never fully broke down. You are standing on the edge of one of the great wetlands of the Black Sea coast, just outside the port town of Poti.

This is Kolkheti National Park, in western Georgia. It was created in 1998 to protect the marshes, lakes, rivers and swamp forests of the Colchis Lowland. The park covers a wide stretch of land near the coast, and it also includes water along the shore. Much of it is flat, low and wet. For a visitor used to mountain views, the landscape can feel strange at first. Here the drama is not height. It is water, light and life.

The name carries a long story. Colchis is the ancient name for this region. Greek writers knew it as a rich and distant land at the eastern end of the Black Sea. In Greek myth, this is where Jason and the Argonauts sailed to find the Golden Fleece. It is a legend, not history. But many historians link the tale to real memories of trade, gold and travel along this coast. So when you look across these marshes, you look at the setting of one of the oldest adventure stories in Europe.

The great river of this land is the Rioni. The ancient Greeks called it the Phasis. It runs out of the mountains of western Georgia and reaches the sea at Poti. Over thousands of years, the river carried mud and sand down from the hills. That material built this lowland, layer by layer. The rivers still shape the park today. They flood, shift and feed the lakes and bogs around you.

The largest lake in the park is Paliastomi, close to the edge of Poti. It is shallow and wide, and its colour changes with the sky, from silver to brown to soft green. The lake is linked to the sea, so its water is a mix of fresh and salt. Here is a detail many visitors do not know. Some researchers believe the remains of the ancient city of Phasis may lie somewhere near or beneath this lake. No one has proven it. The search for the lost city continues, and the idea gives the quiet water a strange weight.

Now look at the ground and the plants. This park protects peat bogs, a rare kind of wetland. In a peat bog, thick moss grows on top of old, wet plant matter. The bog stores water like a sponge and holds carbon that took thousands of years to collect. Bogs like these are common in cold northern countries. Finding them on a warm, humid coast is unusual. Scientists come here to study how these bogs formed, and what they tell us about past climates.

The forests here are worth a closer look too. In the wettest places, trees stand with their roots in water for much of the year. Alder trees are common, and you may also see the Caucasian wingnut, a tall tree with long hanging strings of seeds. Many plants of the Colchis region are relicts. That means they survived from a much older age, when warm, wet forests covered large parts of Europe. Ice ages pushed those forests away almost everywhere else. Here, sheltered between the mountains and the sea, some of them stayed.

This survival is the reason for international recognition. The wetlands of central Colchis are listed under the Ramsar Convention, a global agreement that protects important wetlands. In 2021, parts of this park became part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site called Colchic Rainforests and Wetlands. It is one of Georgia's natural World Heritage listings. The decision placed these quiet marshes beside famous landscapes around the world.

Now raise your eyes to the sky. The eastern Black Sea coast is an important route for migrating birds. Every spring and autumn, huge numbers pass along this narrow corridor between the mountains and the sea. Many stop in these wetlands to rest and feed. Herons stand still in the shallows. Ducks and other waterbirds gather on the open lake. Birds of prey circle overhead. If you are patient, the park changes in front of you as more life appears.

The best way to understand the park is often from the water. Boat trips run on Paliastomi Lake and along the slow rivers that feed it. From a low boat, you sit at the height of the reeds. You hear the motor fade when the boat drifts, and then you hear the birds again. Walking trails and viewing points also let you see the wetland on foot. The visitor centre is a good place to ask what routes are open, because water levels change with the seasons.

The climate here is warm and very wet. Western Georgia is one of the rainiest parts of the country, and the clouds come in from the sea. That rain is what keeps the bogs alive. It also means the light can change quickly, from bright sun to soft grey mist in a short time. Mist over the marshes can be beautiful. Bring a light rain jacket, and do not let a cloudy morning stop you.

People have lived beside these wetlands for a very long time. Poti is a working port, with ships, cranes and railway lines close to the edge of the park. That contrast is part of the story. On one side, there is trade and modern industry. On the other side, there is a landscape that has changed very little in a long time. Fishing, local life and protected nature all share this coast, and the balance between them is not always easy.

Before you leave, stand still for one more minute. Notice how flat the horizon is, and how much of it is sky. Listen for the small sounds, a splash, a call in the reeds, wind in the tall grass. Under your feet, the ground holds thousands of years of plant life, slowly stored in the peat. When you walk back toward Poti and the noise of the port, you carry a little of this stillness with you.