About this tour
Living the Life of Tushetian Shepherds
Tusheti National Park, Georgia
📅 August 14–20 | September 4–10
💶 1,590€ per person | 20% deposit required
🗓️Dates: July 17-23. August 21-28
This is not simply a horseback tour in Georgia.
This is a journey into the heart of Tushetian shepherd culture, a tradition carried for centuries.
For Tushetians, shepherding is not just a job — it is identity, survival, and heritage.
Highlights
🌿 The Story of Tushetian Shepherds
Tusheti is our main homeland and summer pasture.
Every year, for centuries, Tushetian shepherd families migrate seasonally between Tusheti’s alpine pastures and the winter fields of Vashlovani in eastern Georgia.
We spend only five months in Tusheti — from late spring until early autumn.
The rest of the year, our sheep travel hundreds of kilometers to warmer lowlands. This migration is called transhumance, and it is one of the oldest living traditions in the Caucasus.
Tusheti’s alpine pastures are among the most natural and untouched in Europe:
- High-altitude meadows (2,000–3,000 meters)
- Rich mountain herbs
- Wild thyme, alpine flowers, medicinal grasses
- Clean glacier water
Because of this environment, Tushetian sheep produce milk of exceptional quality.
This is why our Tushetian mountain cheese has a strong, unique flavor and high nutritional value.
We have been making cheese in these mountains for centuries.
Being a shepherd for our people means:
- Responsibility for thousands of sheep
- Living months in isolation
- Protecting animals from wolves and weather
- Waking before sunrise every day
- Continuing a tradition from father to son
This tour allows you to live a small part of that life.
🌄 Why This Experience Is Special
This tour connects you with:
- Authentic Tushetian shepherd families
- Alpine summer pastures of the Caucasus
- Seasonal migration tradition between Tusheti and Vashlovani
- Cheese-making techniques preserved for centuries
- The hard but honorable life of mountain shepherds
This is cultural immersion, not tourism.
Itinerary
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Itinerary - day by day
Day 1 – Tbilisi → Diklo → Shenako → Omalo
🏨 Hotel in Omalo
Your journey begins with a dramatic drive into the Caucasus Mountains.
We explore Diklo and Shenako, ancient stone villages overlooking Dagestan.
You begin to understand how isolated and strong mountain life is.
Evening in Omalo with traditional dinner.
📏 15–18 km | ⏱ 4–6 hours riding
🏕 Overnight at traditional sheep farm
We ride toward Oreti Lake, crossing open alpine landscapes.
From there we continue to a remote Tushetian shepherd farm — a summer mountain shelter called “bina.”
Here you meet the shepherd family.
You will:
- Help gather sheep
- Learn how the camp is organized
- Eat traditional shepherd food
- Sleep in mountain tents under the stars
This is real life — not a performance.
📏 14–18 km | ⏱ 4–6 hours riding
🏕 Camping at shepherd farm in Sabue
We wake before sunrise.
You will witness:
- Sheep milking at dawn
- Fresh milk processing
- Traditional Tushetian cheese making
- Fire-heated copper pots
- Natural fermentation methods
You can participate in milking and cheese preparation.
Later we ride through Shtrolta and arrive in Sabue, where you will see the evening shepherd routine:
- Counting sheep
- Protecting animals
- Preparing animals for night
You experience shepherd evening life — quiet, strong, and disciplined.
📏 18–22 km | ⏱ 5–7 hours riding
🏡 Guesthouse in Jvarboseli
We ride through remote Tusheti villages:
Vestmo, Vestomta, Iliurta.
These lands are open, wild alpine pastures — rich grassland where sheep graze freely.
Arrival in Jvarboseli for a warm shower and comfortable night.
📏 15–18 km | ⏱ 4–6 hours riding
Ride deeper into Pirikiti Valley toward Girevi.
Here you meet cow farmers and see:
- Cow milking
- Dairy storage methods
- Differences between sheep and cow cheese production
Another evening of mountain farming stories.
📏 20–24 km | ⏱ 6–7 hours riding
🏨 Hotel in Omalo
We visit historic Dartlo and Kvavlo, stone defensive villages built centuries ago.
Return to Omalo for farewell dinner and celebration.
Departure day.
You leave not just with photos — but with understanding.
Price
💶 1,590€ per person | 20% deposit required
Clothing
- Comfortable riding trousers. T-Shirts.
- Long sleeved shirts.
- Short multipurpose riding/walking boots and half chaps. We recommend your boots are waterproof.
- Waterproof coat.
- We recommend a breathable coat. We recommend you bring clothes which can be put on in layers when it is cold and taken off as it warms up.
- Fleece, jumper, or jacket.
- Warm coat
- Waterproof riding gloves.
- Waterproof trousers or leggings.
- Sunglasses – with a neck strap.
- Casual clothes – for when you are not riding.
- Shoes – for when you are not riding.
- Socks and underwear.
- Swimwear.
- Thick socks.
- Set of thermal underwear
- Woolly or fleece hat.
- Bum bag (waist bag) for keeping small items like lip salve close to hand.
- Supply of candy/sweets to help keep up energy levels.
- Water bottle. It is important to drink plenty of water, particularly if the temperatures are hot. Metal water bottles are particularly useful as they can double as hot water bottles at night!
- You may want to bring a sleeping bag liner or you own sleeping bag
- Pocket Knife (but remember to pack into your checked in luggage on flights).
- Small torch – a head torch is particularly useful (take spare batteries).
- Dry bags/supply of plastic carrier bags – always useful for separating wet and dry kit.
- A sarong and flip-flops can be practical where washing facilities are limited.
- Ear Plugs – if you are a light sleeper.
- Bandana or Buff. These have a myriad of uses including keeping you cool when it’s hot or warm when it’s cold.
- Contact lens wearers should take glasses as dry air can make contact lenses uncomfortable. If you do take contacts, we recommend daily disposable lenses.
- Towel
- Hand Sanitizer
- Wet wipes
- Personal medical kit with antiseptic cream, pain relief tablets and sticking plasters.
- Moisture absorbing baby powder can be useful to prevent chafing. Compeed blister plasters work well on sore patches, acting as a second skin. Sudocrem, E45, Vaseline or similar soothe rubbed skin.
- Any medication you regularly take.
- Sun protection cream.
- Due to the altitude the sun can be strong, and we advise a high factor sunscreen.
- Lip balm.
- Insect repellent and after bite ointment.
- Nasal Spray such as Similasan nose moisturiser which is good for the ‘dry nose’ that can develop at altitude.
- Rehydration sachets (Dioralyte or similar, allow one per day). Imodium or similar.
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