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  • Home
    • About >
      • Our Story
      • Our Team
      • Our Projects
      • Our Supporters
  • ARK Ecological NGO
    • Get Involved
    • Volunteer
  • Blog
  • Explore Kapan
    • Getting There
    • Flora & Fauna
    • Mount Khustup
    • Voghji Valley
  • The Legends Trail, Tatev - Khustup Segment
    • Kapan Spiritual Culture >
      • Կապանի հոգևոր ժառանգությունը
      • Духовное наследие Капана
    • Take the Adventure >
      • Արկածներին Ընդառաջ
      • Навстречу приключениям
    • Entertainment and Pastime >
      • Հետաքրքիր ժամանց
      • Интересное вреяпрепровождение
    • Overnight at the Legends Trail >
      • Գիշերակացը Լեգենդների արահետում
      • Ночевка на тропе Легенд
    • Where to Eat >
      • Որտեղ սնվել
      • Где вкусно поесть
  • Take the Adventure
    • General Guide
    • Tatev - Tandzaver
    • Tandzaver - Antarashat
    • Antarashat - Arajadzor
    • Arajadzor - Shgharshik
    • Shgharshik - Vahanavank
    • Vahanavank - Bekh
    • Bekh - Bekh Anapat
    • Bekh Anapat - Vachagan
    • Vachagan - Baghaburj
    • Baghaburj - Khustup
  • Other Hiking Trails
  • Dacha Trails (Arevashat)
  • На русском
  ARK Armenia

Blog

Volunteering with ARK Armenia in Kapan

4/3/2020

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We are Svenja and Alexander a German couple from Stuttgart which is on world travel for already one year. Therefore we quitted our jobs and flat to be free and started hiking to Istanbul from home. This hike took us 5 months and 10 days or 3.010 km in total. So after all this we can say we love hiking and mountains! It turned out that hiking the Stara Planina mountains in Bulgaria (see “Kom Emine” hiking trail) was one of our most beautiful but exhausting trail sections. When we reached Istanbul we learned to hitchhike all Turkey, later Georgia and Armenia where we spent winter. In this way we want to travel alt the world towards east. From time to time we stop for weeks of volunteering.
 
When we read from Siranush and Armen and their ecological NGO ARK Armenia who offering work to volunteers, we had no alternative than to write them. And here we are!
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Currently we are volunteering with ARK in Kapan the biggest city in south of Armenia. Even though Kapan is well known because of its mining industry its worth to visit it because of its wonderful and divers landscape. For most of tourists their holidays ends with Tatev monastery not going further south to Kapan. We hiked from Tatev up to the mountain on a winter day. With its absolutely breathtaking views and few traffic (we saw just 3 cars this day) this hiking trail on the H45 is absolutely for lovers of hiking. You can expand this hiking trail till the peak of Khustup montain which you can see from the ARK Eco Camp. The total distance of the trail is 80,3 km and you need 6 to 8 days to walk it all while its medium difficult to walk (no hard climbing parts).
 
One day of volunteering with ARKOr day starts at 9 o’clock with preparing new signposts for the hiking segment from Vahanavank Monastery to Bekh (see GPX-Trail here, description here). The elder signs should be replaced by new ones with specific information of duration and mileage.
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So we hike down from ARK Eco Camp (which is our home for few weeks) with our backback full of a screw driver, our GPS gadget, 10 brandnew signs for the hiking trail, a camera and a picnic. ​
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 Our meeting point is at the ARK office in center of Kapan where we meet Siran and Armen to talk about our work for the day. A taxi driver then brings us up to Vahanavank monastery. It’s much cheaper to take a taxi here than in Centraleurope and taking it is kind of normal transport.
From the monastery of 10 th century we start hiking through a beautiful forest with a wild river and lot’s of snow in beginning of March. Charateristic for these oak-beeach-forests are the snowdrops in their undergrowth.
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The second signpost is laying on the ground after a heavy storm weeks before and we have to come again with beton and shuffle some other day. We mark all the waypoints in GPS and take a photo of the spot. The hiking trail is softly leading up to a mountain ridge with great view and on the other side down to Halidzor Fortress. ​
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The trail is well marked in red-white-red on rocks and trees. At the Fortress you have a great view over Kapan this is also half time of this hiking section. We pass grazing horses and and a little downhill we come closer to Bekh by passing a little river again. ​
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Bekh is endpoint and has a water fountain in front of the church. While removing the old sign by a new one the locals are interested in our work and start asking about our volunteering. After filling our bottles with fresh water we are invited to drink an armenian coffee in one of the locals house. Rafael – it’s the name of the man - brings us to his house by car which is in best position for sitting on evenings at the balcony. We drink coffee with Rafael who tells us about his past and current living in village Bekh. After hiking down again to come back to Kapan we hitchhike back to center, the first car stopps...everything is fine in Armenia!
 
What else is to be done at ARK Eco Camp
At the campground we are preparing beds for seeding or pruning in the Permaculture Garden and repair everything to get the campground ready for new saison. We install water system and shower, building brick walls and tidying up.
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Freetime in KapanIn our free time we had walks to the city center of Kapan or visited the regional museum. In this museum you can see archaeological finds from Kapan and surrounding. You can see famous Armenians on pictures or learn about mining industry in Kapan. And even the history of Silk Road is mentioned here.
Kapan has plenty of shops and you can find cafés and restaurants as well.

We enjoy to having lunch outdoor with great view to Mount Khustup.
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Tandzaver Eco Camp Re-branding

1/25/2020

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Tandzaver Eco Camps project is part of bigger a bigger project - ARK Bridge. ​
ARK Bridge is the project of ARK Ecological NGO initiated in 2015 aimed at connecting Tatev with Mount Khustup by means of eco touristic infrastructure.
The infrastructure along the ARK bridge trail which is part of the Legends Trail currently is as follows: Tandzaver Eco Camp, Magic Forest Land Art project near Tandzaver, a partner BV&B in Antarashat, Museum of Ethnography in Dzorasstan, a permaculture project near Dzorastan / including cascade of 10 small ponds and a system of swales/, a permaculture project near Arajadzor, ARK Hostel and Camp in Arajadzor, a partner campsite in Shgharshik village, Ecological Thematic Park in Vahanavank, a pertner b&B in Bekh village, a Land Art project near Vachagan, ARK Eco camp near Baghaburj.

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CALL FOR PROPOSAL/ SHOOTING A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT ECOTOURISM POTENTIAL OF KAPAN REGION

1/30/2018

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"ARK" Environmental NGO announces a competition for shooting a documentary about Kapan's ecotourism potential within the framework of the "Entrepreneurial Skills and Development of Family Entrepreneurship in Agro and Eco Tourism in Kapan Region" funded by the US Embassy Democracy Commission's Small Grants Program.
The goal of the initiative is to present the huge natural and historical heritage of Kapan to potential tourists, tour operators and tour agencies, promoting their visits to Kapan.
The film is to be in 3 languages: Armenian, English, Russian, 7-10 minutes long and have high quality.
The filmmaking stages are as follows:
1. March 1 - April 30, 2018
Discuss and create the script of the documentary
In order to ensure the quality of the script ARK Ecological NGO will provide experts in Kapan's flora and fauna, history and geography.
2. May 1 to May 31, 2018
Carry out shooting in five districts of Kapan, in the villages of Aghvani and Tandzaver, in the basin of the Ajanan and Voghji Rivers, on Mount Khustup, in Shikahogh State Reserve.
Shoot at least 10 hours of video, which will then be the property of ARK Ecological NGO.
Shoot the film with high-tech equipment, including drones.
3. June 1 - June 20, 2018
Mount the movie.
Prepare a 7-10-minute documentary in Armenian, English and Russian.
Provide the film to ARK Ecological NGO until June 20.
All expenses of traveling, transport, shooting and mounting of the documentary are to be covered by the shooting organization.
All interested film studios are invited to submit their proposals until February 10, at arkarmenia@gmail.com 
The offer must include the following information: the official title of the studio, the brief history of the studio and the filmography, the biographies of the film crew members, the technical capabilities of the studio, the documentary film concept and the price offer.
For more information, please call 093 81 26 83
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ARK News & Results 2017

10/10/2017

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Bumper Harvest in ARK Permaculture Garden

ARK permaculture garden is thriving! Our 3 year efforts plus assistance from World Vision Armenia crowned with success! This year we had unprecedented crop of beans, zucchinis, sunflowers, tomatoes, cucumbers and, of course, our favourite pumpkins. The harvest was enough to feed big ARK family together with guests and volunteers and even send some organic food parcels to friends and relatives in Yerevan! And this is only beginning!
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ARK News and Results

10/6/2017

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Breathing exercises 

You live as you breathe. Unfortunately, in modern world people live and breathe in a hurry. While happy healthy breathing is deep, slow and light.  Healthy breathing enriches the body with oxygen and gives energy, it also moves the diaphragm and improves digestion. Healthy breathing is one of the ways to resist stress. So breathing exercises play an important role  in our holistic approach. Just join us, breathe happily! 
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ARK News and Results

10/1/2017

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Assel Took to Climbing Khustup

In July ARK hosted Assel, a volunteer from Kazakhstan. She stayed with us for a month and helped us in the permaculture garden, assisted in developing a permaculture study course and maintenance of the camp. During her stay Assel climb to Khustup summit twice. First she went there as a tourist and for the second time she served as a guide and helped two German tourists to climb to the summit. Dear Assel, you are always welcome back! 
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ARK News & Results 2017

9/28/2017

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Sustainable Energy Academy

In August 2017 ARK members took part in itinerant session of Sustainable Energy Academy organized by American University of Armenia Acopian Center for the Environment. The speakers presented the latest technological decisions that will help to switch to sources of renewable energy or LED lamps as well as technologies that help to save energy. The University will help the participants to prepare projects to be presented in Yerevan with a view to get financial support from investors.
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ARK News & Results

9/21/2017

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Scientists Have their Holidays at ARK

In August ARK had volunteers from Switzerland Roman, PhD in Agro-Ecology and his wife Rahil, a physician. They helped us to supply the camp with comfort. But we are especially greatful to them for assistance in the project of developing eco-tourism in the village of Tandzaver, which is an important hub in ARK Bridge project. The project aims at having positive ecological effect, reducing CO2 emission and increasing energy efficiency, preventing land erosion and degradation, recovering population of the local fish breed. ARK will do their best to penalize the project in spring 2018. Follow our news!
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ARK News & Results 2017

9/20/2017

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Eco Car in the Eco Camp

In April 2017 ARK had special guests from Switzerland, Benedict with his wife. They undertook the firs travel about Eurasia by electric car Tesla. They began their travel in Switzerland further to Balkans, Turkey, Georgia and came to Armenia. After Kapan they continued their way through Iran, Central Asia to Russia, from where they will go back to Germany. Their aim is to show advantages, accessibility and comfort of traveling by electric car even through countries where there are no electric charging stations. In most cases they charged their car from ordinary socets, for extra charging they used ifrastructue of industrial enterprises. While the Tesla was charging in the furniture factory Benedict and his wife told us a lot of interesting about their amazing journey. Thanks, guys, we are very glad you have chosen ARK!😘🤗
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ARK News & Results 2017

9/19/2017

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1 ha Permaculture Garden Mapped

ARK plans to establish a 1 ha community based permaculture expo garden in Arajadzor. The expo garden will be used for big scale permaculture training as well as an eco-farming fair where the farmers will sell their goods to eco tourists. 
A permaculture garden begins with design and landscaping which requires mapping first. Our volunteers from Czech Republic who are professional cartographers mapped the plot for the expo garden. In September – October we plan to do landscaping and plant 200 fruit trees and bushes given to us by ATP. Everybody who wants to help with tree planting is welcome! Join in! 
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