Rivers of Tien Shan

The Orto-Tokoy reservoir is the first reservoir built in Kyrgyzstan. Construction began in 1941 and ended in 1960. It is located on the Chu River, behind the village of Kochkor. Its length is about 18 km, its volume is over 470 million cubic meters, and its maximum depth is 47 meters.

The main purpose of the reservoir is to regulate the water level of the Chuy River in order to irrigate for agricultural land in Chui Oblast and southern Kazakhstan.

Kochkor is a town of shepherds located in Naryn oblast 200 km from Bishkek. It is located at 1800m. alt. The city has 17,000 residents. Most of them are shepherds or farmers. With the Kyrgyz hospitality, tourism is an increasingly important for economy. It is a starting point to reach the sights as Lake Song Kul, Sarala-Saz pastures, Lake Koelykoek, the salt mine Chong Tuz, and also the crossroads between Issyk Kul lake and City Naryn. Places for visiting: the women cooperative "Kochkor Kutu" which develops Kyrgyz crafts. Opportunity to see a demonstration of the production of livestock market mouton. The cattle market held each Saturday is always a colorful and lively event,don't miss it.

Museum and village in the name of a local hero named Kojomkul. In a small museum you can see photographs, clothes of strongman . Three people can easily fit in the Kojomkul's robe. Huge boulders that the strongman lifted are also stored here. The weight of the smallest of them is 620 kilograms.Not far from his native village, named after him, journalists saw a huge stone weighing more than 600 kilograms, which Kojomkul in 1924 lifted and placed on the grave of one of the local leaders named Tyyta uulu Chargynbek. Next to the stone is the mausoleum of this official. It resembles a yurt and is built of wood and clay.

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.

Issyk-Kul Central Mosque of Karakol city named after Ibrahim Aji was built by initiative of Ibrahim Aji. He invited the famous Beijing architect Chou Seu and 20 carvers with the skills of traditional Chinese architecture and composition techniques for building the mosque. Construction of the mosque began in 1904 and completed in 1907.

An ingenious system allowed builders to build the mosque with no metal reinforcement tools. The mosque holds 42 based pillars. Encircling of the building is multi-tiered wooden cornice, decorated with images of plants like grapes, pomegranates, pears and peaches. Besides it the mosque is registered as a historical monument and protected by the law. Today mosque operates successfully and opens for everyone who visits our city.

Why Should You Go There?

The Mosque is very beautiful and interesting because it’s the only Chinese architecture in Kyrgyzstan.

Address: Abdrakhmanova/Bektenova
Working Hours: 6am-9pm
Cost: 20 SOM
Time Spent: 30 to 40 min.

National Park Karakol is created 15th April at 1997 in Yssyk Kul region , district Ak-Suu as a reserve. It occupies 38256 h, and unique natural complexes of the gorge Karakol are stored in him.

The fauna is represented by a roe, a capricorn, a wolf, a fox, a marten, an ermine, from birds - an ular, a stone partridge. From the Red List: a leopard, a golden eagle,a kumai,a saker, a lamb live here.

The main forest forming breeds are coniferous: pine, fir-tree of Tien Shan, larch. There are no hard-wooded broadleaved breeds. Flora is presented by more than 700 species of plants, from them 80 types - wood and shrubby breeds.

The Kekemeren is the biggest river tributary of the Naryn River. The Suusamyr and the West Karakol River flow into the Kekemeren at an 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 and is about 130 km long till the Naryn confluence. 

The whole river is passing through a colorful canyon with interesting whitewater for good rafter, class I to V. Our rafting programs purpose two sections, the first of 45 km from Kojomkul village to 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 well-experienced rafters.

The Amudarya trout (Salmo trutta oxidants Kessler), the Schizothorax intermedius McLelland, locally known as "Marinka" lives in the upstream waters of Kekemeren River. Diptychus maculates Berg (Osman) can be encountered only in the upper part of the river in the Suusamyr bassin.