Dangerous places
Certain areas are quite dangerous, notably Abkhazia (the area around Sukhumi in the north-west of Georgia) which has effectively broken away. I was warned off visiting Svaneti and South Ossetia too, and many people told me of the dangers of travelling alone along the Georgian Military Highway to Kazbegi...but because the people from Tbilisi seem so distrustful of anywhere outside their own city, it is hard to tell if the region is really as dangerous as they say...in this case Kazbegi seemed trouble-free.A number of foreigners have been kidnapped in Georgia by various groups and mafia organizations (one area to steer well clear of is the Pankisi Gorge...rumoured to be a hide-out for Chechen rebels, and is completely beyond the control of the government)...while I was there, a Lebanese business man was freed after nearly three months of being a hostage.
