19. FGA: Meeting with Bartosz Malinowski - The Transcaucasian Trail (TCT) - The Great Caucasus Trail - Georgia

In 2022, Bartosz Malinowski set out on a trek along the TCT route in Georgia - a trail that did not yet exist at the time. He walked and marked out over 1000 km of route running through the Caucasus Mountains.

The Great Caucasus Trail (TCT) is ultimately intended to span over 3000 km and connect approximately twenty national parks and protected areas along the Greater and Lesser Caucasus. The Caucasus region - bordering Europe, Asia, and the Middle East - is one of the most biologically, culturally, and linguistically diverse places in the world. The trail has been actively developed since 2015 by a growing community of hikers, cartographers, and nature conservationists.

Bartosz Malinowski is a mountain guide working in the Himalayas of Nepal, India, and Pakistan - as a leader, trekking organizer, and expedition coordinator. He has organized and led over 50 expeditions in Asia and South America. In 2007, he walked 2500 km along the Carpathian Arc from southern Romania to Bratislava. In 2010, he co-organized the Long Walk Expedition - an expedition following the escape route from the Soviet gulag of Witold Gliński from Yakutsk to Calcutta: over 6 months he covered 8000 km through Yakutia, Siberia, Mongolia, China, Tibet, Nepal, and the Himalayas, reporting for the Third Programme of Polish Radio. In 2013, he walked the Chadar - an ice road along the frozen Zanskar River in the Indian Himalayas.

From 2015 to 2019, he was the initiator and coordinator of the Great Himalayan Trail programme, during which he marked out over 3500 km of routes through the Himalayas of Nepal, India, Kashmir, Pakistan, and Bhutan. He is co-author of the book "The Great Himalayan Trail: 120 Days of Walking Through Nepal" and coordinator of the Chilloutdoor group.