Where is the Tugai Forest????????
Last Monday was a holiday here so I decided to actually take the day off from work, which is a rarity because without my work I really don’t have much to do here. Carol who is a friend of mine and a Peace Corps Volunteer here in Ganja was going on a reconnaissance mission for a project proposal she is writing for the organization she works for.
The project site is in a region of Azerbaijan to the very Northwest, right on the Georgian border. Before Soviet times a vast forest spread all over northwestern Azerbaijan but it has since been almost entirely destroyed and only a small patch remains. This small area is also threatened because the villagers living near the forest cut down the trees for heating fuel and their livestock grazes in the underbrush as there is no good grass anywhere else. Any new growth is quickly eaten by the undulates. But the question I always ask is: Why does a country that is so rich in petroleum that it is exporting it to Western countries still have villages that don’t have heating fuel??????????? Answering that question will open a whole can of worms that is probably the root of many of the problems here and the government doesn’t want people to go there.
The forest is supposed to be protected but as with most laws here, they are very hard to enforce. Either there is no person to enforce it or the enforcer takes bribes to look the other way while people break the law. It is really quite discouraging, the corruption in this country.
Anyway back to the story. So Carol and I along with her ‘counterpart’ the Azeri who she is teamed up with for her two year stint in Ganja, and the driver, take us all up to the northern reaches of Azerbaijan, on the best road I have been on in this country. It was awesome!! No mammoth sized potholes or miles of construction. This was also the first time I have ventured further west in Azerbaijan and I was anxious to see what fun and interesting things lay in store. Sadly probably the most notable thing was the myriad of furniture stores along the way. I haven’t quite figured out the Azeri obsession with furniture especially when it is all the same. There are about 4 different kinds of chairs in the whole country.
About an hour and a half later we reached the town of Agstafa where we first had to find the guy who knew where the forest was. So we sat around in the car until a man in a business suit drove up. Then we all went into the new hotel that has been built in Agstafa. This is another curiosity to me and to other Azeris that I have talked to. A new hotel is being built in almost every regional capital in Azerbaijan but it has yet to be determined who will actually stay at these hotels. Its not like Azerbaijan is any kind of tourist destination and I daresay probably never will be. As far as beautiful places- Azerbaijan really doesn’t have very many anymore.
But I digress as usual. Carol and the driver and I hung out in the basement of the hotel drinking tea and listening to Turkish music videos at 200 decibels (because, duh, they sound better that way!) while the other guys tried to locate the other man who could really tell us where the forest was. After about two more hours of sitting and waiting we finally got the go ahead. We hit the road but first we stopped at what I think was the forestry department. We entered an unheated cement block and sat in the damp while the men sat around discussing what I hoped would be the location of this elusive forest. After another 45 minutes or so we got back in our cars and started driving north. I kept looking eagerly out the window in hopes of seeing what I hoped would be uninterrupted swaths of large trees. The roads became narrower and curvier. We passed a border checkpoint and I thought we had crossed into Georgia but we hadn’t. I’m not really sure what the checkpoint was all about. Then we drove past some signs with large bomb-like objects on them and pictures of tractors and people planting with a big red X through it. No digging in the dirt because of mines!!! And to my shock/surprise I looked out the window and there was a large field with those little red flags JUST LIKE IN MINE SWEEPER all over the field. And what was even more frightening is that there were also two soccer goals and children playing and grazing sheep all over the area!! And yes the signs were written in Azeri so there should have been no misunderstanding. I couldn’t believe it.
The other cool thing we saw was a spicket of water that was on fire. It was so neat. I guess its not that unusual here because of all the petroleum. And UNFORTUNATELY I did not have my camera with me because this excursion was a last minute undertaking.
The roads became progressively worse and the towns sparser and even more downtrodden. Carol and I craned our necks to try to find anything that looked like a forest but we saw nothing and anytime a few trees in one place increased our hopes we veered away from them. After driving through another abject village we finally stopped at a large stand of trees but the curious thing was that they were miraculously all in perfectly strait rows and they were all the same type of tree! But the men insisted that this was the Tugai forest. Carol and I exchanged exasperated looks which basically said- “Do they think we are complete idiots!” Carol then convinced them that this was not the Tugai forest but a poor excuse for a reforestation project. The reluctantly agreed and we herded ourselves back into our vehicles and kept driving. Another hour down the road we finally came to a tiny village with more chickens and turkeys than people with a few trees scattered about. We got out and ran to explore the wild woods. The few trees that were left were ENORMOUS. I’ve never seen such huge hardwood trees before. They were all covered in moss and vines which definitely was reminiscent of the Ents in Lord of the Rings. The sad part was that there were so few left and absolutely no new growth. The evidence was all around as to who the guilty parties were. Although we were told that only deer roamed the forest the large hoof prints and large piles of scat told a different story. We also saw several small boys with donkeys pulling small carts of wood down the road. It was clear to us that although the forest was supposed to be protected there was little to nothing stopping the villagers from exploiting this resource. But who can blame them when they are so poor and the government doesn’t provide gas for heat!! When you are living for each day why should you care about the environment? This was the dilemma that Carol was facing in her project proposal. How can you teach people about conservation when the forest is their only means of survival? The only thing that was keeping the large trees standing was the fact that they were too large to be chopped down with an ax. It is only a matter of time before someone brings back a chainsaw from Baku and what few trees remain will be lost as well.
I could imagine what the forest must have used to look like before the Soviet Union. WOW then I can believe that Azerbaijan was once Paradise on Earth (The Garden of Eden is supposedly located here) But the Soviet System had no regard for nature and Aesthetics and so many potentially beautiful places here have been obliterated.
Carol and I had a brief sojourn through the trees, which looked more like the English Garden in Munich than a real forest, until Carol’s counterpart worriedly called after us telling us to come back quickly because the wolves might eat us!! He was totally serious. Carol and I just about died laughing because there was no way that wolves were living in this patch of 20 trees. We made some howling noises and then reluctantly walked back to the group of men and got back in our cars and headed back for Agstafa. We were hoping that there would be some quick connecter road so we wouldn’t have to go back the same way but alas it was back through the minefield we went. We ate a quick supper at a roadside restaurant and then made our way back to Ganja. Where the high light of the return trip was driving through the town of Tovus where there is a 20 foot tall peacock that they light up at night. Amazing really. The juxtapositions are astounding. No heat, no forest but we have giant light up peacocks!! Yeah!!! It sadly reminded me of the blow up lawn ornaments in the U.S. – No place is perfect.
The project site is in a region of Azerbaijan to the very Northwest, right on the Georgian border. Before Soviet times a vast forest spread all over northwestern Azerbaijan but it has since been almost entirely destroyed and only a small patch remains. This small area is also threatened because the villagers living near the forest cut down the trees for heating fuel and their livestock grazes in the underbrush as there is no good grass anywhere else. Any new growth is quickly eaten by the undulates. But the question I always ask is: Why does a country that is so rich in petroleum that it is exporting it to Western countries still have villages that don’t have heating fuel??????????? Answering that question will open a whole can of worms that is probably the root of many of the problems here and the government doesn’t want people to go there.
The forest is supposed to be protected but as with most laws here, they are very hard to enforce. Either there is no person to enforce it or the enforcer takes bribes to look the other way while people break the law. It is really quite discouraging, the corruption in this country.
Anyway back to the story. So Carol and I along with her ‘counterpart’ the Azeri who she is teamed up with for her two year stint in Ganja, and the driver, take us all up to the northern reaches of Azerbaijan, on the best road I have been on in this country. It was awesome!! No mammoth sized potholes or miles of construction. This was also the first time I have ventured further west in Azerbaijan and I was anxious to see what fun and interesting things lay in store. Sadly probably the most notable thing was the myriad of furniture stores along the way. I haven’t quite figured out the Azeri obsession with furniture especially when it is all the same. There are about 4 different kinds of chairs in the whole country.
About an hour and a half later we reached the town of Agstafa where we first had to find the guy who knew where the forest was. So we sat around in the car until a man in a business suit drove up. Then we all went into the new hotel that has been built in Agstafa. This is another curiosity to me and to other Azeris that I have talked to. A new hotel is being built in almost every regional capital in Azerbaijan but it has yet to be determined who will actually stay at these hotels. Its not like Azerbaijan is any kind of tourist destination and I daresay probably never will be. As far as beautiful places- Azerbaijan really doesn’t have very many anymore.
But I digress as usual. Carol and the driver and I hung out in the basement of the hotel drinking tea and listening to Turkish music videos at 200 decibels (because, duh, they sound better that way!) while the other guys tried to locate the other man who could really tell us where the forest was. After about two more hours of sitting and waiting we finally got the go ahead. We hit the road but first we stopped at what I think was the forestry department. We entered an unheated cement block and sat in the damp while the men sat around discussing what I hoped would be the location of this elusive forest. After another 45 minutes or so we got back in our cars and started driving north. I kept looking eagerly out the window in hopes of seeing what I hoped would be uninterrupted swaths of large trees. The roads became narrower and curvier. We passed a border checkpoint and I thought we had crossed into Georgia but we hadn’t. I’m not really sure what the checkpoint was all about. Then we drove past some signs with large bomb-like objects on them and pictures of tractors and people planting with a big red X through it. No digging in the dirt because of mines!!! And to my shock/surprise I looked out the window and there was a large field with those little red flags JUST LIKE IN MINE SWEEPER all over the field. And what was even more frightening is that there were also two soccer goals and children playing and grazing sheep all over the area!! And yes the signs were written in Azeri so there should have been no misunderstanding. I couldn’t believe it.
The other cool thing we saw was a spicket of water that was on fire. It was so neat. I guess its not that unusual here because of all the petroleum. And UNFORTUNATELY I did not have my camera with me because this excursion was a last minute undertaking.
The roads became progressively worse and the towns sparser and even more downtrodden. Carol and I craned our necks to try to find anything that looked like a forest but we saw nothing and anytime a few trees in one place increased our hopes we veered away from them. After driving through another abject village we finally stopped at a large stand of trees but the curious thing was that they were miraculously all in perfectly strait rows and they were all the same type of tree! But the men insisted that this was the Tugai forest. Carol and I exchanged exasperated looks which basically said- “Do they think we are complete idiots!” Carol then convinced them that this was not the Tugai forest but a poor excuse for a reforestation project. The reluctantly agreed and we herded ourselves back into our vehicles and kept driving. Another hour down the road we finally came to a tiny village with more chickens and turkeys than people with a few trees scattered about. We got out and ran to explore the wild woods. The few trees that were left were ENORMOUS. I’ve never seen such huge hardwood trees before. They were all covered in moss and vines which definitely was reminiscent of the Ents in Lord of the Rings. The sad part was that there were so few left and absolutely no new growth. The evidence was all around as to who the guilty parties were. Although we were told that only deer roamed the forest the large hoof prints and large piles of scat told a different story. We also saw several small boys with donkeys pulling small carts of wood down the road. It was clear to us that although the forest was supposed to be protected there was little to nothing stopping the villagers from exploiting this resource. But who can blame them when they are so poor and the government doesn’t provide gas for heat!! When you are living for each day why should you care about the environment? This was the dilemma that Carol was facing in her project proposal. How can you teach people about conservation when the forest is their only means of survival? The only thing that was keeping the large trees standing was the fact that they were too large to be chopped down with an ax. It is only a matter of time before someone brings back a chainsaw from Baku and what few trees remain will be lost as well.
I could imagine what the forest must have used to look like before the Soviet Union. WOW then I can believe that Azerbaijan was once Paradise on Earth (The Garden of Eden is supposedly located here) But the Soviet System had no regard for nature and Aesthetics and so many potentially beautiful places here have been obliterated.
Carol and I had a brief sojourn through the trees, which looked more like the English Garden in Munich than a real forest, until Carol’s counterpart worriedly called after us telling us to come back quickly because the wolves might eat us!! He was totally serious. Carol and I just about died laughing because there was no way that wolves were living in this patch of 20 trees. We made some howling noises and then reluctantly walked back to the group of men and got back in our cars and headed back for Agstafa. We were hoping that there would be some quick connecter road so we wouldn’t have to go back the same way but alas it was back through the minefield we went. We ate a quick supper at a roadside restaurant and then made our way back to Ganja. Where the high light of the return trip was driving through the town of Tovus where there is a 20 foot tall peacock that they light up at night. Amazing really. The juxtapositions are astounding. No heat, no forest but we have giant light up peacocks!! Yeah!!! It sadly reminded me of the blow up lawn ornaments in the U.S. – No place is perfect.
posted by Kateabroad @ 12:30 PM
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