Mysterious Lake Kaindy
Kaindy means "full of Birch Trees". Only 5 km away from the Lake you can find a manmade birch tree grove, that was planted a long time ago. But why this lake is so unique and popular?
It's a very young lake that appeared only in the beginning of the last century as a result of the 1911 earthquake. The mudslide had blocked the gorge and flooded the fir trees.
Image taken by Jonas Satkauskas
Now after a century when everything around settled down, the lake with its beautiful colours and dried fir tree stumps sticking out of it attracts many people to enjoy the beauty and mystery of the place.
The lake is 400 m (1 312 feet) long with deepest parts being 30 m (90 feet) down.
Want to share a wonderful story about your trip to the Lake Kaindy?
How to get to the Kaindy
lake?
As long as you are in Almaty it's easy. The Lake is only over 280 km (174 miles) drive from Almaty. But it takes about 5-6 hours to get to the lake itself. Why? Because you are not always on the highway. There is quite a bit of offroading and it's 2000 m (6 550 feet) above the sea level.
OK. Here we go.
- Take the Kuldzha highway from Almaty towards Talgar and start observing your dashboard for the mileage;
- by-pass Talgar and keep heading towards Chilik;
- then Baiseit, always stay on the main road and don't turn off;
- after you passed Kokpek keep following the main road to Narynkol/Kegen;
- When you've done about 190 km since you left Almaty you see the signpost showing to turn to the right for a place called Zhalanash, follow it;
- pass Zhalanash, later pass another smaller village under the same name;
- then you hit the mountain pass;
- before you hit the Saty village you'll have bridge over the Chilik river;
- then when you see 265km on your dashboard you'll see the cemetry to your left, just after which you'll be turning left and start offroading;
- you'll see the jager's house and the barrier;
- 15 km of offroading and you've reached your
destination as per the map of Kaindy below.
Just a small tip. If you don't turn off at the cemetry and keep going, you hit the Kolsai lakes.
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Activities at the Lake
Of course, considering the weather conditions, the best time to visit the Lake is late spring to early autumn. You'll love walks around the lake and observing the wild flora and fauna of the area.
Depending on the time of year, you can even pick some wild berries, like raspberries and strawberries, as well as mushrooms.
Notwithstanding the cool tempreatures of the water, the Lake is very popular among divers, who enjoy their promenades in the underwater forests, where not many tourists can disturb their communication with the Mother Nature.
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