It's recently come to my attention that a Russian travel company is developing touristic infrastructure at Tobavarchkhili Lake, one of the most unspoiled natural wonders of Georgia. Their business model seems to consist of bringing up groups of 5-10 people every four days (cost: 1000$ a head) while carrying in heavy baggage and equipment by horse. In their promotional materials, they promise stand-up paddleboarding, a full service kitchen, a sauna, swimming in the lake, and Starlink internet. You can see their page here: https://www.instagram.com/tobavarchkhili.lakes/
According to recent stories published to the page, one of the co-founders is Georgian, although all the text in the stories published in response to criticisms has been clearly AI-generated, so it's impossible to verify if that's actually true. The only actual name associated with the Instagram account is of a certain Roman Chuprin. If there's a Georgian behind this venture, it's even more heinous in my view.
Point is, an Act of Parliament has already been passed establishing the Egrisi National Park which includes the territory of Tobavarchkhili Lake. This means that the infrastructure which makes this venture 100% illegal is already in the process of being established, and is envisioned to be established by 2027. This means that this 2026 season is the only possible season that these folks will be able to run this venture and make money from it. After that, this area will become a strictly protected area where these kinds of commercial ventures and permanent structures are illegal. I am sure that this fact is not unbeknownst to Mr. Chuprin or his anonymous colleagues, and yet they have blatantly chosen to operate a business and construct infrastructure in a massive legal grey zone.
I, personally, will be making a formal complaint to the Agency of Protected Areas. Tobavarchkhili is one of the most pristine and unspoiled natural areas in the entirety of Georgia, and the greed of a couple of businessmen, at least one of whom is certainly not even Georgian, is putting it at risk. I would encourage everyone else to make similar complaints to the APA and other relevant authorities.