Sary Chelek National Park, Kyrgyzstan

Hiking, swimming, a storm and a broken van.

In the summer of 2021, I spent around 3 months in Kyrgyzstan. As I mentioned in the first post of this series, I volunteered for a contemporary art association, and thanks to this I was able to meet a lot of nice people.

In the previous post, I talked about a weekend trip to Song Kul Lake, and from there I started to use weekends to visit the country. I could do it because I got to know Timur and Kina.

Thanks to my volunteer work I got to know a Korean guy, Chihoon, who owns a restaurant and a cafe in Bishkek. The idea was to use his restaurant to do some art workshops. In this restaurant, I met for the first time Timur, who together with Kina organised group trips in Kyrgyzstan, he invited me to go on an excursion to Sary Chelek.

Sary Chelek is a stunning natural reserve located in the Jalal-Abad region of Kyrgyzstan, renowned for its breathtaking beauty and ecological diversity. Nestled within the Tien Shan mountains, this UNESCO Biosphere Reserve is centred around the pristine Sary Chelek Lake, which is surrounded by lush forests, alpine meadows, and rugged peaks. Deep 234 meters, Sary-Chelek Lake ("yellow water vessel" in Kyrgyz) is a haven for hikers and horseback riders. Established in 1959, the Sary-Chelek Nature Reserve protects over 23,000 hectares with 1000+ plant species, 160+ bird species, and 34+ mammal species.

The name Sary-Chelek refers to a single large lake, but the surrounding area within the Sary-Chelek Nature Reserve holds a collection of seven lakes.

We left Bishkek on Friday evening, travelled all night, and arrived for breakfast in the house where we stayed for one night. The group of about 15 people was composed by mostly of locals and a small group of foreigners.

After breakfast, we started a scenic and relatively easy hike that took us to six of the reserve's seven lakes (Sary-Chelek Lake, Kyzyl-Kol, Tuyuk Lake, Chacha Kol, Haram Kol and Iri-Kul). The hike can be done easily in one day, the total distance is roughly 16 kilometres.

After 3 hours we reached a viewpoint above the lake, we stopped there to rest and admire an incredible landscape. It was a perfect day for hiking, sunny but not very hot, and being there in that beautiful place, for me, was incredible.

From there we decided to go down to the lake to swim and enjoy the nice weather, it took around an hour, and I couldn’t wait to jump in the lake. The water temperature was pleasant and after the hike, I enjoyed swimming in the lake.

Near the shore the lake was shallow, but beyond that point, it quickly became very deep. While we were bathing a girl risked drowning, because she stepped into the deep water, and me and another guy we were able to catch her and bring her back where she could stand and be safe. Everything happened in a few seconds, and fortunately, we were very close to her to be able to react immediately. Knowing how much I like bracelets, the girl made herself one for me as a symbolic gesture of her gratitude.

At one point in the hike, we saw black clouds reaching the lake so we ran out of water and continued hoping to avoid the storm. We didn’t, so we had to continue the hike in the rain. We decided to shorten it to reach the van as soon as possible. When we reached the van the storm was finished and we were all wet and full of mud, but we went to see another lake before returning to our accommodation. Back at the guesthouse, we tried to dry and clean our shoes from the mud.

The morning after we had breakfast and then we started our way back to Bishkek, since my only pair of shoes was still fully wet I was barefoot, but I realised that when it’s sunny, being on the asphalt barefoot was not a good idea. When we stopped to go to the toilet, I used the opportunity to go shopping and buy the much-needed flip-flops.

Later we had a lunch break in a restaurant, we ate fried fish with an incredible view of a lake. There was an “Instagram point” with a swing overlooking the lake.

The way back was long because our van had technical problems and we had to stop several times. Once we had a long stop and we thought the van was totally gone. The nice part is that we stopped near the “Windows wallpaper” spot, so we enjoyed the beautiful landscape and took pictures together. Fortunately, the driver was able to fix the problem and we were able to be back in Bishkek late at night.

Near the “Windows” place, there was the yurt of the picture above. Many Kyrgyz nomads produce and sell goods alongside their herding activities. Some from the group went there to buy some Kumis. Nomadic families traditionally make kumis themselves, and some may sell the excess at local markets or to travellers. Kumis is a fermented mare's milk drink. They also sell wool products (from their sheep herds), dairy products like cheese, and sometimes handicrafts.

While nomadic lifestyles are becoming less common, some families still practice them and sell products traditionally. Some farmers aren't strictly nomadic but may sell kumis and other goods.

Even if we had some disadventures I had fun during this trip. The group was fun, and Sary Chelek National Park is amazing. I became friends with Kina and Timur, and I participated in other trips with them, I will talk about it in another post.

See you soon,

Flavio