It is interestingly arranged man. It seems to be a reasonable creature, but the eternal victim of herd instinct: «where everybody goes, I go.» Well, who of us, at least once in his life has not been to Eski-Kermen? How without it — the place is famous, known to everyone, described in all guidebooks. That’s why people come to the main gate in a line. Slightly less popular are the nearby temple of Donators and the tower of Kyz-Kule. People sometimes look there too. And how many have visited the neighboring with Eski-Kermen plateau Zangurma-Bair. Probably, and the name of such a name has not heard. Everything that is near Eski, completely lost in the shadow of its loud fame. Walking along the ancient streets of the cave city, many people look with interest at the opposite side of the gully, where you can see the Zangurma-Bair cliff eaten by grottoes and niches. But curious glances are most often limited to that. Something in my subconscious whispers: «if no one goes there, then there is nothing interesting there». This is the herd instinct in action!
In fact, here, on the little-traveled plateau, you can find a lot of interesting things. This is a great place to spend a day off here, learning and wondering. And there will be a lot to be surprised about.
Let’s start at the west cliff! There’s an unusual menhir-like rock just off the road. Next to it is a smaller rock. It seems that someone specially hewn these stones from one side and put them flat to each other. But this is nature’s exercise again! In the boulder that once fell from the slope there was a layer of less strong rock. It collapsed faster and there was such a gap, and the once monolithic block turned into two separate stones turned to each other with flat edges. Everything is very simple, but one wants to see this pointed stone as a creation of the ancients. By the way, it has a suitable name: Tekme-Tash — a stone placed. This is how Crimean Tatars called menhirs, which used to be much more. In this case, the name was given erroneously, because it is so similar!
Behind the stone a path climbs up the slope. It leads up to a spacious clearing ending with a rocky platform. Those medieval winemakers! They managed to squeeze a tarapan in here too! It takes up almost the whole area. Almost all the rocks around Tekme-Tash bear traces of human use: some undercuts, some niches in them, some holes.
Above the clearing, at the base of the cliff, a large grotto is blackened. At the entrance to it are the remains of artificial cuttings, and a little farther away — a miracle of nature — a large tuff overlay, created by the waters of the spring flowing in the grotto. It is long and winding, a bit like a fantastic lizard collapsed on the floor. If you have a good imagination, you can even see the mouth of a monster. But no — not a monster! This is a kind lizard, the cave’s guardian. He shares with us delicious cold water. Moisture seeps from a crack in the far wall of the grotto and runs down a thin groove on the back of the «lizard». How many centuries the water «labored» to create such a sculpture. The length of the natek about 5 meters, height — almost the height of a man! I wonder how it was seen by the inhabitants of Eski Kermen, who came here to crush wine in tarapans? Was it as big as this back then? Or maybe it didn’t exist at all in those times?
The grotto with nathek is probably the only one on Zangurma-Bair, where you can go up by a convenient path, but not the only one worth visiting. On the southern cliff of the plateau there is another very interesting grotto. However, you will have to get to it first through forest thickets and then on a loose slope. It is a pleasure for amateurs! But the grotto is curious. The height of its vault is 15 meters, not less. Looking from below, from the valley, you would never think that the grotto is so big.
It is interesting not only for its size, but also for its outline, representing an almost perfect dome shape. For this resemblance we began to call it Planetarium. This grotto makes a very strong impression.
The top of our plateau is covered with young pine forest and only along the edge stretches a strip of meadows and open areas. This place can delight the most demanding connoisseur of mountain landscapes.
Flat rocky platforms, steeply steepen downwards. In the outlines of the rocks all sorts of bizarre figures can be seen. And they are so smooth, as if sandpapered. Young pine trees and juniper bushes sometimes emerge from the crevices. When moving along the cliff, the landscape changes with a striking speed. Every ten steps nature gives the traveler a new beautiful picture. So, if you are an amateur photographer, you won’t have to turn off your camera!
You can walk along the entire southern and western cliffs. From the southern one you can see Mangup perfectly, even the citadel can be distinguished!
But this is not all that can please Zangurma-Bair! For an inquisitive traveler, even the rocks near the crevice, through which there is an ascent to the plateau, are of interest! You can look at them like a museum exposition. They are composed of nummulite limestones — a rock widespread in the Crimean foothills. Shells of nummulites — protozoan organisms of foraminifera subclass, are interesting in themselves. Large specimens reach 2 and more cm in diameter (wow — unicellular!). However, you can observe not only them in the cliff. Sneaking along its foot, you can see casts of bottom worm burrows, and if you are lucky, then the shells of large mollusks vultures and other interesting things. Very peculiar are the forms of weathering in the form of niches and round holes. It seems as if they were drilled by a human hand. However, the results of human activity are also found. 
There are, for example, two clearings of obviously artificial origin. They will meet at the eastern end of the cliff. Botany lovers should look into one of the small grottoes of the southern cliff — there are entire thickets of rare fern Adiantum Venus hair.
In a word, spending a day off on Zangurma-Bair, you will not regret the lost time and will return home with new impressions and beautiful photos.