Chegem waterfalls: a beautiful fairy tale of nature

The Chegem Gorge, located in Kabardino-Balkaria, is very unusual. It divides a small republic in half, into the Northern and Southern parts. On the bottom of the gorge flows Chegem - the river, which gave the name of the gorge and waterfalls.

It's hard to say what is most beautiful in the gorge. Chegem waterfalls are amazing with their unusual and beautiful views. They do not flow down from the mountains, they break out straight from the rocks. It seems that the crystal tears of some mysterious huge creature are draining from the stone. Perhaps, that's why the Chegem waterfalls are crying.

Each waterfall has its own story, its tradition. The most powerful of them, which is called "The Girl's Scythe" (Aday-Su), tells a beautiful legend. They say that in the village above the waterfalls lived proud girls with long braids. One day, when not a village was attacked, the girls began to jump from the cliffs, clinging braids to the rocks. They died, but they retained their pride. Their braids turned into a thirty-meter waterfall "Aday-Su", their tears - to other Chegem waterfalls. Photos of these cascades of water are usually successful even for a beginner photographer: the waterfalls are beautiful.

Altitude "Abai-Su" is seventy meters, but the water pressure in it is not the same as in "Aday-Su". Around the waterfalls is a pine forest, filling the moist air with the pure aroma of pine needles, the smell of flowers or melted snow (depending on the season).

I still can not decide when I Chegem waterfalls attract more: in winter, in autumn or in summer. In summer it is pleasant to swim there, in the autumn the gorge seems golden. In winter, freezing water jets form fantastic landscapes.

If you leave a little farther from the waterfalls, you can get to the village of Verkhny Chegem. Local call it Eltbyub. Here there is the Tower of Love, which was built by a very real local resident (only he lived a long time ago), about which now is composed a very beautiful romantic either a fairy tale, or a byl.

Eltbyu is a museum. Not far from the Tower of Love there is a Stone of Shame, there are towers, similar to those that helped to defend themselves against the enemies of the Swanns.

Even further - the ancient settlement, the ruins (well-preserved) of Greek staircases and temples. Tired travelers can drink real mineral water: not from bottles, but directly from a source that is beating from under the ground. The valley of Gara-Auz provides such an opportunity to surprised tourists.

It's hard to enumerate everything that Chegem gorge pleases tourists.

It seems to me that the best here is not at all historical sights, although they are amazingly interesting. For me, the main thing is the feeling of unlimited freedom, the feeling of the flight that the Chegem waterfalls give birth. And I know for sure that I'm not the only one.

Tourists who have visited Chegem, enthusiastically describe the intoxicating air of the gorge, a sense of lightness, embracing both the body, and the soul, a slight romantic excitement. It is difficult to convey by owls. This must be felt.

As soon as it's time to rest, boldly take a ticket and go for the youth and health that Chegem waterfalls give to all who have visited there at least once.