Okatse/Martvili Canyons and Prometheus Cave
9/25/2025
We did a day trip to see a couple canyons and a cave about 1.5 hours northwest of Kutaisi.
The first stop was Okatse canyon which is a deep and narrow ravine measuring 3 to 6 meters wide and 20 to 100 meters deep. There is a 780 meter metal hanging bridge/trail to walk through the canyon. It is REALLY high up! If you look really close in the first photo you can see the bridge in the distance. It was amazing, but we really couldn’t get any good photos that depict how high up you are because there was so much foliage. I expected the terrain to be more like the canyons we have seen in the western part of the US. It wasn’t, so the views down into the canyon just don’t do it justice.
The next stop was the Martvili canyon. It is much smaller than Okatse, but we actually liked this one better because we were down in the canyon and had prettier views. We did a short boat tour through part of it, and walked another section. It was really pretty.
Our final stop of the day was Prometheus Cave, a 60-70 million-year-old cave with a 1.8 km guided walk. It was nice as far as caves go, but we’ve seen so many caves that we are kind of over them at this point! But it was part of the tour, so we did the walk through and snapped a few photos.
Back in the day, before the cave was protected, locals used to go in and break off pieces of stalagmites and stalactites and otherwise deface the cave. There was one old local who took it upon himself to guard and protect the cave! For three decades, he cared for Prometheus cave on his own day in and day out. He is credited with saving it from inevitable destruction.
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