Places to visit

The Chimgan Mountains are not only magnificent nature, picturesque slopes covered with relict thickets, valleys and gorges with the purest mountain rivers. It is also a popular tourist region where skiing, paragliding and hiking flourish. Reviews say that a trip to the Chimgan Mountains allows you to “reboot” and restore strength, having been fueled by an inexhaustible source of energy - nature itself. People come here not only on vacation, but also on weekends and holidays, and a large number of tourist centers and hotels operating here make it possible to always find a suitable place for accommodation and overnight stays.

The International airport of Ulaanbaatar (Ulan Bator) link different cities like Berlin, Frankfurt, Seoul, Bejing, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Moscow or Istanbul. It situated 35 min. from the center of the capital of Mongolia.

Choibalsan Airport COQ is a civil airport located in NE of the town of Choibalsan, the capital of Dornod Province in East Mongolia. Hunnu Air operates flights to Ulan Bator, to Manzhulli and to Hailar. A one way ticket for Ulan Bator cost around 80-100$.

The Chokoly Lakes or Chokoli-Kol Lakes are a group of a dozen lakes on the south side of the Juuku Pass. Only the large lake on the east side has a river flowing into the Arabel Suu River.  The length of the largest lake is about 3 km.

As soon as you wake up and decide to look out of the tent, you are immediately greeted by an incredible view of the lake, which, like a natural mirror, beckons with its beauty in the early morning.

Probably this is one of the most beautiful places, which is great for camping.

Here, at an altitude of 3500 m, the lakes are perfectly combined with each other with amazingly clear water, unimaginable green-brown expanses with grazing argali and ice caps that seem to be very close.

Transparent and pure water cannot but arouse admiration for how smart and talented our nature is, which has created such beautiful corners of our amazing planet.

Wide plateau with numerous lakes, surrounded by incredible red and black mountains part of the 5000 meters Ak-Shirak range. 

The city of Cholpon Ata is located on the northern shore of Lake Issyk Kul, 265 km east of Bishkek. There are about 11 000 inhabitants.

The city is known for its sandy beach, seaside resorts and hosts many tourists in the summer. Tourists come mainly from countries of the former USSR.

Many hotels, guest houses and apartments are open throughout the summer. Also, you will find animated streets ...

Things to see: The petroglyphs, the museum Rukh Ordo, the Regional Museum Cholpon Ata.

Ski backcountry with horses in the National parc. Winter in Chon Kemin is also great for snowshoeing and horseriding.

The population of Chong Kemin is devided in 6 small villages. Novorossiika is the main one with Town hall, hospital and school. Others one are Tegirmenti, Tar Suu, Kalmak-Ashuu, Kaïndy and Karool-Debe where are situated our homestays.

This park encompasses the entire Chong Kemin Valley. There are many trails still virgin or almost. Several passes between Issyk Kul Lake or Kitchi Kemin Valley.

The total area is 126,514 hectares. Here in the park the river Chon Kemin flows. More than 780 species of plants grow and rare mammals such as snow leopard, brown bear, maral, Eurasian lynx, golden eagle, himalayan griffon vulture (Gyps himalayensis),  bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus), saker falcon and sablefly are found.

The Chong Kemin River (Kyrgyz: Чоң Кемин дарыясы) is a main river in Kemin District of Chuy Province of Kyrgyzstan. It is rising in the Zailiiski range (marking the border beetween Kazakshtan and Kyrgyzstan) and the Kungey range, and is a right tributary of the Chu River in Boom Gorge. The river is protected by status of the National park of Chong Kemin.

It has a length of 116 kilometres with a basin area of 1,890 square kilometres.

The Chong Kemin river rises as an effluent of the Murok Suu, the Sapojnikova, the Mashkovtseva, the Keminski, the West Ak-Suu, Dolon Ata, North Cholpon Ata and others glaciers of the Kungey range.

It receives the water from many rivers like Utsh Bulak river, Tegirmenti Suu, Kashka Suu (Kekoyrok mount), Tshetyndy, Ishke-Suu, Djan-Aryk, Buzulgan-Say, Kaskeleng, Djaya, Bashy-Djaya, Sek-Archa-Bulak, Chong Ak-Say, Kokuy Bulak, Almaty, Tuyuk Almaty, Koel Almaty, Kashka Suu (Zailiiski range), West Ak-Suu, Dolon Ata, North Cholpon Ata, Tertyuktshyu-Koy-Suu, Chong Koy-Suu, Orto-Koy-Suu, Koy-Suu, Djindi-Suu, Utsh-Emshek, Kashka-Suu (Dzore mount), Diure, Koel-Ter, Toru-Aigyr, Shymbulak, Ortokaindy, Cholakaindy, Kalmak-Ashuu and Tar-Suu rivers.

In the bassin of the Chong Kemin river, there are some lakes like Koel Kongur, Djashyl Koel, Djacyl Koel, Almaty, and many small glacier's lakes.

It's a good place for fishing the Amurdaria trout, Issykulski trout and the Chuy Osman.

The river also offer on its lower part a good opportunity to try rafting on a 23 km long from class II to IV, starting a bit lower than the Shabdan village till Djil Aryk village on the shore of the Chuy river. (see our rafting programs).

The geophysical station in the valley of Chong Kyzyl-Suu was built in 1948 by Germans, who have been captured in Kyrgyzstan. At that time, there was no way for cars to get to the station, so they had to transport all building materials on camels. 
The purpose of the station was already then to observe the glaciers, mountains and the animal world. There worked hydrologists and geomorphologists from many different nations.

During the Sowjetunion many students from Moscow and St. Petersburg came here to get some practice and to write their graduation work. A lot of people got their doctor title due to this station.

Until 1991 there were many geographical expeditions, but for example also expeditions to observe the life of snow leopards.

From 1991 to 2003 it was a kind of a geological institute. In 2007 it got an institute for water problems as well as a hydro-energetic institute.
Until the year 2007 it was being named physical-geographical station, but then it got a new name: tien-shan high-alpine scientific center.
Today they work together with Chinese, American and French scientists. Its current director is Satilkanov Risbek Ablaievic.

Since 2003 they started to work with tourists as well. But even earlier, there have been tourist visiting the station. For tourists it’s got interesting things to see in a wonderful environment, where you do beautiful hikes to lovely lakes. The station has places for 18 people at a time. The inhabitants are very kind, but the life there is without luxury. (No current water, no electricity, outdoor toilet)

Transports can be organized from Jeti Oguz, Bishkek, Karakol, Siutuu Bulak or Djukku.

400 km from Bishkek or 60 km from Karakol, the old physical and geological station is situated in the gorge of Chong Kyzyl Suu at 2600 meter alt. It’s very good place for acclimatation or BC before to climb surrounding peaks of the Terskey Alatoo.

How to get there: if you come from lake side, you should arrive by bus or taxi to the little town of Pakrovka (actual Kyzyl Suu), then you follow the Chong Kyzyl Suu river up to 25km, the hot spring water complex is 4km before the refuge. If you arrive from Jeti Oguz valley, you can reach through Archa Toer pass. If you arrive from Kichi Kyzyl Suu valley or Jukku valley, you should cross the Savatar or Karatakkya pass. If you arrive from Kumtor side or Syrthe, you should cross the glacier of Ashu-Toer.

You can also sleep in our refuge and enjoy walks in the middle of edelweiss. The refuge is situated at 2500 meter altitude on the crossroad of the two gorge of Karabatkak and Ashuu Toer. 

Curiosities of the valley are : Jeli Suu hot water springs, refuge of the Geo-physical station, Savator lake, waterfall in Ashuu Toer gorge, Shatali lake, Karabatkak glacier and its lake, peak Kyzyl Suu.

Good place for observing wild nature : wide range of flowers and birds, snow leopard, gypaeth, Tien Shan bear, Ibex, marmott, wolf and ohter more rare species.

Our service:

1 room with four beds, 1 kyrgyz-style sleeping room on the floor, russian sauna, camping, horseback riding program, trekking program, guide, horse-guide, fauna observation, flora observation, glacier observation.

For any reservation or booking, please send an email at office@nomadsland.ch

A small village on the northern shore of Lake Issyk Kul. The inhabitants of this village live mainly from agriculture, mainly apricots and other fruits. The village is popular for its natural hot springs in the vicinity, used for bathing and relaxation. This locality offers an authentic experience of Kyrgyz village life.

Chong-Tash camping site, which means “big stone” in translation, is mentioned in the writings of Semyonov Tien-Shansky (Russian geographer, botanist, statistician, economist, traveler, statesman and public figure. He received a postscript to his surname “Tyan-Shansky”,  because he described the Tien-Shan mountains). But Buddhist inscriptions show that this place was known long before that.
A beautiful view of the snow-capped peaks, which open immediately as soon as you open the tent.
This is a very quiet and peaceful place.
Here, civilization is gradually left behind, which allows you to finally feel the real nature and hear the murmur of water.
We are getting closer and closer to the huge Arabel Plateau.
This is a great place to be alone with nature and feel like a part of it.

The Chong-Ak-Suu valley or also called Grigorivka, stretches for 35 km in the Kungey Alatoo massif, between Lake Issyk Kul and the Kazakh border. The river of the same name is bordered to the north by cliffs and very steep slopes, while to the south, large pastures cover the mountains. The valley is very visited in summer by tourists who come to rest on the shores of Lake Issyk Kul.

Pastures of Kyzyl Oy village, with colorful landscape. The Kumbel pass is on the top of this valley, linking with the Suusamyr valley.

The Chorsu Bazaar in Tashkent (Chorsu market) is located on the main square of the city Eski-Juva. Despite the modern look that this market has today, the history of Chorsu Market goes back centuries. About 2 millennia ago, an ancient settlement was founded in these regions, the center of which, according to legend, was the bazaar. Over time, a fair was formed, during which an active exchange of goods began, merchants from different parts of Central Asia flocked here. For a time, the bazaar became the center of life, and to this day Chorsu, located at the intersection of 4 shopping streets, attracts visitors with fragrant fresh fruits, oriental sweets and colorful Uzbek souvenirs.

A new build ski resort on pass of the Chunkurchak canyon.

The Chunkurchak Gorge is located 45 km south of the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek. A unique landscape, a mixture of pastures and red sandstone rocks, at the foot of the highest glaciers of the Kyrgyz Alatoo mountain range. It is a recreational place where you can find several mountain hotels, as well as a ski resort.