These words sound like some kind of spell. But I hasten to disappoint: Chauda and Karangat are the names of neighboring capes, and Kazeka is the name of the ancient settlement between them. Few know them: sometimes you hear about Chaud in connection with military exercises, sometimes with a downed plane, almost no one knows about Karangat, except for geographers, but Kazek is not even known to all historians.
- the extreme eastern part of the coast of the Feodosiya Gulf. It is located 35 kilometers east of Cape Ilya, the westernmost point of the bay. Chauda has been protected as a geological natural monument since 1964. This is a low, flat section of the Kerch coast with steep banks, up to 30 meters high. Large slabs of durable shell rock successfully resist erosion by sea waves.

In the sands and shell rocks of the ancient sea terrace of Cape Chauda (twenty meters above sea level), you can see numerous fossilized shells of mollusks of the Chaudinsky Sea. This is a unique outcrop in Ukraine, where marine deposits with fossil fauna have been found. The entire basin was named after the only location of marine sediments of this era in Ukraine.

The desalinated Chaudin Sea existed on the site of the current Black Sea more than a million years ago. It was connected by the Manych Strait with the Caspian, and in the south, apparently, with the Sea of ​​Marmara.

In the vicinity of Chauda, ​​there is the largest population in Europe of the two-flowered tulip listed in the Red Book of Ukraine. locals people come here for the porcini mushroom that grows only on the territory of the cape. Alas, it is necessary to dispel the rumors that the mushroom was brought here by Catherine II and here it was grown for serving to the imperial table. The oyster mushroom is really tasty - I had a chance to try it!

You can talk about the Chaudinsky “kut” (as the area with capes is called on the Kerch Peninsula) for a long time, because there are plenty of sights around. Salt Lake Kachik, located near the cape, is separated from the sea by a sandy embankment.

On the cape itself, the Chaudinsky lighthouse and the fossil Chaudinsky oyster jar are of interest, wonderful sandy beaches and Cosmonauts Bay, where the first Soviet descent vehicles were tested to return astronauts to Earth. But Cape Chauda is also interesting with the coordinates of geographical latitude: 45 degrees 00 minutes. It is through this point that the middle of the northern hemisphere lies. From here - 5000 km to the equator and to the North Pole.

Photo by Dajv

Karangat- a small cape on which ancient artifacts were found. There was also a late medieval settlement here, as evidenced by a well in a beam, the mouth of which is blocked by a limestone slab with a hole. The sea coast in this area is high and is being actively destroyed by abrasion - most of the late medieval and ancient settlements have been destroyed. Fragments of handles from light-clay amphoras dating back to the turn of the eras were found in the talus on the seashore.

Due to inaccessibility, since there were military facilities here, the southwestern part of the Kerch Peninsula remains the least explored area of ​​the Bosporan kingdom. According to natural and geographical conditions, this region is considered the least favorable for life due to aridity and lack of fresh water. However, in recent years, it has increasingly attracted the attention of archaeologists. And it turns out that there is water on Chaud. And polygons are history.

Entrance to the landfill
Photo by mail.cr

Groundwater accumulating in the sands deposited on water-resistant Maikop clays is associated with deposits of the Chaudin sea terrace. This aquifer is fed mainly by melt and rainwater and partly by condensate. Similar favorable hydrogeological conditions on the southwestern plain of the Kerch Peninsula between Feodosia and Kimmerik are found only on capes Chauda and Karangat. It is with this circumstance and favorable geographic location, as well as the abundance of arable land in the district, the development of Cape Chauda in antiquity is associated. On the ruins of the former Tatar village of Dermen near Cape Karangat, in many abandoned courtyards, Crimean archaeologists A. Gavrilov and A. Yermolin discovered limestone ribbed rollers for threshing wheat. This indicates the suitability of local soils for agriculture and the occupation of the local population by arable farming even in the first half of the last century. And most importantly, near Cape Chauda, ​​archaeologists excavated ancient settlement of Kazek. Where did this name come from? According to the reports of Arrian in the Periplus of Pontus Euxinus (2nd century AD) and Periplus (4th-5th centuries AD), attributed to pseudo-Arrian, at the eastern end of the Theodosian Gulf in the 2nd century AD there could be locality Kazek. So scientists compared distances based on ancient measures of length and calculated the location of the city! Kazeka is an ancient settlement (late 4th - early 3rd centuries BC and existed later) on the periphery of the Bosporus state. Later, an early medieval settlement of the Saltov-Mayak culture was located on the same site. The area of ​​the monument is about 12 hectares. It includes three objects: the remains of the cultural layer of the ancient settlement, ancient quarries and wells, and the remains of an early medieval settlement.

The surviving cultural strata of Kazeki are extended from the cape along the coast of Mayachnaya Bay. And on the Chaudy Plateau, between the cape and the top of Mayachnaya Bay, four ancient shallow wells were found, carved in shell limestone to the aquifer. And they are still in use today! All wells are pear-shaped, and only one of them has a rectangular entrance mouth. The dating of the wells is difficult, but archaeologist Alexander Gavrilov said: “It is possible that, having been built in the first centuries of our era, they were actively used and rebuilt in modern times.” It is also difficult to date the quarries - well-preserved developments of building stone on the shore of Mayachnaya Bay above the western cliff of the cape plateau, in which shell limestone was mined. The construction remains near the lighthouse are also problematic for dating: fragments of ceramic containers from the first centuries of our era and amphoras of the Black Sea type are mixed with modern debris, including from the Tatar village, located on the site of the lighthouse. Therefore, archaeologists are actively conducting research here - it is necessary to literally get to the bottom of the truth, to the depths of the ancient Kazek.

Sergei Tkachenko,

In the morning, while I was having breakfast, another column of armored personnel carriers passed about a hundred meters from me. There is a lot of equipment around, I am in the very center of events. Thank God no one ran over me.

I'm leaving for the road. In daylight, it is even wider. There should be a polygon fence on the left, but there is none. I'm going to look for my satellite beacon.

Here is the place where I fell and where I was supposed to have lost my beacon pouch. Walked around everything. There is nothing.

This is the road to the horizon.

Technique and right and left, and in the middle I am, all in red.

Back view.

Cape Chauda and the lighthouse of the same name. The road turns left towards the shore. On the left, in the distance, there is a checkpoint at the training ground, next to a huge tent city.
Then a car stops in front of me, a military man gets out of it and slows me down. It turns out he found my purse with a lighthouse. I don’t know how he figured me out, but the incredible happened. In an open field, a man stops me and returns my lighthouse to me. A wonderful man, God bless him and the general's epaulettes.

Lighthouse entrance. Strange, no locks, no scary inscriptions. Birochka in Ukrainian, no one here, in the Crimea, is at war with the nightingale mova. It is written that the lighthouse was founded in 1886.

Silence in the yard.

A well was discovered. Filled up with water.

Here is the checkpoint of the landfill next to the lighthouse. Both the checkpoint and the buildings around are solid ruins, which means that here, when there are no exercises, you can safely drive. There is no need to go here, nothing interesting. Steppe, empty shore, ruins and crooked pillars. And for some reason, there is no protection from this side. Here, in the Crimea, even the military only guard the central gate.
The tent city is a little further, it is not visible.

Everything, it seems the polygon is over. I went further along the coast, west to Feodosia.

Warriors ahead. How many are there?

Again I stumble upon a barrier, next to a house, cars and again soldiers. I am again wrapped in the steppe, again they say about the landfill. Directly do not pass categorically. On the great and mighty I tell the soldiers what I think about their teachings and about their training ground, I do not forget to mention their closest relatives. Guys, of course, there is absolutely nothing to do with it, but I'm really tired of spinning around the steppe.
I'm heading north again. There is no road, there is such a track.

I make a small detour and again rudder towards the shore.

An abandoned house on the beach. It is written on the wall that this is a restricted area and that it is not necessary to collect anything, because it can explode. I understand that this is the end of the range and then you can go safely.

Ahead tower, houses and trees. Well, here, I think, the village. I'll have to go to the grocery store to get some food. And the pillars along the road are branded, Crimean.
I think that on the coat of arms of Crimea it is necessary to draw a garbage dump near the ruins, a poster "Stop, you bastard, no passage" and a crooked pillar. Get the most.

Ahead, the houses turned out to be not a village, but an observation tower of the training ground. There is a flag on the road. We've arrived. I'm fed up with the warriors with their training grounds two days before hell. And the ensign turned out to be a very decent person. Clean, ironed, shaved. He introduced himself politely and asked to see his passport. And he made a reservation that I was not obliged to do this, but it would be easier and faster. He looks at the passport, calls somewhere and asks to wait, now, they say, the authorities will arrive.
We stand and talk. Not far away is a huge building, next to the stands. Around the target of different equipment. It turns out that this is the training ground where in the spring they organized an air show for the Crimeans with shooting. On this occasion, they made stands, put everything in order. I read about this show. They did everything, it seems, correctly, but did not take into account that such a huge mass of people would come. In general, there was a terrible traffic jam on the road, people abandoned their cars on the side of the road and reached the stands on foot. And after the shooting, it began to rain, everyone got wet until they got to the cars. In general, it was fun, but no one especially grumbled.

About thirty minutes later the authorities arrived, stopped about fifty meters away, looked at me from afar and ordered me to be kicked in the neck.
The ensign showed me the way and reassured me that this training ground was already the last and no one would arrest me before Feodosia.
Ahead in the picture of the target. I drove straight across the target field.

There is a piece of the runway and, as it were, a couple of planes start. And the planes are real, Czech training.

There are air defense systems.

Column of armored vehicles. Only for some reason all the equipment is painted white. Are our UN members going to bomb?

Went out on the highway. Back view of the tower. Seriously arranged everything, clean, beautiful.

I had to make a small detour. You can’t drive along the coast, the coast was crossed by deep beams.
Here I am again on the beach. Back view.

View to the north. Steppe to the horizon.

And the coast is still solid cliffs.

South village. In search of a store, I drove along the main street. The village is small, with many abandoned houses. There is no store as such. In one of the yards, the owner allocated one room in the house for trade. Got some biscuits and water. I asked the hostess why everything was so miserable? She said that it is not easy to live here, the people are slowly dispersing. They feed only on cows. Some kind of local, steppe breed that manages not only to feed in this scorched steppe, but also to give milk.

I went to the coast. Business for the evening. We need to look for a place to stay. It's not that simple. You can’t stop near the village, but in the steppe everything is prickly and hummocky.

View of the village from the coast.

I found a cozy place three kilometers from the village. Didn't go down to the water. You still can't swim. The wound on the sole bleeds all the time, no matter how the infection is brought. Then it will be quite funny if the leg is drummed.
Admire the sunset, have dinner. Hang up.


The last two days of the campaign showed that there is absolutely nothing to do in this part of the Crimea. Even if there are no teachings and the passage is free, there is only one longing to watch here. Sad places, deserted coast and scorched steppe around.
It only makes sense to come to Cape Opuk, then you have to go down to the beach. swim for a couple of days, and then go out onto the highway and move straight to Feodosia.

Cape Chauda is one of the least known places Crimean peninsula, and there are several reasons for this: in the years of the USSR, military bases and a space center for the training of cosmonauts worked on the cape, and there is also the Chaudinsky Reserve, on the territory of which there are many species of plants and animals listed in the Red Book.

Geographical coordinates of Cape Chauda on the map of Crimea GPS: N 45.002967, E 35.834791.

Much of Cape Chauda today it is the territory of the reserve and a pass is required to enter it, which can be obtained in Kerch. From the military units, mostly only abandoned buildings remained. The territory of the reserve is only in rare places equipped with a fence from the times of the USSR, therefore, walking along the cape, it is not very difficult to get into the reserve itself. Today, Cape Chauda hosts several attractions worth visiting.

Chaudinsky lighthouse was built in 1888 year, after the tragic catastrophe that occurred two years earlier in 1886. Motor ship Orest ran aground in the winter, which resulted in loss of life. Since the time of the first settlements BC, these places were considered cursed, and mermaids lived in the coastal waters, which ran aground Greek ships.

Chaudinsky Reserve about 10 species of very rare plants grow on the cape today, but the most beautiful and rare of them is the two-flowered tulip. The flowering of this species occurs at the end of April, and the collection of flowers and bulbs is strictly prohibited and is considered poaching.
The ancient settlement of Kazek is a small settlement dating back to the 4th-3rd centuries BC. The settlement has been little studied and until now its history is practically unknown. Presumably in the 3rd-4th centuries AD, the settlement was burned by nomadic tribes, but more detailed information about the settlement has yet to be given to archaeologists.

How to get to Cape Chauda

The easiest way to get to Cape Chauda is from the city of Feodosia, the distance to the cape is 64 km. From Feodosia you leave towards Kerch, in front of the battlefield turn towards the village of Yuzhnoye, then Bright and further along the dirt road you move all the way towards the sea. The best time to visit Cape Chauda is the middle of spring; at other times of the year, due to the steppe climate, dry winds walk along the cape. If you are planning to visit Cape Chauda, ​​before the village of Bright, turn to the village of Vulkanovka, where you can visit one of the rare places in Crimea -. The last activity of the volcano was in the 80s, but the site of the eruption can still be seen today.

Cape Chauda on the map of Crimea

Chauda is a cape at the southern tip of the Kerch Peninsula, the eastern edge of the Feodosia Gulf.

It is a landscape and geological monument of nature with an area of ​​5 km². The height of the cape is 15–30 meters above sea level. In addition to vegetation, the cape is interesting for the fossilized remains of animal organisms that inhabited the sea in the Jurassic period of the Mesozoic era. The area of ​​the protected area of ​​the Chaudinskaya steppe is 13,176 hectares.

Grows in the reserve a large number of various plants, including orchids and two-flowered tulips, listed in the Red Book. The reserve is also notable for the fact that bustards and little bustards nest here. Not far from Cape Chauda, ​​archaeologists discovered the ancient settlement of Kazek. In 1888, after the tragic shipwreck of the passenger steamer Orest, a lighthouse was built.

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Chauda is a cape at the southern tip of the Kerch Peninsula, the eastern edge of the Feodosia Gulf. It is a landscape and geological monument of nature with an area of ​​5 km². The height of the cape is 15–30 meters above sea level. In addition to vegetation, the cape is interesting for the fossilized remains of animal organisms that inhabited the sea in the Jurassic period of the Mesozoic era. The area of ​​the protected area of ​​the Chaudinskaya steppe is 13,176 hectares. A large number of different plants grow in the reserve, including orchids and two-flowered tulips, listed in the Red Book. The reserve is also notable for the fact that bustards and little bustards nest here. Not far from Cape Chauda, ​​archaeologists discovered the ancient settlement of Kazek. In 1888, after the tragic shipwreck of the passenger steamer Orest, a lighthouse was built. Save Changes