Kazakhstan - Charyn Canyon and the Lakes

We left the wonderful Altyn-Emel National Park and headed to another national park – Charyn (or Sharyn) Canyon. We drove for a couple of hours along great roads through bleak steppe landscapes with more of those eroded hills bookending the flat valleys.

In the small towns along the way there were always horses, cows or donkeys on the roads. Sadly, many horses were tightly hobbled.

There were many fertile places, and hay season was in full swing.

We can’t work the power lines out here. The wooden posts all stand strapped to concrete pole bases.

We stopped to get fuel and a local lined up behind me to pay. I paid and walked out. A minute later, the guy who was waiting behind me to pay, rushed up, handed me a bar of Kazakhstan’s famous chocolate and said, “Welcome to Kazakhstan!” Amazing! We were excited to try it but we didn't think it was anything special at all, sadly!

We turned off the main road and headed down another long, dusty road.

We arrived at the park and there were cars and buses everywhere! We knew it could get busy, but it was still a shock.

I had found it hard to get all the info we needed about where to walk in the national park. I knew there were four or five canyons but that most people just see the main one, nicknamed The Canyon of the Castles. We arrived at the visitor centre and asked our questions. They had no clue. The main guy didn’t even know there were other canyons in the park, despite them being listed on the park's website. We tried twice, with two different people. The second one had at least heard of one of the other canyons, but he didn’t know if the road was open.

There are two walks to do at the main canyon – one along the bottom of the gorge and one along the rim above. There is accommodation at the park and we wanted to stay here so we could walk after and before the heat of the day and after and before the crowds. The view from near our cabin.

We settled in, caught up on a few things, then headed out to do the walk along the rim of the canyon at 5pm. It was sensational! I somehow thought that after Aktau Mountains, this would be a let down but it wasn’t. We saw great colours as the sun got low in the sky.

A guy in a white t-shirt was in a convenient spot for me to show some perspective in this photo.

We chatted briefly to a young Kazakh woman and she took our photo. We got another “Welcome to Kazakhstan!”

The rugged beauty was astonishing.

I noticed some holes in the ground and wondered what they were. Suddenly, we saw movement. We saw groundhogs! They looked like a cross between a rat and a squirrel and they were so cute!

They peeped out of holes….

…. and they stood up on their hind legs like meerkats checking out the situation. Look closely in the foreground of the photo below. 

They would race across to a scrubby bush, bite a bit off, then drag it back to their hole.

Ok, back to the gorge! 

Multiple small tracks ran off the main path to lookout points. I don’t think you’re actually supposed to go on them, but everyone does. We found a great one right at the end of the gorge that took us out to the middle of it.

There were a few scary-looking overhangs!

The sun was just setting as we finished. There are a few yurts near our cabin and they made a great silhouette foreground.

We stayed in these cabins inside the national park. They weren’t cheap for what you get but they were clean and comfortable. We were in the middle one.

A sickle moon appeared. It made us wonder why the sickle moon is a symbol of Islam. John googled it and learned that it was adopted by the Ottoman empire for use on their flags and it became associate with Islam through that.

We had a good night’s sleep, which was good as we had an early start the next day. Kazakhstan is the eighth largest country in the world, yet it has only one time zone. As we’re in the far east, the sky starts getting light at about 4am and the sun is up by about 4.45. If we wanted to beat the heat, we had to start early. The park gates opened at 7am and tour buses would start rolling in not long after that, so that was another incentive to go early. We were already inside the park so we could go at any time.

We got up at 4.45 and entered the canyon at about 5.30. We climbed down a long run of stairs then headed along the dirt road at the bottom of the canyon. Yes, vehicles drive along here to take people who can’t walk (or don’t want to.) Fortunately, we had it all to ourselves for quite a while. Even though the sun was up, it hadn’t reached into the gorge yet, which was great for us heat-wise but not so great for viewing as the rocks look better with the sun on them.

The rising sun created a lovely sky above the canyon.

This huge chunk of rock had clearly fallen from the cliff face.

Where the sun hit the rocks, they glowed.

At one point, the rocks met overhead.

At the end of the gorge was a river. It was strong and fast-flowing. It seemed strange to have such a large volume of water in such an arid area. There was a campground here and it was lovely. 

On our walk around the rim on our first evening, we had passed an Asian couple heading in with packs on their backs. I mentioned to John that it looked like they were going camping but this wasn’t the route to take. I didn’t even know what language they spoke so I didn’t say anything. As we walked back from the river the next morning, we saw them heading out. John called out, “Do you speak English?” They certainly did – they were Aussies! She was born in Afghanistan and he was probably of Vietnamese descent. And yes, they did go the wrong way the previous evening. Again, they hadn’t been given the right info at the visitor centre. They ended up climbing down a treacherous cliff with their packs on. She was terrified!

Retracing our steps, the sun now shone brightly on the weird and wonderful shapes.

Due to the lack of info, we dropped the idea of visiting the other gorges but would stop at one well-known lookout point that has a view into Black Canyon. The Aussies we met told us about a little-known track in so we tried that first. It was great! We turned off the main road onto a dirt track which led through a farm then through the extensive grazing land of the steppe to the edge of the gorge. We had it all to ourselves. I’m glad the farmer wasn’t around though.

Black Canyon was aptly named.

We ate lunch in the car with a view to the canyon.

We then drove a few kms to the main viewpoint. It was well set up for tourists with a few carnival rides, however a unique one was where you swing over the edge of the canyon! A drone hovered in front of these two young women filming them, while each of their partners/husbands stood at the side taking photos. Seriously, how much recorded info does anyone need?

It was a lovely drive to Saty, where we would be basing ourselves for the next three nights. As we neared the town, we started to climb and the steppe suddenly disappeared and was replaced by lush, green mountains. The change was amazing!

Saty is another town that’s changing fast. Until recently, it was just a sleepy farming village. Now, simple tourist hotels line the roads, however the town is still very rural. Horses and cows wander the streets and chickens and cows lived in the properties next to ours. The whole village smelled like a farm.

That night, we tried kymys, fermented mare’s milk, for the first time. Layla, our host, gave us one sweetened with honey as she said this is the was the easiest introduction to it. It was actually quite nice! It was like a mildly fizzy lassi, however the smell was a bit off-putting.

We tried a few different meals here. The front bowl in the photo below is a simple soup. The other three bowls contain yoghourt, chilli paste and fermented cheese which I think was just broken up cheese balls like the ones we’ve tried before. The idea is that you mix all these in with your soup. I don’t like the cheese balls on their own but they were great in the soup! 

We had to try Beshbarmak, a famous traditional dish. Usually served at special occasions, it’s basically meat, veg and noodles. The noodles were huge though – almost like sheets of lasagna! They’re on the bottom. It was all very tasty.

The attraction in this area is a number of alpine lakes set in beautiful spruce forests. Our host was really lovely and spoke great English but she didn’t seem to know many details about walks. There was a young Aussie couple staying there though that had just done the two walks that we wanted to do so she introduced us. Blake and Taylor were lovely.

The main walk we wanted to do is a hard one – three to four hours one way between two lakes, up a big hill. And then you have to come back. The other Aussies made it but they’re less than half our age. We decided to give it a go and set the alarm for 5.45 to beat the crowds. Overnight though, it rained. The rain on the roof kept waking us up and we both had bad sleeps. We then realised that the track that the Aussies told us was muddy, would now be worse so, at the last minute, we delayed that walk and went to Kaindy Lake instead.

Again, we had trouble finding anything other than the one obvious out-and-back walk here. I could see a few possible options on my apps so we decided to just go and see what we could learn.

We thought that things were changing fast at the village of Bisshiy in Altyn-Emel National Park, however that was snail’s pace compared to here. Just 10 days before we arrived, the road to Kaindy Lake was sealed. This road had once featured on a TV show called “The World’s Most Dangerous Roads”! We now breezed out to the lake on a smooth bitumen road in the rain. The disadvantage of the new road though meant that anyone can now visit here, you don’t need a 4x4. We got going early though so it wasn’t too bad.

We started hiking and found a small and very dead snake on the trail.

Without going into the details of working out where to walk, we managed to get a nice 3-hour loop done. Unfortunately, the rain and clouds hung around for a while, so we didn’t get great shots of the lake. It was still stunning though.

Kaindy Lake was formed in 1911 when an earthquake triggered a landslide in the Tian Shan Mountains. The landslide blocked the river and formed a dam. Many spruce trees consequently drowned, however, because the water never gets over six degrees, the parts of the trees under the water are still intact. The branches and even the spruce needles are still attached to the trees after 115 years!

We hiked through the beautiful spruce forest to reach the lake. The lake was striking with its graveyard of trees.

If you look closely, you can still see the branches underneath the water.

At the other end of the lake were lovely wildflowers which looked suspiciously like Patterson’s Curse!

The dead tree trunks were almost ghostly.

We returned via the main path that most tourists use. It wasn’t terribly crowded although a few large buses later pulled in just as we left.

Horse riding is a huge thing in Kazakhstan. It’s been a part of their tradition for a very long time. It now seems to be possible to ride horses to almost any tourist destination. On a separate trail above us, tourists sat on horses that were each tied to the horse in front and the horses carried them up the hill to the lake.

Not only did they not even have reins to control the horses, the first young woman in the photo below is taking photos with her phone and the second one is riding with a selfie stick!

The horses were yarded near the car park. As ex-horsey people, we were interested to see how they were cared for. Generally, Khazak horses run free when they’re not working. Land seems to belong to everyone so stock can roam at will, however this means that many of the horses have to be hobbled. It’s awful to see these beautiful animals trying to graze with their front legs tied together. They soon learn how to hop.

There were 50 or 60 horses in the yards so I got a good look at them. I was relieved to see that not many had bad hobble scars. There were a few pretty awful brands though.

Strangely, they all seemed to have a similar saddle setup. First was a saddle blanket, then a saddle with a high pommel and cantle, then over the top was a padded blanket (for sensitive tourist bums I presume). The whole thing was then tied down with a surcingle. There were no girths! Reins were tied to the saddle.

There are some classic old buses that ply these areas.

We had a much better sleep that night and the skies were clear the next morning, so we bit the bullet and decided to do the big hike from Kolsai No1 lake to Kolsai No2 lake. Not only was it twice as far as most other hikes we’ve done but it was double the altitude gain as well.

We entered the park and were surprised to find an entire village full of tourist accommodation inside. Equipped with raincoats, water and snacks, we set off. To our dismay, the first hill went a looong way down! If we made it the whole way to the second lake, that hill was going to be tough to come back up at the end.

Looking down on the first lake and part of the hill we would have to walk back up at the end.

The first lake was lovely, however it was clearly very touristy. Restaurants lined the huge car park and a couple of hotels sat near the water’s edge. There were few people here at this hour fortunately, but we could see maybe 50 or so paddleboats lined up for when people arrived. That’s a lot of paddleboats.

We were only 20 minutes or so into the hike when I nearly stepped on a snake! It was only small, very much like the dead one we saw on the road earlier.

The first lake was beautiful from both above and from the water’s edge.

It took us longer than expected to just walk past the first lake. We had to go up and down a few hills to do it. We then headed into the spruce forest, which was beautiful. In a few places, the forest cleared and the hills looked a bit like Switzerland.

One of the problems with this walk is that people can hire horses to take them to the lake. They’ve tried to separate the horse trail from the people trail but most of the time it’s the same track. The horses really chop the ground up and it becomes quite muddy. This pretty butterfly wasn’t complaining though as it hovered around trying to get water from the muddy path.

I felt so sorry for the horses. It’s a steep, long, rough track. There are rocks sticking out of mud and tree roots hold the ground in certain places forming big steps that the horses have to clamber up. One young horse guide was hitting the horse in front of him to keep it going. The poor thing was doing its best.

There were some really beautiful flowers.

We passed a small hiking group having a rest. They seemed to be the only other people ahead of us. They were a Filipino mother and her 18-year-old daughter, plus a Bangladeshi guy plus their guide. They all spoke English and we all travelled at a similar pace, so we spent a bit of time talking to them across the day.

To pass the time, we were trying to think of songs about horses. There were surprisingly few that we could think of. The other people’s guide didn’t know any song about horses but he sung us a Kazakhi song anyway!

I had researched a lot about this walk. People had said it got steeper and steeper. Some people didn’t make it. After our terrifying climb up the side of the mountain at Aktau less than a week ago, I was prepared for anything. In reality, it was nowhere near as hard as I expected and we made it in 3 ¼ hours, which I was pretty pleased about.

We crossed the last river with the guy from Bangladesh.

The second lake was truly beautiful. The turquoise waters were framed by spruce forests and taller mountains loomed in the distance. Dead tree trunks collected where the river ran out of the lake.

There are a third and fourth lake but you can’t hike there at the moment as they’re very close to the Kyrgyzstan border and that’s an issue apparently.

A green, flattish area served as a sensational campground for those willing enough to lug their gear up the hill. What a spot to camp!

 

I took my boots off and wandered around in the six-degree water. It was refreshing at first but soon became too much. We chatted with the other group as well as some campers. It was wonderful.

 

How special is this?

We didn’t want to stop too long or our muscles wouldn’t want to go again, so we headed down. On the way down, it started to rain and soon the track was very muddy. Again, the other group and us kept passing each other, which was nice.

The moist forest was a great home for some beautiful tiny fungi.

Finally, the first lake came into view. By this stage, my thighs were complaining. By now, there were paddleboats on the lake but, seeing it had only just finished raining, it wasn’t too bad.

Then we hit the road that ran between the main car park and the start of the first lake. People were walking down it in their hundreds! It’s still summer holidays here and it felt like every Kazakhi was at Kolsai Lake. We turned to do the final slog up the big hill to the carpark and we had to dodge and weave through the crowds. Small buses raced past us, ferrying people up and down the hill. We finally reached the car park and it was chockers. Cars squeezed along the narrow aisles looking for parks. Dozens of buses filled one end and people wandered around. It was crazy! We were so grateful for the peace and tranquillity we experienced at the second lake.

That peace and tranquillity will soon change though. By this time next year, it’s expected that a cable car will run between the two lakes, whisking people up and down that long hill. I have no doubt that there will soon be restaurants, cafes and flushing toilets at the second lake. It’s such a shame. The place is so special. The beauty and tranquillity will be gone. It will never be the same again.

Hooroo!
Heather and John