| Fishing Georgia |
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Page 1 of 3 In the ex-Soviet Republic of Georgia, Daniel Kunin balances life as a diplomat, a passion for fly fishing, and lust for a convivial table. Gaumarjos!  Daniel Kunin wants to go trout fishing. After several hectic weeks of official business, interrupted briefly by a rocket attack on Georgia from neighboring Russia, he could use a little time off. “I’ll get a helicopter and the best guide in the country,” he says over a late-night pizza. When Kunin plans an adventure, all his friends have to do is show up. As an American adviser to the government of Georgia—that’s former Soviet Georgia, not the Peach State—the 38-year-old political operative is seriously connected. To prove it, two days later, he has a pilot, crew, and a Russian-made Mi-8 chopper (on loan from the Georgian military) ready for liftoff.I first met Kunin in Washington during one of his frequent diplomatic missions. Why would an American be working for the Georgian government? The short answer: They offered him the job. The long answer involves a political revolution and a friendship with the people who came out on top. In any case, Kunin soon had me convinced that in all my visits to Georgia, I’d somehow missed the country’s best attractions. So when a business trip to Eastern Europe came up, I turned it into an opportunity to find out if he was right. Kunin and I rendezvous outside Tbilisi, the lively Mediterranean-style capital of Georgia, and while other members of the fishing party arrive, veteran mountain guide Nick Erkomaishvili, founder of local tour company Explore Georgia, double-checks the gear: rods, maps, sunblock, hunting knives. “You never know what you might run into up there,” he says. “Up there” is the eastern Caucasus, 12,000 feet above sea level and less than 25 miles from conflict-torn Chechnya, some of Europe’s most unpredictable high country. The 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union created 15 new nations, including Georgia, sandwiched between Europe and Asia and surrounded by Russia, Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Long an area of political unrest, the Caucasus region lately has become the focus of new tensions, especially for democratic Georgia, whose bid to join NATO has angered Russia. So in addition to the geographic challenges, we have to be ready for the possibility of an errant Russian air strike.  ACCESS Every Georgian adventure begins with getting there, which can take the better part of the day when flying from the U.S. Austrian Airlines, British Airways, and KLM, offer one-stop flights, starting at $1,500 from New York. Americans do not need a visa for stays under 90 days. ... As soon as the Mi-8 levels out, Kunin, relishing his role as host, pulls out a bottle of chacha. Georgians regard the potent beverage, a close relative to grappa, as a breakfast drink, as well as a good remedy for hangovers. “To our success,” toasts American-educated businessman Lasha Shanidze, Kunin’s regular fishing buddy. Everyone downs a shiver-inducing shot, and the trip is off to an intoxicating start. “I was hooked right from the beginning,” Kunin recalls. He first visited Georgia as a Williams College exchange student in 1990, when the soon-to-be-independent republic was on the verge of civil war. Following a stint as a strategy consultant in Milan, he got a job advising the government after the 2003 Rose Revolution put Columbia Law School grad Mikheil Saakashvili in the presidency. Kunin was fascinated by the country and its history—Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was from Georgia—and helping to turn it into a democracy appealed to his New England sense of civic duty. “To see a nation literally transform itself is a pretty incredible experience,” says Kunin, who grew up in Vermont, where his mother served three terms as governor. When he was offered the post, Kunin, who learned to speak Georgian during his study-abroad days, jumped at the chance: “When I got the call, I was in Moscow and caught the next plane.” He says he requested three perks: a car, a driver, and a bodyguard for political emergencies; so far, he’s needed only the first two. |
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