The Bzyb or Bzipi ( or ; ka, ბზიფი, Bzipi; ab, Бзыҧ, Bzyṗ; russian: Бзыбь, Bzybj) is one of the two largest rivers of

Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which v ...

, along with the Kodori, and the twelfth longest river in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

. The river valley has rich biodiversity of herbaceous garden plants, particularly in the gorge section in the upper reaches where the most prominent and colourful bellflower ' with profuse growth of 100 flowers per plant is given the name, the "Queen of the Abkhazian flora". During 1904-1917 it served as the

border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political bo ...

between

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

Sukhumi Okrug The Sukhumi or Sukhum Okrug was a special administrative district (''okrug'') in the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, part of the Kutaisi Governorate from 1883 until 1905. The administrative center of the district was the Black Sea por ...

and

Black Sea Governorate The Black Sea Governorate was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, established in 1896 on the territory of the of the Kuban Oblast. The administrative center of the governorate was the Black Sea port of ...

Etymology

It is significant, that "Bzipi" is a comparatively new name of the river. Until the 1820s it was called "Kapoetis Tskali" (literally meaning "Water of Kapoeti"). This is a Georgian name and comes from the name of the fish "Kapoeti". Fish Kapoeti belongs to the trout-salmon family. This large variety of trout dwells in this river. It has also been said that "Bzyp" is associated with the Georgian name for the box tree (pussy-willow) plant - ''ბზა'' (Bza). The main river of Abkhazia flowing near the box-trees or the gorge of Bzyp is called box-tree or Bzipi.

Geography

The Bzyb basin located in the zone of humid subtropics of the

Caucasus Mountains The Caucasus Mountains, : pronounced * hy, Կովկասյան լեռներ, : pronounced * az, Qafqaz dağları, pronounced * rus, Кавка́зские го́ры, Kavkázskiye góry, kɐfˈkasːkʲɪje ˈɡorɨ * tr, Kafkas Dağla ...

. The Bzyb is first among Abkhazia's rivers with respect to length,,

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya en ...

, 3rd Edition (1970–1979). and second after the Kodori with respect to average annual discharge, and

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

area, . At its entrance in the mouth of the Black Sea it splits into two estuary channels. Bzyb River

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay part ...

s, marls, dolomites, and

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

s are encountered at the river Bzyb which flows down from a height of () in the western part of the

Caucasus Major The Greater Caucasus ( az, Böyük Qafqaz, Бөјүк Гафгаз, بيوک قافقاز; ka, დიდი კავკასიონი, ''Didi K’avk’asioni''; russian: Большой Кавказ, ''Bolshoy Kavkaz'', sometimes translat ...

near and flows into the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, ...

at in two branches. Its valley borders the

Bzyb Range Bzyb Mountain Range

Gagra Range Gagra Range (; ka, გაგრის ქედი, tr; russian: Гагрский хребет, Gagrskij hrebet) is a mountain range of the Greater Caucasus in Abkhazia, Georgia.The range runs between the valleys of the Bzyb and Psou rivers to ...

and some other ranges of Caucasus Major. The Bzyb separates Arabika from the adjacent Bzyb Range, an outstanding karst area with many deep caves. An upper tributary of the river is the Jimsa which flows in the area of the mountain of the same name. The Bzyb’ basin has the Lake Ritsa, which forms the headwaters of the

Iupshara The Iupshara (, , ) is a river in northern Abkhazia. The river flows from Lake Ritsa to the Gega River, a tributary of the Bzyb River. The total length of the river is with a gradient In vector calculus, the gradient of a scalar-valued ...

. A road from the Black Sea to

Lake Ritsa __NOTOC__ Lake Ritsa ( ab, Риҵа, ka, რიწა, tr) is a lake in the north-western part of the Georgia, in the Caucasus Mountains. It surrounded by mixed mountain forests and subalpine meadows. The road from the Black Sea coast was built ...

runs along this valley. Southeast of the Bzyb outfall area is the Pitsunda Cape which projects far out into the Black Sea. Seismic data extracted in the region has revealed that valleys on the submarine slope cut several dozen metres into

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" ...

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58 This cape was formed over time by the transportation of sediment along the Bzyb and accumulating on the cape. According to the data collected by Mandych in 1967, the Bzyb transports around 170,000 tonnes of course material annually, almost as high as the combined total of the

Mzymta Mzymta (, , lit. 'the place (-ҭа) of the river Мӡым", , ''Mezmytha'') is a river in Western Caucasus, Russia, flowing through Mostovsky District and the city of Sochi ( Adlersky City District) of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. Mzymta is the lar ...

and

Psou The Psou (; ady, Псыу; ka, ფსოუ; ab, Ҧсоу; russian: Псоу) is a river in the West Caucasus, bordering the Gagra Range to the east. It flows along the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range and forms a part ...

rivers (200,000 tonnes per year). The upper river basin in Northern Abkhazia is home to the Bzyb Abkhaz people (one of the three ethnic groups of Abkhaz), who have their own distinct dialect. Gudaud is another subgroup of Bzyb. The river is used for transportation of logs from the upland forest areas. The hydropower potential of most significant rivers of the country, the Kodor (Kudry), Bzyb, Kyalasur, Gumista rivers that form the Black Sea basin, has been assessed to be more than over 3.5 million kW.

Flora and fauna

The river valley has a rich biodiversity of flora, right from the mouth of the river at Pitsunda and extending upstream to the Ritsa Lake. The river forming the upper valley is a gorge section of more than height, with steep rock slopes on both banks. On these slopes,

herbaceous plants Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

are found; the most prominent of these plants, among many species found here, is the bellflower ''Campanula mirabilis'' which is known by the epithet the "Queen of the Abkhazian flora." Blue flowers from these plants (said to bloom 100 flowers per plant) cover the entire gorge section during the months of June to August. Another plant recently identified near the Ritz Lake is given the name ''Campanula paradoxa'', which “forms a rosette of large leaves with lateral shoots producing inflorescence of white flowers.” Other garden plant species found in the valley are the local bellflowers namely ''

C. albovii C. or c. may refer to: * Century, sometimes abbreviated as ''c.'' or ''C.'', a period of 100 years * Cent (currency), abbreviated ''c.'' or ''¢'', a monetary unit that equals of the basic unit of many currencies * Caius or Gaius, abbreviated as ...

'' and ''

C. dzyschrica C. or c. may refer to: * Century, sometimes abbreviated as ''c.'' or ''C.'', a period of 100 years * Cent (currency), abbreviated ''c.'' or ''¢'', a monetary unit that equals of the basic unit of many currencies * Caius or Gaius, abbreviated as ...

''. A few other less known flower plants known here are: The ''Aquilegia gegica'' (pale-blue columbine), the ''Ranunculus suukensis'' (the buttercup which has large flowers up to in diameter) and the endemic variety of ''Woronowia speciosa'' (species of the

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can b ...

family); this endemic flower though closely correlated to

Geum ''Geum'' , (Latinized Greek for "taste" referencing the roots of the plant) commonly called avens, is a genus of about 50 species of rhizomatous perennial herbaceous plants in the rose family and its subfamily Rosoideae, widespread across Euro ...

differs from it due to its larger size of flowers and leaves. At the mouth of the Bzyb is the Pitsunda Cape, which has a lake known as the Inkit Lake, which is fed by Bzyb. This lake was once an internal harbour when it was connected to the Black Sea, when the ancient city of Pitiunt was founded; archaeological findings at this place have revealed antiquarian artifacts and foundation of structures. It is also mentioned that an ancient temple existing here got flooded consequent to the lowering of the lake level. The Bzyb river basin also contains a notable population of

fir Firs (''Abies'') are a genus of 48–56 species of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Pinaceae. They are found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa. The genus is most closely related to ...

trees. Significant populations of ''

Darevskia alpina ''Darevskia alpina'' is a species of lizard in the family Lacertidae. It is found in the Greater Caucasus in Georgia and Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental count ...

'', a species listed as vulnerable by the IUCN, have been recorded in the upper reaches of the Bzyb. There is also a large Agricultural Experimental Station in the wide part of the Bzyb valley where plant species have been introduced from all parts of the world. Some of the rare collections which have thrived well under the prevailing climatic conditions include the coniferous coastal

redwood Sequoioideae, popularly known as redwoods, is a subfamily of coniferous trees within the family Cupressaceae. It includes the largest and tallest trees in the world. Description The three redwood subfamily genera are '' Sequoia'' from coas ...

''Sequoia sempervirens'' and the deodar ''

Cedrus deodara ''Cedrus deodara'', the deodar cedar, Himalayan cedar, or deodar, is a species of cedar native to the Himalayas. Description It is a large evergreen coniferous tree reaching tall, exceptionally with a trunk up to in diameter. It has a conic ...

''. These are 50-year-old redwoods, which have grown to be in height.

Recreation and use

Soviet General Secretary

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev ...

once proposed a major dam and hydroelectric power generation facility on the Bzyb, since his favourite resort was located near the mouth of the river at

Pitsunda Pitsunda ( ab, Пиҵунда, russian: Пицунда) or Bichvinta ( ka, ბიჭვინთა ) is a resort town in the Gagra District of Abkhazia/Georgia. Founded by Greek colonists in the 5th century BC, Pitsunda became an important politi ...

. However, this proposal was ruled out by his experts who opined that a dam built on the Bzyb would have had catastrophic effects in causing

beach erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landward ...

at Pitsunda. In the end,

the dam ''The Dam'' (in French:''Le barrage'') is a painting by Luxembourg artist Dominique Lang from 1913. Description The 80.5 × 67 cm. picture is part of the collection of the National Museum of History and Art in Luxembourg. Analysis Dominiq ...

was built on the

Enguri The Enguri ( ka, ენგური, tr, xmf, ინგირი, ingiri, ab, Егры, ''Egry'' russian: Ингури, ''Inguri'') is a river in western Georgia. It is long, and has a drainage basin of .Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

when he was given a charge sheet accusing him of nepotism, corruption and several other criminal issues, which was a way of saying that he was deposed. On 14 October, he resigned and giving his briefcase into his son Sergei's hand told him: "That's it. I'm retired." The river is popular for

kayaking Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits facin ...

and

rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...

. The mountainous Ritsa Lake region in the Ritsa reserve of

is well known for its wines, grown between forests and mountain rivers. The Abkhaz souvenir varieties of wine include the "Ritsa" and "New Athos," among many other varieties. Pitsunda Cape at the mouth of the Bzyb has many important landmarks such as the ancient settlement of

Pitiunt Pitsunda ( ab, Пиҵунда, russian: Пицунда) or Bichvinta ( ka, ბიჭვინთა ) is a resort town in the Gagra District of Abkhazia/Georgia. Founded by Greek colonists in the 5th century BC, Pitsunda became an important politi ...

, a lighthouse, a temple of the 10th century, a museum and an old

pine tree A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family (biology), family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanic ...

maintained from 1926.

References

{{Rivers of Georgia Rivers of Georgia (country) Rivers of Abkhazia Tributaries of the Black Sea

Etymology

Geography

Flora and fauna

Recreation and use

See also

References