Tusheti trip, July 2016

We went to Tusheti region of Georgia at the end of July 2016 for a ten day trek. Here is a short summary of practical information from the route.

Maps

• Geoland maps, both on paper (purchase in Tbilisi at their HQ), for GPS and on-line at http://mygeorgia.ge (use the flag to switch to Latin letters).
• OpenMTB maps are a good free data source for Garmin GPS.
• Soviet 1:100 000 military maps are still worth the try. 

Getting there and back

Tbilisi-Alvani-Omalo

Marshrutka goes every morning at ~9-10 AM from Ortachala bus terminal in Tbilisi to Telavi and possibly Khemo Alvani (price is 7 GEL with luggage, the driver will try to get more).

From Khemo Alvani over the Abano pass you'll need a 4WD jeep (seriously). You can ask the marshrutka driver to negotiate you some, or get some on the spot. Standard price is 50 GEL per person or 250 GEL per jeep; most common is Mitsubishi Delica.

We went with Mamuka Kindolauri, +995 577 378 414 and we can recommend him (he can also arrange to pick you up at the airport).

Shatili-Tbilisi:

There is a marshrutka link between Shatili and Tbilisi twice a week. The road is way better than the one to Omalo, but still it takes six hours to get to Tbilisi. Buy tickets in advance, the driver stays in Shatili on Tuesday night and during the weekend.

Marshrutka schedule:

Tbilisi (Sangori station) to Shatili: Tuesday and Friday at 9 AM.

Shatili to Tbilisi: Wednesday and Sunday at ~10 AM.

Approximate price of Delica to Tbilisi is 250 GEL; the price is generally the same to Barisakho (200 GEL) or Roshka (250 GEL).

Food and fuel

In Tbilisi, gas cartridges can be purchased in Geoland and there's one more shop to be opened in the Old town, near the Public service building, soon.
Also, you might succeed in Tbilisi mall.

There's a small shop in Omalo, but no option to buy fuel.

There's a small shop in Shatili, with canned meet, sweets, tea etc..

On the Shatili-Tbilisi road benzin/gasoline can be purchased in the grocery shop in Barisakho (5 l bottles for water), the shop is generally well equipped.

Mobile coverage

4G is widely available in villages, not in the mountains to much, though. MagtiCom seems the best option, if you want voice and data coverage.

SIM can be purchased at the airport for all three companies, beware that at least Beeline does not offer all the options at the airport.

• Beeline: Limited coverage around Omalo and the upper valley. No coverage in Shatili and further then Verkhovani. See the coverage map. Note that international SMS don't work off the shelf and aren't covered by "unlimited SMS" plan.
• Magti has better coverage in the mountains and covers Shatili and the Shatili-Tbilisi way (coverage map).
• I didn't find coverage map for Geocell.

This could help: http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Georgia

Electricity

Many guesthouses in the villages have solar panels and will be able to recharge a phone or so. In Shatili, there's a hydroelectric station and power is abundant (everyone has electricity).

Other resources

• Slavomír Horák's http://tusetie.webnode.cz 
• http://www.caucasus-trekking.com/tusheti
• Wikiloc has numerous track records in the area, downloadable to GPS:
  http://www.wikiloc.com/trails/hiking/georgia/akhmetis-raioni/omalo
• Tusheti national park: http://www.tusheti.ge/