Exploration of the Kyrgyz Tien-Shan and Uzbek cities

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 Issyk-Kul lake has a length of 182 km, a maximum width of 60 km and covers an area of ​​6,236 km². This makes it the second largest mountain lake in the world behind Lake Titicaca. Located at an altitude of 1,606 m, it reaches 668 m deep. 

About 118 rivers and streams flow into the lake. The largest are the Djyrgalan (Jergalan) and Tyup. It is fed by springs, including many hot springs and snowmelt, and it has no outlet. Its south side is dominated by the Tian Shan mountain range of wild beauty. The lake water is slightly saline and level down about 5 cm per year.

The Issyk-Kul lake is an important step on the Silk Road, a dirt road for travelers from the Far East to Europe. Many historians believe that the lake was the point of origin of the plague that hit Europe and Asia in the early and mid 14th. The status of the lake as a place of passage for travelers allowed the plague spread across the continents through the medieval merchants who unknowingly took away the vermin infested with them. Armenian monastery from the 14th century was found on the northeast coast of Lake retracing the steps of a medieval map used by Venetian merchants on the Silk Road.

The scenary Song Kul (or Song Kul) lake is the main pasture of nomads. Hundreds yurts are built during summer. The beautiful lake large of about 25-35 km is a natural reserve. Many species of birds are stopping during their long migration. Some tombs from Sakh times and petroglyphs are most ancient traces of live. Different trekking or horseback riding roads are joining the place.

The Kekemeren is the biggest river tributary of the Naryn river. The Suusamyr and the West Karakol river flow into the Kekemeren at the altitude of 2030 meters, near the village of Kojomkul and 3 kilomètres before the Kekemeren's canyon. The river is situated between the Suusamyr and the Djumgal ranges is about 130 km long till the Naryn confluence. 

The whole river is passing through a colorfull canyon with interesting whitewater for good rafter, classe I to V. Our rafting programs purpose two section, the first fo 45 km from Kojomkul village till Aral village (1 to 3 days), the second of 90 km from Aral to the Naryn confluence (2-5 days). Of course, the during time depend on the level of participants, but good experienced rafters.

The Amudarya trout (Slmo trutta oxianus Kessler), the Schizothorax intermedius McLelland, locally known as "marinka" lives in upstream waters of Kekemeren river
Diptychus maculatus Berg (osman) can be encountered only in the upper part of the river in the Suusamyr bassin.

The high valley of Suusamyr is situated between the Kyrgyz range and the Suusamyr Too range, on the way (M41) between Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital and Osh city of the Ferghana valley. In summer, Suusamyr become a wide pasture for numerous Kyrgyz nomad coming during the hot season with their cattle. In winter, this is one of the Kyrgyz paradise for ski or snowboard lovers.

The Toktogul hydroelectric power station, built in 1975, is the largest and most important power station in the country, producing up to 40% of its electricity. In addition, the dam of its dam produces a volume of 19 billion cubic meters of water that flows through the largest Toktogul reservoir in Central Asia and governs the irrigation and energy regimes. Visits are prohibited to the public, and entrances are monitored by the military. Access to the dam is from the small town of Kara-Kël (or Karakul, Kara-Kul, Kara-Kol).

The Toktogul hydropower plant is rightly regarded as the flagship of Kyrgyzstan's hydropower industry. The station project was developed by the Central Asian branch of the "Hydroproject" Institute. S. Ya Zhuk with the participation of Soyuzgidroproekt, Gidrostalproekt, etc. The dam is a complex construction intended to regulate the flow of the Naryn River and the production of energy in the long term.

The location of the station was chosen in the mountains of the central Tien Shan, at the entrance of the Naryn river, in the Ketmen-Tyube valley, in a narrow gorge reaching a depth of 1500 m. The slope is 65 - 70 °. The configuration of the station facilities was determined by the topographical and geological characteristics of the construction site, mainly by the seismicity, which is 9-10 points.

The hydroelectric complex includes a reservoir, a dam, two deep weirs, a surface weir, 4 turbine water pipes.

The station's reservoir is the largest in Central Asia, located in the Ketmen-Tyube valley and has the following dimensions: 65 km long, 284.3 km2 in area, maximum depth of 120 m, for a total capacity of 195 billion m3, useful - 14 billion m3.

The Toktogul Hydroelectric Power Plant Dam design parameters are a unique concrete structure designed to operate under exceptionally high seismic conditions. Its height is 215 m, its length along the ridge is 292.5 m, and the total concrete volume of the dam is 3.2 million m3.

The construction of a hydroelectric power station with a two-row arrangement of four hydraulic units is directly adjacent to the dam from downstream. PO-170/505-B-535 radial-axial turbines with a power of 307 MW each were installed in the building of the hydroelectric power station.

The turbines are supplied with water by four pressure pipes 7.5 m in diameter located in the central part of the dam.

Technical and economic indicators of the station:

* installed capacity - 1200 MkW;
* guaranteed power - 260,000 kW;
* average annual electricity production - 4,400 million kW / h;
* water flow through the turbine - 245m3 / s;
* number of hydraulic units - 4.

Uzgen is a large village on the main road between Jalal Abad and Osh. The modern city of Uzgen is located on the territory of ancient site. Ancient settlement of Uzgen is rich of monuments of settled and nomadic people, dated in a wide chronological range. It belongs to a zone of early contacts on the Silk Road, being the most eastern city centre of Davan, as the city of Ju-chen known on Chinese sources is traditionally localised here in a context of military expeditions of 104-99 BC. Citadel and Shakhristans have been preserved relatively. Officially the complex is a part of "Sulaiman-Too" museum complex with a representative in Uzgen responsible for its protection and management. Uzgen Architectural Complex is on the State list of monuments of national importance.

Osh, the second largest city of the Kyrgyz republic, is one of the oldest settlements of Central Asia. It is located in southwestern Kyrgyzstan near the Uzbekistan border in the eastern section of the Fergana Valley. This one of the Central Asia's most interesting cities because of its long history, dating back as least to the 5th century BC - its position as an important crossroads for Silk Road trade and its huge market. For centuries it was a major silk-production center, strategically situated on a trade route to India.

Sights are: the huge bazaar, Sulaimans Throne (a 200 m hill called Takht-i-Suleyman (Solomon's Throne), where the Prophet Muhammad is thought to have prayed and where Muslim pilgrims began visiting in the tenth century), Baburs House (at the top of Sulaimans Throne), several monuments (especially the one of Kurmanjan Datka –  Kyrgyz feminine ruler and engaged warrior against the Russian invasion), the Russian-orthodox church, the biggest mosque of the country (situated right beside the bazaar) and the Rabat Abdul Khan Mosque (16 th century).

The population of Osh is mostly Uzbek. Osh has two universities, a sanatorium, and an airport. Economic activity has been aided by beneficial reforms and consists of the Jayma bazaar; silk trade; mining of zinc, lead, and coal; food processing; and the production of silk, cotton, and wool.

Tashkent is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. The officially registered population of the city in 2012 was about 2,309,300. Due to its position in Central Asia, Tashkent came under Sogdian and Turkic influence early in its history, before Islam in the 8th century AD. After its destruction by Genghis Khan in 1219, the city was rebuilt and profited from the Silk Road. In 1865 it was conquered by the Russian Empire, and in Soviet times witnessed major growth and demographic changes due to forced deportations from throughout the Soviet Union. Today, as the capital of an independent Uzbekistan, Tashkent retains a multi-ethnic population with ethnic Uzbeks as the majority.

Samarkand is famous for its surprisingly long history - it is one of the oldest cities in the world, founded 8 centuries BC. In the old days, this city was the most important point connecting East and West, and the Silk Road passed through Samarkand. Therefore, here, as nowhere else, a huge number of cultural and historical monuments have been preserved - such as mausoleums, museums, mosques, the ruins of ancient settlements and much more.

Samarkand was proclaimed in 2001 by UNESCO crossroads of cultures and world heritage site.

Another city on the Silk Road is ancient Khorezm, or Khiva as it is now called. Khiva can be considered an open-air museum - it is not for nothing that it is included in the UNESCO list, because every building here is a monument of antiquity. In the old part of the city of Ichan-Kala, founded around the 5th century AD, about 60 historical monuments have been preserved, including the citadel, palaces, mosques, minarets and mausoleums. In addition to the old city-fortress, there is another old part Dishan-Kala, where residential buildings and shopping arcades were located.

Place Registan, which has existed for more than 6 centuries. Some of the buildings that are in the square have been kept here in their original form from the time they were built. Special attention deserves a complex of three medersas - schools built in the Middle Ages, lined with mosaics in the traditional national style. The square itself was paved with baked bricks at the end of the 19th century.

The observatory of Samarkand was built in the 1420s by the Timurid astronomer Ulugh Beg, it is considered by scholars to have been one of the finest observatories in the Islamic world. 
The remains of the observatory were found and studied by archaeologist V.L. Vyatkin in 1908. A study of one of the 17th century documents yielded a precise description of the location of the observatory.
Here in 1437, the "Gurgan Zij" was compiled - a catalog of the starry sky, in which 1018 stars were described. The duration of the sidereal year was also determined there: 365 days, 6 hours, 10 minutes, 8 seconds (with an error of + 58 seconds).

This mosque is the oldest of the 157 mosques in modern Tashkent and the third largest mosque in Uzbekistan after the Bibi-Khanum Mosque in Samarkand and Poi-Kalyan in Bukhara. From the 15th century to the present, the mosque bears the name of one of the Sufi leaders of the Eastern Middle Ages - Khoja Akhrar Vali, who presented the city with a building built on the foundations of the former Djuma Mosque (Djuma Mosque - Friday Mosque) in 1451.

The Ulugbek Madrasah is a muslim spiritual, educational and religious building of the XV century in Samarkand. The oldest madrasa is a part of architectural ensemble of The Registan Square.

Madrasah of Khan Mukhammad Amin was built in 1851-1854 years by order of the ruler of Khiva and got its name.

The Khast Imam is the religious center of Tashkent. Khast Imam is located in the old town

Kokand  is a city in the Ferghana Province of Uzbekistan. Kokand had a population of about 220,000 in 2010. Little-known city, but very rich historically. Its existence is described by Chinese ambassadors a century before our era. Crockery has been found, dating from the 1st and 2nd centuries BC. Like other great conquerors, the Ferhana Valley was an oasis in the middle of deserts and mountains. Genghis Khan had made it one of his main residences. From the beginning of the 18th century to the end of the 19th century. Kokand had become the capital of a kingdom larger than France.

In the shade of mulberry trees, the city of Bukhara was an important stop on the Silk Road. A museum city that testifies to the rich past of Central Asia.

Bukhara- Buqaraq of the sogdienwhich would mean "fortunate place" and Vihara in Sanskrit which means a Buddhist monastery. 

It is a city in Uzbekistan, located in the south-central part of the country. It is located on the lower reaches of the Zarafshan River, in the middle of an oasis, on the eastern edge of the Kyzyl Kum desert. It was connected by caravan routes to Mervet to the valleys of the rivers Amu-Darya and Syr-Darya (Naryn)

In the ninth century, the city becomes the capital of the Persian Samanid dynasty (875-999) and the appearance of the city is changed again: eleven access gates are observed, the "rabad" (suburb) extends around the inner part ("chakhristan"), the population increases significantly, professions determine the place of residence, many mausoleums and mosques are built (including the mausoleum of the Samanids)

In 999, the city was invaded by the Qarakhanids. At that time, monuments, still visible today, were built: the minaret of Arslan-Khana (Kalian minaret), the mosque of Magoki-Attari, the mosque of Namezgokh, the mausoleum of Chashma-Ayub (the source of Job)

Bukhara gave its name to the bougran, a strong canvas used in the lining of clothes, spelled boquerant by Marco Polo.

Bukhara is also the generic name given to Turkmen carpets, the main trading center of which is the Ashgabat Bazaar. These carpets are subdivided into teke andyomouth, the names of the two main Turkmen tribal families. Their very typical style can be easily recognized because the decoration of the field consists of the repetition of the same decorative motif, the goul, emblem of the weaver tribe.

The 140 monuments protected by UNESCO testify to the historical and cultural richness of this city.

The Ark Citadel
The Bolo Hauz Mosque
The Magok-i-Attari Mosque
The Po-i-Kalon complex
The Koch madrasas etc