Ecological tours in gorge Issyk.

“All nature wears one universal grin” 

Henry Fielding.

Photos by Silk Road Adventures Kazakhstan.

Issyk city is to the east of Almaty (at the thirty fifth kilometre along the Almaty-Talgar foothill road). It is located on both banks of the Yesik River, just at the foot of the mountains at an elevation of 1000-1250 m above sea level.
The city is small and the pleasant buildings are tastefully interspersed with numerous gardens. The city is young and developing. The Issyk Gorge contains the loveIy  1760 Meters above sea level.
In 1963 powerful torrents of melt water from the glacier area poured into the upper reaches of the Issyk river. The gigantic waves destroyed the natural dam and the lake was washed away within hours.
Even now it has been only partly restored. The town is small; cosy one-storey and multi-storey houses look nicely amongst the numerous gardens. This is a young growing town. Behind the bridge over Issyk river there is an asphalt road that goes to Issyk Lake of you go south.
The river valley is wide and it is overgrown with poplars, willows, wild apple trees, apricots and barberry. The valley of Issyk River goes down from the glaciers. The water is dark green.
There are very steep slopes, rocks and slide-rocks, and a lot of greenery: along the slopes of the mountains there are spruce forests, birches and asps, rowan-trees and willows, meadows, amongst them there are cultivated pine-tree and birch forests.
And all this is on the background of mountain tops and glaciers. In the dawn roe deer, marals and other animals come down to the watering place and when you observe it you feel you are part of the nature.
It would be also interesting to see a great dam of natural origin, which has formed a beautiful lake – Issyk Lake. It is located at the altitude of 1756 m above sea level. This lake and the adjacent area were called the pearl of the mountains, second Switzerland.
On 7 July, 1963 the large mudflow destroyed the lake. The panorama of the place, picturesque wild nature and deep ravine leave unforgettable impression and show the real power of the nature.
At present the lake is being restored. In 2001 in order to popularize tourist abilities and to enhance the image of the oblast, “The First International Song Festival” was held in the oblast.
Above the lake there are no roads, and some routes are so dangerous for travelling that only experienced alpinists and glaciologists climb these routes. Glaciologists observe the water level in moraine high-mountainous lakes.

Authorship:
«Nature Zailiskiy Ala-Tau », M.Z.Zhandaev, Kazakhstan, Alma-Ata, 1978. The catalogue of glaciers of the USSR. - Leningrad, 1967, т. 13, 2 party. Glaciers Егнлыг (Northern Tien-Shan): Hydro-meteorological services, 1984. Congelation Tien-Shan. Under N.B.Djurgerov.-, 1995. Congelation Zailiskiy Ala-Tau. - М.: The Science, 1969. Palgov N. Big Almaty unit of a congelation in ridge Zailiskiy Ala-Tau. The brief encyclopedia Kazakh SSR, volume 2, the Nature, Alma-Ata, 1990.

Alexander Petrov
photos.