Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
or shared taxis (300som to Karakol, 600som to
Bishkek) which you may have to charter outright
from mid-afternoon.
Karakol
Каракол
%
3922 / POP 75,000
A dusty grid of treelined streets, Karakol has
limited sights but is a good base from which
to access some of Central Asia's best skiing
and most gloriously accessible alpine treks.
The town couldn't really be called beauti-
ful, but a clever photographer might easily
make you believe otherwise by selectively
counterpointing clear-day backdrops of
snowy peaks with the old blue shutters and
whitewashed walls of some remnant ginger-
bread houses. These houses recall the town's
Russian-era heydey: founded in 1869 as a
support town for the then-new garrison of
Teploklyuchenka (Ak-Suu), it housed many
merchants, officers and explorers, most fa-
mously Nikolai Przewalski in whose honour
Karakol was renamed Prezevalsk between
1939 and 1991.
1
¨Sights
Dungan¨Mosque¨
ISLAMIC
(cnr Bektenov & Jusup Abdrakhmanov; foreigners
20som)
A tip-tilted triple roof, carved-layered
eaves and wooden exterior pillars give this
colourful 1910 mosque the look of a Mon-
golian Buddhist temple. Remarkably it
survived the early Bolshevik era, which saw
the town's other eight mosques destroyed,
though it was closed for worship between
1933 and 1943. It's worth a quick photo stop
if you're passing
Animal¨Market¨
MARKET
(Mal Bazaar, Skotski Bazaar; Udilova;
h
dawn-
10am Sun)
Early on Sunday mornings one of
Kyrgyzstan's biggest animal markets takes
place around 2km north of central Karakol.
8
Getting¨Around
Marshrutka 304 links Cholpan-Ata to Bosteri
(15som), but is also the local bus within town,
starting in the MPK estate southwest of the
petroglyphs then trundling all the way along
Soviet (5som per hop).
Local
taxis
gather around the El Nuur Bazaar
and rarely charge less than 150som per hop.
Grigorievka Григорьевка
For beautiful grassland-mountains head
up the
Chong¨Ak-Suu¨Valley
(admission per
person 20som, per car 50som)
, due north of the
village of Grigorievka. Cut by a raging river,
the valley runs 22km to a trio of small alpine
lakes. It's possible to hike the whole way,
but you could also hitch a lift or take your
own vehicle. In summer there are yurtstays
and roadside restaurants along the way, plus
another yurtstay at the first lake. Local boys
will likely appear to offer horses for rent
(300som to 500som per hour), as might fal-
coners charging you for the thrill of holding
an eagle on your arm.
Pegasus Horse Trekking (p257) organises
horse treks between Grigorievka and Semy-
onovka gorges, overnighting in either tents
or yurts.
The nearby village of Semyonovka offers
access to the Kichi (Little) Ak-Suu Valley,
which has the Kyrchyn Gorge, a winter-
sports centre, and one yurtstay called
Yurta¨Kubat¨Sidikov
(
%
055-034 2939; bed &
breakfast 400som)
with two cosy guest yurts,
located 2.5km past the ranger gate.
KARKARA¨VALLEY¨¨
КАРКАРАНСКАЯ ДОЛИНА
Rich patures ill the immense, silent Karkara (black crane) Valley that traddles the
Kyrgyztan-Kazakhtan border. Attractions include the eponymous migratory birds
that top here in June and again from Augut to September, as well as a late-Augut
Shepherds'¨Festival
with horseback games and eagle hunting held at yurt camps
near Char-Kuduk village. San-Tash is famous for its burial mounds, while Karkara heli-
pad, some 20km beyond (near the Kazakhtan border pot), is the main access point
for summer lights to Inylchek Glacier and the Khan Tengri/Pik Pobedy base camps. For
border crossing details (summer only) see p311 and p77.
If you're driving, the turn-of to Karkara from the Issyk-Köl road is beside the
Gazprom petrol tation 2km northwet of Tüp. The attractive A363 northwet passes
Scythian tumuli beside the road at Km 41/175 (wet of Ak-Bulun) plus several ancient
graveyards, one containing the recently rebuilt mausoleum of Balabai Baatyr.
