Reclaimed By Nature: The Disappearing Abkhaz Ghost Town

Tourists walk through the abandoned settlement of Akarmara in the Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia on July 21. 

It was founded for mining operations in 1938, with many of its buildings constructed in the 1940s and 1950s by German prisoners of war.

The forest is gradually reclaiming the settlement. Most inhabitants left during the armed conflict in the area in the early 1990s.
 

Akarmara and its surrounding areas were once inhabited by over 20,000 people. 

The population dropped further following Georgia's 2008 war with Russia.

 

The Georgian government and nearly all member states of the United Nations consider Abkhazia to be a part of Georgia.


 

A cow grazes on the lush vegetation on the fourth floor of a residential building.

Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru, and Syria recognize Abkhazia as an independent country.

 

The ghost town, with its abandoned apartment buildings, factories, and Soviet-era cars, provides visitors with a unique landscape.

Beehives now fill the courtyard of a former school where students once played.

 

A cow stands in an apartment.

Only a few people live close to the settlement.