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Bektau ata cave.
Guided tours in Kazakhstan
“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving”
Terry Pratchett. “A Hat Full of Sky”.
Independent travels in Kazakhstan.
The Bektau cave is located on the southwestern slope of the western cone of Mount Bektau ata, 73 kilometers north of the city of Balkhash in the Balkhash region in the south of the Karaganda region. The entrance to the horizontal cave Bektau ata is located at an altitude of 600 meters above sea level.
The ascent to the Bektautinsky cave is complicated by a huge scattering of stones. In front of the entrance there is a flat platform with a length of 6 - 7 meters, a width of 4 - 5 meters. The entrance height is about 3 meters, width is 1.5 meters, then the cave expands to 2 - 2.5 meters.
At a distance of about 15 - 16 meters, the bottom of the cave is almost horizontal, then it gradually decreases and at around 29 meters the water fills the entire width of the cave. The bottom is viscous, silty. The height of the cave above the water reaches 2 meters.
In the depths, the cave narrows to 1.5 meters, the bottom rises sharply and passes into a narrow channel with a rounded cross section, which goes higher to the day surface. The total length of the cave is 45 - 48 meters.
Daylight penetrates far into the cave, and therefore cavers call such caves "grottoes" or "crystal cellars." This is a rare portal of beauty, and the entrance to the cave is located on the site among the steep cliffs. In the bowels of mountain caves there are smoky rock crystal Morion, a rare mineral piezoelectric.
Tourist routes are laid here. The surroundings of the cave are painted with numerous names, surnames of tourists, so it can be called a painting.
Authority:
Brief Encyclopedia of the Kazakh SSR, Volume 4, Culture, Alma-Ata, 1990. B. Sarybaev. Alexander Petrov.
Photos
Alexander Petrov.