The Tsolotlinsky canyon with huge sheer cliffs is the main natural attraction of the village of Khunzakh. This giant rift shows the scale of the Khunzakh plateau, which rises 2,000 meters above sea level. The Tsolotlinsky Canyon (Tsolotl) literally splits the plateau in half.
When driving from Makhachkala or Derbent, the road goes up with a big slope near the Khunzakh plateau. In some places, you need to climb the mountain serpentine. However, once inside the Khunzakh plateau, you feel like you are on a plain. Only small gentle mountains, similar to hills, are visible on the sides.
There are many canyons with steep walls in the world, which were made in the mountain ranges of the river. But almost all of them are quite narrow. The Tsolotlinsky Canyon is a giant tectonic rift of a mountain plateau with steep walls, although the river flows along its bottom.
Three waterfalls fall into the Tsolotlinsky Canyon from the north side. The most powerful of them, the Tobot Waterfall, falls into the Tsolotlinsky Canyon from a height of 70 meters. It is 500 meters from the Itlyatlyar Waterfall. It is less powerful, but it falls from the upper level of the rock slab, so its height reaches 85 meters. The Tobot Waterfall is quite full-flowing all year round. The stream that feeds the Itlyatlyar waterfall dries up by summer.
The most beautiful part of the Tsolotlinsky Canyon stretches for 4 kilometers south of the Tobot Waterfall. From the north, the width of the canyon reaches 200 meters, and at this place the sheer walls with a height of 100 meters descend to the bottom of the canyon. Then its width increases to 400-500 meters and the walls become conical. At the top, a sheer cliff descends about 30 meters, and then the wall goes in the form of a cone to the center, where the Tobot River flows.
The Khunzakh plateau ends beyond the village of Khini. Here the Tsolotlinsky canyon becomes very wide, and its depth reaches 600 meters. The Tobot River flows from the Khunzakh plateau into the Valley of the Avar Koisu River. There is a very beautiful road in this place, where you can go down from Khunzakh to the village of Zaib, and then go on an excursion to the abandoned villages of Old Goor and Old Kahib.
This road begins near the Khunzakh Museum. The road used to be unpaved. It could only be driven by SUVs. Reconstruction is now planned. Going down it, you can see the beauty of the Tsolotlinsky canyon.
