Lake Sary-Chelek — lake
Marat Nadjibaev · CC BY-SA 4.0

Lake Sary-Chelek

  • Elevation1,873 m
  • 1 min read
  • 41.895° N 71.957° E

Interesting facts

  • The lake holds roughly 0.48 cubic kilometres of water, mildly mineralised with calcium, magnesium, carbonates and sulphates.
  • The reserve around it shelters one of the largest wild walnut forests in the region, alongside wild apple, pear, plum and Semenov fir.
  • Around 1,500 plant species, 46 species of mammals and about 150 bird species are protected within the reserve.
  • Snow leopards, lynx, bears, badgers and porcupines all live in the reserve's forests and high ground.
  • The reserve receives about 817 mm of precipitation a year, with average relative humidity around 60 per cent.
  • The Kojata River divides the reserve into eastern and western halves.

Why it is worth it

A long, deep, dark-blue lake winds between forested ridges in the western Tian Shan, its banks steep and indented, its southern shores covered by natural forests of walnut and wild fruit trees. Sary-Chelek, whose Kyrgyz name is usually translated as "yellow bowl" or "yellow bucket", lies near the junction of the Chatkal and Atoynok ranges in the Aksy District of Jalal-Abad Region, in western Kyrgyzstan, at about 1,873 metres above sea level.

The lake was created around ten thousand years ago, when a great rockfall blocked a mountain valley. It is about 7.5 kilometres long and on average 650 metres wide, swelling to more than two kilometres at its widest, and it covers 4.92 square kilometres. Its depth is remarkable for its size: up to 234 metres, with an average of nearly 100. The water level rises to its highest in May and falls to its lowest in December; ice forms at the end of December and breaks up in April, and in August the surface warms to around 20 °C. The lake drains through the Toskool, a tributary of the Kojata, and belongs to the basin of the Naryn.

Sary-Chelek is the centrepiece of the Sary-Chelek Nature Reserve, founded in 1959 and designated a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1978. The reserve covers almost 24,000 hectares at altitudes from 1,200 to more than 4,200 metres, and its headquarters are in the village of Arkyt, just south of the lake. Six smaller lakes — Kylaaköl, Iyriköl, Bakalyköl, Aramköl, Chöychökköl and Chachaköl — lie scattered in the low hills to the south. In 1992 the lake was pictured on a Kyrgyz postage stamp.

Getting there

The nearest town is Tash-Kömür, about 60 km to the southeast; the approach runs by road through the Aksy District to Arkyt. Namangan Airport is closer in a straight line but lies across the border in Uzbekistan; within Kyrgyzstan the nearest is Osh International Airport (OSS), about 160 km away in a straight line.

On these lists

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From the encyclopaedia

Sary-Chelek is a mountain lake located in Sary-Chelek Nature Reserve in Jalal-Abad Province in Western Kyrgyzstan. It is north of Arkyt at the eastern end of the Chatkal Range. There are a number of smaller lakes in the area. The lake is 7.5 km (4.7 mi) long and its average width is 650 m (2,130 ft). Its area is 4.92 km2 (1.90 sq mi) and its maximum depth is 234 m (768 ft). It is drained by the river Toskool, a tributary of the Kojata.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

41.89522, 71.95733per Wikidata