Zekari Pass ( ka, ზეკარი, also Zikar Pass in some older texts) is a
mountain pass
A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since many of the world's mountain ranges have presented formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human a ...
located in
Georgia's
Meskheti Range
Meskheti Range ( ka, მესხეთის ქედი) (Meskh/Meskhet/Meskhetian Range, Adzhar-Imereti Range, Achara-Imereti Range Adzhar-Akhaltsikh Range also Moschian Mountains) is a part of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range in Meskheti r ...
on the border of the
Imereti
Imereti (Georgian: იმერეთი) is a region of Georgia situated in the central-western part of the republic along the middle and upper reaches of the Rioni River. Imereti is the most populous region in Georgia. It consists of 11 municip ...
and
Samtskhe-Javakheti regions. Though used as a 'caravan' route since times immemorial, the road across the pass remains unpaved, suitable only for off-road vehicles and is usually impassable from October to June.
History
In August 1893, British parliamentarian and explorer
H. F. B. Lynch
Henry Finnis Blosse Lynch, Master of Arts, MA, FRGS (18 April 1862 – 24 November 1913) was a British traveller, businessman, and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Parliament of the United Kingdom, Member of Parliament.
Biography
Lynch was the only ...
took this route between
Kutais
Kutaisi (, ka, ქუთაისი ) is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and the third-most populous city in Georgia, traditionally, second in importance, after the capital city of Tbilisi. Situated west of Tbili ...
and
Akhaltsykh, expounding: "I doubt whether there exists in the nearer Asia a standpoint which commands a prospect at once so grand and so instructive as that which is unfolded from the summit of the Zikar Pass."
[''Armenia: Travels and Studies'' by HFB Lynch, Vol 1, 1965 reprint, page 51]
References
Mountain passes of Georgia (country)
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