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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
