Road to Akarmara. Ghost town in Abkhazia.

If there is no sound, you may watch this video here. This is a picturesque valley of the Aaldzga River in the eastern part of Abkhazia - a state located between the Black Sea and the Caucasus Mountains and not recognized by most countries of the world. The history of the modern republic of Abkhazia begins with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the Georgian-Abkhaz war of 1992-1993, as a result of which Abkhazia proclaimed its independence from Georgia. One of the combat areas was Tkwarchal (Tkvarcheli) - an industrial city in the east of Abkhazia. Three suburbs of Tkvarcheli - Akarmara, Jantukha and Polyana are located 10–12 km to the east, upstream of the Aaldzga River. These settlements were connected with Tkvarcheli by road and railway. Nowadays this dismantled and abandoned railway is a convenient place for grazing livestock. Akarmara was a mining town specializing in coal mining. The construction of the town was started in the Stalin’s era. It consisted of a dozen five-storey residential buildings with all required infrastructure - there were hotel, school, hospital, restaurant, palace of culture, cinema, boarding house and market. Some buildings were constructed by German prisoners after the World War II in the Stalinist Сlassicism style. During the Georgian-Abkhaz war, the Tkvarcheli with its suburbs survived a one-year siege by Georgian forces. Georgia failed to regain Abkhazia under its control and in 1993 the war ended. Most Georgians, who made up half of the 500,000 population of Abkhazia, left the country. As well as other states of the former Soviet Union, in the 90-s Abkhazia experienced a catastrophic industrial decline. All of the 8 coal mines in the vicinity of Akarmara, Jantukha and Polyana were closed. (nevertheless, surface coal mining is still ongoing at an altitude of 1600m) Due to all these factors, Akarmara was almost abandoned. Some buildings became overgrown, others are abandoned recently. There are also habitable five-story buildings. Nowadays, several dozen people live in Akarmara and there is one road stall, which also serves as a place for news sharing. Local residents are engaged in cattle breeding and beekeeping. Recently, Akarmara has become an attractive place for tourists and fans of post-apocalypse. music - Robert Rich - The Night Sky Replies, Robert Rich - Erasing Traces, Robert Rich & Alio Die - Turning To Stone camera - panasonic gh2, lenses - panasonic 14-42 , panasonic 45-150, stabilizer - flycam junior, june 2016