Overland | Season 14 | Episode 8 – Russian Caucasian Republics 2
We have to cross Ingushetia along a corridor that is guarded by the army to reach Chechnya: the signs of the bloody wars have been almost entirely erased and Grozny is full of skyscrapers still under construction construction and even the most remote towns have been rebuilt from the rubble of the war; but we are able to document the tragic story nonetheless. We cross over into Dagestan before returning to Chechnya, Kabardino-Balkaria and continue towards the autonomous republic of Karachay-Cherchessia. We reach the Elbrus, the tallest mountain in Europe which stands at an altitude of 5,642 metres, where we are hosted by a family of Balkari mountainfolk, who speak Turkish and are Muslims. Before our eyes we see the parade of icy peaks of the Greater Caucasus between Russia and Georgia, along the slopes of which this Overland adventure was played out.