Charyn Canyon
Interesting facts
- In 2021 scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry used the canyon's sediments to reconstruct about five million years of regional rainfall and climate.
- One interpretation traces the name Sharyn to a Turkic word meaning steep bank or cliff.
- The Temirlik side canyon takes its name from the Turkic word for iron, and naturalist Pavel Marikovsky suspected ancient ironworkers once lived there.
- Marikovsky also nicknamed the Temirlik gorge Nightingale Canyon after the birdsong echoing between its walls.
- The Temirlik gorge alone stretches about 11 kilometres and is up to 160 metres deep.
- The Charyn River runs some 393 kilometres in all and is one of the largest left-bank tributaries of the Ili.
- Besides the ash grove, the valley shelters a grove of turanga, a desert poplar adapted to life along Central Asian rivers.
- Anglers on the river fish for the naked osman, a scaleless Central Asian fish.
Why it is worth it
Charyn Canyon cuts for about 154 kilometres through the dry steppe of south-eastern Kazakhstan, following the Charyn River, which rises in the Tian Shan. Its walls stand 150 to 300 metres high, and for much of the way they are sheer. What makes it remarkable is less the size than the colour and the shapes: soft sedimentary rock in shades of brick red, ochre and pale grey has been worked by wind, frost and occasional floods into towers, ribs and battlements that change tone through the day and glow almost orange in low evening light.
The best-known section is the Valley of Castles, a dry side gorge carved by meltwater rather than by the river itself. Around three kilometres long and up to about 100 metres deep, it is walled by eroded pillars that do look like the ruins of fortifications, and a path of roughly two kilometres leads along its floor down to the Charyn. The wider canyon system is usually described as five distinct canyons — besides the Valley of Castles there are the Temirlik, Yellow, Red and Bestamak canyons — each with its own character and colour. The rocks record millions of years of deposition and uplift, with layers of sandstone and white limy marls exposed in the cliffs.
A little upstream lies a botanical curiosity: a grove of Sogdian ash, a relict tree species that has survived in this valley since before the last Ice Age. The grove was declared a natural monument in 1964, and on 23 February 2004 the canyon and its surroundings became Charyn National Park. The contrast between the bare red walls and the green ribbon of ash, willow and poplar along the river is one of the finest sights of the region, and in places the river is run by rafts and canoes.
Getting there
The canyon lies about 200 km east of Almaty. The nearest town of any size is Shelek, some 70 km away. The nearest airport by distance is Karakol (IKG) across the border in Kyrgyzstan, about 110 km away, but the practical gateway is Almaty International Airport (ALA). Visitors reach the canyon by road from Almaty, usually by car or on an organised excursion.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Charyn Canyon, also known as the Sharyn Canyon is a canyon on the Charyn River in Kazakhstan. It is located about 200 km (120 mi) east of Almaty, close to the Kazakh–Chinese border. The canyon is roughly 154 km (96 mi) in length. It is part of the Charyn National Park established on 23 February 2004 and is located within the territory of the Uygur, Raiymbek, and Enbekshikazakh Districts of the Almaty Region. The canyon features many formations formed by the weathering of sedimentary rock. Though it is much smaller than the Grand Canyon, it has been described as being equally impressive.
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