Issyk Kul region

The canyon was named because of its bizarre rocky landscape, which for many years has been transformed by erosion into amazing sculptures and formations. Some formations look like The Great Wall of China and you can also find other formations that look like snakes, dragons, sleeping giants and even whole castles. From the canyon you can see a majestic panorama of Lake Issyk-Kul and snow caped mountains. It’s an excellent destination for children and adults because it’s an easy hike close to Lake Issyk-Kul.

A small hut built by local alpinist during the Soviet Union. There absolutely no comfort but the place around is popular for installing camp tents.

The Semenov Valley and its gorges (Kichi Ak-Suu), about 35 km long, are located 40 km east of the town of Cholpon-Ata. In the valley flows the Kichi Ak-Suu river, and its main tributaries are the Sut-Bulak, Ashutor, Bel-Bulak, Chong-Kugantyr and Djol-Karagay rivers which meet at a place called "Kyrchyn". Most of the tributaries originate from the glaciers of Kungey Alatoo. The river flows into Issyk Kul Lake.

Sarychat-Ertash Nature Reserve was founded in 1995 for the protection of high altitude ecosystems and its fauna, in particular the snow leopard and its prey. 

The total area is 1341 km² (518 mi²), making it one of the most important parks in Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia. It is located in the southeast of the Terskey Alatoo mountain range. Most of the park is made up of the Ak-Shirak massif and its high tundra.

Authorization to visit the park is difficult because access is only allowed to teams of scientists coming to study the flora and fauna of the park.

A difficult road cross this pass, through the Terskey Alatoo and permit to link the south shore of the Issyk Kul's lake to the Djiluu Suu valley. 

The pass is not opening by the government, so it means you can maybe pass between snowfalls, and with a very good 4x4 car.

The story of the church goes back to July 1869, when Karakol was a garrison town on the edges of the Tsarist Russian Empire. The Karakol church, however, was destroyed in an earthquake in 1889, which caused havoc in the town and took several lives.  It took six years to complete, and was finally consecrated in 1895.  It has seen considerable service, not just as a church. 

The San-Tash burial mound, which means "counting stones" or "reading stones" in the Turkish language, is located on the bank of the Tiup River, near the eastern border post with Kazakhstan A363, at an altitude of 1996 metres alt . Most of the Scythian tombs in the vicinity are dated to the 6th to 1st centuries BC. But the stone heap remains an enigma as it is linked to a legend of Tamerlane which was used to count the number of dead soldiers during battles.

 Nikolay Mikhailovich Przhewalsky was one of the first Russian Geographer who started studying in detail the geography, flora and fauna of the Central Asia. Beginning from 1870, he arranged 4 large expeditions to Mongolia, China, and Tibet.

During his expeditions, he revealed the exact directions of the mountain ranges and borders of the Tibetan Mountains. Przhewalsky collected an enormous zoological collection, which comprised several thousand of species of plant, animals, birds, fishes and insects.