When I was a teenager, traveling outside of Georgia was expensive and complicated (costly, harsh visa requirements, etc.). Exploring our own homeland was pretty much the only choice we had. Not a bad option — nature in Georgia is vivid, diverse, and wild. The country is small, and it’s cheap to move around too. Win-win.

“Go to Sataflia Cave, Okatse Canyon” — those places were just words in folklore rather than a pin on the mapping app. You followed signs on the highways, and there it was — a cave on the left, dinosaur footprints on the right, fantastic view on the landscape in the middle. No buildings. No pathways. No tickets to buy — just things around you — for you to walk in wild nature and gaze.

This year I visited above mentioned two after a decade (more?). I paid for entry with my watch using Apple Pay. The ticket machine gave me a piece of paper with a QR code. I scanned it on several occasions through the “route.” Dinosaur footprints were in a building built on top of them. I could no longer put my hand into the impression as the bridge crossing was way too high. Accessible, paved paths with railing lead everywhere, the cave had colorful LED light and cellular antennas inside for all the Instagram pleasures.

It felt like… Japan.

“Images” we advertise and talk about aren’t what we experience anymore — views and sights of the series above. Of course, I could have taken pictures of those without railings and visible infrastructure. But that’d be me trying to recreate “reality” when I could put my hand into dino footprints.

Record the past, embrace the future.