ONE WAY TOUR -> https://onewaytour.com/group-tours/arshav-depi-khosrovi-argelots

We heading into the Khosrov Forest State Reserve where the famous Vahagni & Astghik Waterfalls are located in the Ararat Region not too far from Yerevan

We were told to wear hiking / sports shoes for a “medium” difficulty hike of 4kms… how hard could it be right??? (especially after the very easy 5km the other week)

The streets were quiet and bare at 8:30am – it’s like a ghost town in Yerevan in the mornings on the weekends! I love it lol but it ended up being all blocked off due to a fun run or something like that in the city

Ended up being early and we waited another 15mins for some late comers

It was a lovely group of all women and 2 young boys 12 year olds

Our driver was Nigolai and our guide was Armen who was a lovely young guy who has worked for OWT for 4 years now

We had a full day ahead of us with an exciting jeep ride to begin with

We passed by the beautiful snow capped Ararat mountain, so majestic!

We drove to Garni and jumped onto the jeep and started out drive into the reserve
The entrance to the Khosrov Reserve forest, locked and guarded

KHOSROV RESERVE

Registered as “state reserve” in 1958, this area was used as a hunting ground for Armenian King Khosrov B Kotak

Located in ARARAT region on the slopes of mountain ranges of Geghama Tasanord Yeranos Irits and Khosrovasar mountains in basins of Azat & Vedi rivers

An area of 27,000 hectares and is characterised with forest, semi desert, alpine and dry mediterranean vegetation, there was a massive mix of scenery we saw which was so unique and so interesting to this area!

There are more than 1500 species of animals including bears and leopards!

We jumped into the jeep really not knowing what to expect, I was excited, I was sitting at the back ao knew I was going to get a bumpier ride! But wasnt expecting what I got!

The differences in scenery were very apparent and looks like there were from different parts of the world!

This scene reminded me of Mediterranean Italy!

The scenery was beautiful driving along the bumpy tracks in the jeep – the mountains were so huge and full of different colours

This was the hill that we all got stuck on for quite a bit, there was a lot of slipping and sliding on the way up as there was not many places to put our shoes and lean our weight on, those tuffs of grass worked well but there were not many of them in strategic places as you went further up

VAHAGNI WATERFALL – is one of 4 waterfalls located in the area and named in the honour of pagan God of fire and war, Vahagn, in ancient Armenian mythology

Going back down was worse!! Suzan, one of the older ladies broke her ankle as she slipped down with Armen (the guide) and they both went sliding until Armen caught hold of a tree on the way and the ranger had to come and help them both

It really was very steep and there was no foot hold so it was basically crouching as low as possible and taking calculated steps

When we eventually got down to the path, we unfortunately had to leave Suzan there at the bottom and we went to the other waterfall – along the way we saw beautiful green scenery and followed this brook the whole way to the next waterfall

Some areas were really steep and some people started freaking out asking if it was like the last drop that we came down from, I think we were all pretty scarred actually!

But this hike wasn’t as bad, we did climb over trees and shuffle down some steep parts and finally got to Astkhig Waterfall

Astkhig Waterfall

This waterfall is 3m deep in the deepest part – everyone loved sitting here and taking photos from this rock

We sat around and relaxed a bit and I enjoyed the crashing noise of the water and recharging my energy

Had lunch at the waterfall I.made a vegan sandwich with vegetables hummus yellow and green peppers bbq eggplant

We went back and the men put Suzan on a stretcher and we walked back to the jeep and they took her to the entrance of the park

We had a break when we got to the jeep and filled everyones bottles with the clear crisp and refreshing water from the river

We jumped back onto the jeep and headed over towards Aghjots Monastery

Kept seeing beautiful scenes of the forest along the bumpy way and collecting leaves and animals that we were whipping past in the jeep!

The Khosrov Reserve that we drove around and hiked in – the distances are really short but because of the quality of the roads it took hours to get anywhere

AGHJOTS MONASTERY

Located 7km south of Geghard consists of churches, gait and some monastic buildings and a cemetery

We began our walking along a small path and it wasnt too hard a walk to the ruins, it was beautiful area with low shrubbery and amazing views
Our group in front of the Monastery Church
Photo from the 2nd storey of the church – there were 2 chapels on either side and I nearly got hit by a tiny bat when I went into one!

The main front altar with religious pictures displayed

The monastery from afar – just looks so serene and a beautiful place to meditate!

We parked a bit away from the Monastery and started our hike from here

We were told that it was snake season so there might be snakes around in the bushes and just to be wary

We saw 2 snakes fighting in the middle of the road!

Enjoying the serenity and not wanting the experience to end

We finally made it back to the bus after a VERY eventful day! eventful but awesome!

Suzan had to be dropped off at emergency hospital as I believed her ankle was broken. After messaging her I found out that it was and she had to have an operation

A full day OVERVIEW :

Ummmm… A day hiking in Khosrov Reserve didn’t turn out to be just a “medium” grade hike… we had a lady break her ankle on a very steep drop, the gravel made everyone just slip and slide! After what seemed like hourssss we all finally descended what was only about a 10m drop! This was the part where I actually thought being a mountain goat would have been good lol

I don’t know the best way to explain this… but we were in a jeep for about an hour beforehand to get to to the start of the hike… but not only was the road unpaved, wild and bumpy but we were absolutely massively pelted & swung at by trees hitting both sides of the jeep cage and the tree parts being flung down our tops, pants, shirts, socks & vardigs! we basically collected (not for any type of scientific research, but merely by accident) ALL the flora AND fauna that lived & breathed in Khosrov Reserve! We had all types of shocked Armenian bugs, spiders, caterpillars and any other types of insects that ever existed in this reserve, slammed down onto us… UGH!… by the end of it everyone was breathing heavily with shocked looks on their faces & glad to get out of the jeep… the inside of the jeep looked like a horticulturalist had had a massive fight with an erratic & out of control chainsaw and a forest! but the bright side was we did see a “May Beetle” which was beautiful!

So, by the end of the day, after fishing out what felt like endless supplies of leaves and crickets from our shirts, we hiked to Vahagni & Astghik waterfalls and after around 4 hours, which included lunch Astghik waterfall listening to the loud roar of the water and recharging, we jumped back on the jeep and headed to Aghjots Monastery which was a beautiful hike via snake infested grass, but meh, after the gravel hill & 3,485.5 bugs crawling down our tops, nothing phased us any more

24MAY25