First day:
Charyn canyon is located 195 km from Almaty, and this place is definitely worth a visit. The stunning beauty of the landscape will take you into the atmosphere of the wild West, because the Charyn canyon, without a doubt, can be put on a par with the famous Grand canyon in the United States of America.
Some facts about the canyon:
• the length of the canyon is 154 km along the Charyn river;
• it is a natural monument composed of sedimentary rocks that are about 12 million years old;
• is actually the bottom of the Tethys proto-ocean;
• the height of the steep mountains of the canyon reaches 150-300 meters;
• the most beautiful place is considered to be the valley of Castles, its length is about 3 km, width-20-80 m.
Second day:
Kolsay lakes trail
Kolsay lakes — a system of three lakes in the Northern Tien Shan, in the Kolsay canyon, in the bridge connecting the Kungei-Alatau and Zailiysky Alatau ranges.
The absolute height of the lakes above sea level is 1818 m, 2252 m and 2850 m.
In this tour, we will only visit the first one. The length of the lake is 1520 m, width 222 m, depth 366 m!
Kolsay is an incredible lake! The color of the water is amazing, changing depending on the weather, from bright turquoise, azure to green and gray-blue!
The lake is rich in diverse flora and fauna, there are king trout, ducks, eagles, you can meet hares and marmots.
The path to the second Kolsay lake — Mynzhygli, is not less beautiful than the lake itself, 8 kilometers of mountain route with unique, pristine nature!
Lake Mynzhygli – the largest and most beautiful of the three lakes, has a length of 1235 meters, the greatest width of 564 meters, the greatest depth of the lake is about 50 meters.
The first thing you see when you go out to the lake is a natural dam of fallen fir trees. The view is impressive! The second lake is flowing, connected to the first lake by the Kolsay river.
We have lunch and return to Saty village
Third day:
Kaindy Lake
Kaindy lake is located on the Northern slope of the Kungei Ala-Too mountain canyon at an altitude of 1,867 meters above sea level in a dense coniferous forest. It’s 21 kilometers between Kolsay lake and Kaindy lake.
Kaindy means “abundant birch” or “birch” in Kazakh language. Although you will not find a single birch tree on the lake, you will find the birch five kilometers below the lake.
Kaindy lake is a natural wonder! It was formed as a result of the Kemin earthquake in 1911! The earthquake lasted about 5 minutes with an amplitude of 8 points! Can you imagine the power? Naturally, this led to changes in the landscape — deep cracks, ruptures and numerous landslides occurred. One of these landslides blocked the river – and the mountain valley got filled with water, flooding the coniferous forest growing there. In any other place, the trees would have rotted long ago, but in Kaindy such cold water (even in July, no higher than 6C) that the trees are literally preserved! In clear weather, they are clearly visible through the water.
Back to Saty village, dinner, departure
Hashtags / keywords to search for:
#garintrip_Кольсай #garintrip_Каинды #Kolsay #Kaindy
#garintrip_Charyn #Charyn #Charyncanyon
Kolsay lake, Kaindy lake, Charyn ,Charyncanyon, valley of Castles