Kanjol Plateau, King's Waterfalls, Shadhurei Karst Lakes

 

The Kanzhol Plateau is the closest plateau to the main Caucasian ridge (GCH), its height above sea level in places I offer you reaches a mark of 2950 m above sea level. The distance to the GKH in line of sight is not more than 10 km. The advantages of the Kanzhol plateau are its proximity to the Main Caucasian Ridge and altitude above sea level. For example, Bermamyt.

From GKH is about 30 km away. And from the side of Canjola you can see the Bezengi glacier with its group of five thousand people, and to meet the dawn in clear weather on this plateau is just a bomb!!!

 

 

A little bit about the plateau itself. The plateau has a rocky coating, it is relatively flat. Its highlight is that if you go to its edge and look down under you, a chasm of up to 250-300 meters will open. And this steep wall is not flat. Plus, along the perimeter of the plateau, there are protrusions with a width of 1 to 10 meters along which you can go forward up to 10 meters and it turns out that you are standing on a patch of 2-3 square meters and around.

 

 

There are three sides to you. What a sensation!!! The road to the edge of the plateau is very picturesque. The most beautiful views are periodically opened. You can close to consider those parts of the Caucasus Ridge, which in ordinary life or on the way to Dzhyl-Su are not visible.

King's Falls

 

 

In the network, these waterfalls are also called "Avatar Falls", "Royal Crown", "Elf Waterfalls". With a sheer rock forming a semicircle, from a height of about 60 meters, thousands of jets of water flow, which, either in cascades, then in stormy streams, then in small threads, break down. No stream of water is like any other. Everyone lives their own life, expressing their joy with millions of sparkling sparkles.

 

 

They reflect the sun, the sky and many flowers growing on the alpine meadows. A hundred meters above this waterfall directly from under a huge stone lying on the ground, beats the flow of crystal clear spring water.

It is this spring that gives life to such an amazing cascade and a variety of splashes.

 

 

There are many stops on the way to the waterfalls. On one of them, your eyes opens a panorama of the majestic massif of Elbrus, on the Side Caucasian Range.

Cascading waterfalls are majestic and fresh in a rare corner of virgin wildlife. And this is our time! The fact is that recently a dirt road was laid there, on which you can drive only on SUVs, so that large excursion buses do not go there yet, so this place is not yet “graced” by civilization, and if it is quite honest to say – not spoiled by zealous “nature lovers”. It seems that there is an unusual place of power - a feeling that the soul opens wide open and there is a cleansing not only of the everyday bustle of the city, but also something more! The height of waterfalls is higher

 

 

40 meters and a lot of them drains from the cliffs, but the source is one – beats directly from the roots of a large tree from the depths of the mountain. There you can get water in plastic bottles - it is a little sweet in taste, but very tasty and useful in composition. The lush greens of nature are all around. Nearby grows a lot of thyme and two varieties of wild mountain mint - one tart, with reddish veins, and the other is softer and more delicate to the smell, light green.

 

 

On the slopes grows a lot of purple wild irises and high catchments, which are bright islands pleasing to the eye. On the way to the Tsarsky waterfalls there is another, also picturesque, but a small waterfall, so near it there is an unusual natural stone bridge through a narrow, but very deep gorge - an interesting non-man-made structure.

Shadhurei Karst Lakes!

 

 

Shadhurei (Shadhurei) in translation means "round wool" (literally translated as "round standing water"). Due to the difficulty of transcription of the original name of the lakes into Russian, several distorted names appeared, and now in the literature and on maps, in addition to the name Shadhurei, there are also such names as - Shanghor, Shanthurei, Shadhurei or Chan Khurei.

Shadhurei Lakes consists of two lakes:

Shadhurei First (also Greater or Upper) Shadhurei Second (also Small or Lower)

 

 

Previously, there were three lakes, but at the beginning of the XX century, during unexplained underground processes, one of the lakes became shallow and now only a large basin remained in its place.

The lakes arose as a result of dips that formed during the leaching of limestone from under the sandstones. According to local legend, on the site of these lakes, there were pastoral camps of three brothers, but once the land swallowed the brothers along with the cattle and on these places there were three “evil” lakes, which for many years bypassed the locals. The lakes are surrounded by alpine meadows. The lower western part of both lakes is surrounded by shallow forests. In the eastern, most elevated part, the vegetation of alpine meadows is represented. There are many fish in the lakes.

 

 

The lake is part of the tourist cluster of the Caucasian Mineral Waters and is one of the most visited places of Kabardino-Balkaria by tourists. In 1972, several episodes of Sannikov Land filmed near the lakes. In particular, the sacrifice of a white deer was filmed on the Small Shadhurei, which was swallowed by a whirlpool in the center of the lake, against the background of the Great Shandhurei - a shaman dances.

Don’t miss out on a great opportunity to spend a day off with benefits for your body and soul!