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Pearl Lakes Kolsai & Kaindy Tour: Explore the Majestic Charyn Canyon and Flooded Forest
5.0
15 Ratings
Charyn National Park
Embark on a breathtaking road trip from Almaty to explore the stunning Kaindy Lake with its flooded forest and the majestic Charyn Canyon. Don’t miss these top three beautiful places near Almaty!
Embark on a breathtaking road trip from Almaty to explore the stunning Kaindy Lake with its flooded forest and the majestic Charyn Canyon. Don’t miss these top three beautiful places near Almaty!
Duration:
16 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
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Charyn National Park - Embark on an unforgettable day tour with a professional guide who will lead you to breathtaking, exclusive locations throughout the journey. Enjoy a truly unique and exciting trip without any stress or strain.
Charyn Canyon is a remarkable natural monument in Kazakhstan, approximately 12 million years old. Its vertical cliffs…
- Charyn National Park - Embark on an unforgettable day tour with a professional guide who will lead you to breathtaking, exclusive locations throughout the journey. Enjoy a truly unique and exciting trip without any stress or strain.
Charyn Canyon is a remarkable natural monument in Kazakhstan, approximately 12 million years old. Its vertical cliffs resemble ancient castles sculpted by wind, sun, and rain.
Over millions of years, the swift Charyn (Sharyn) River has carved a spectacular canyon, 150m to 300m deep, into the otherwise flat steppe about 200km east of Almaty. Time has shaped this into fascinating and colorful rock formations, with the Valley of Castles being the most popular section.
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Kolsai Lake - Kolsai refers to a series of three lakes in the Kungey Alatau ridge. Depending on the weather, the water color can range from dark blue to turquoise or green. The lakes are situated at various altitudes in different high-altitude landscape zones, home to unique flora and fauna such as the snow leopard, brown bear, maral, roe, blue whistling-thrush, and golden eagle.
Kaindy Lake, with its “underwater forest,” is another highlight of Kolsay National Park. Formed in 1911 after a massive earthquake caused a landslide from the eastern slope, a natural dam blocked the gorge, and the waters of the Kaindy River flooded the spruce forest. Over time, the parts of the trees protruding from the water lost their branches and bark, turning white. Their submerged bases became overgrown with algae, creating a mystical landscape. - Lake Kaindy - A captivating hike with numerous photo opportunities and amazing experiences awaits you. This lake is incredibly beautiful in every season.
What's Included
- Lunch
- All Fees and Taxes
- In-vehicle air conditioning
- Tea and coffee
- Lunch
- All Fees and Taxes
- In-vehicle air conditioning
- Tea and coffee
What's Not Included
- Insurance (optional)
- Additional meals in Restaurant, cafe
- Insurance (optional)
- Additional meals in Restaurant, cafe
Additional Information
If you’re stopping by Almaty and wondering about possible sightseeing options? Consider visiting the top 3 most splendid attractions. Kaindy Lake - a magically stunning body of water crafted by nature itself. Submerged pine trees resembling Christmas trees, the flooded forest lake is a treat to behold. Marvel at the magnificence of Charyn Canyon -…
If you’re stopping by Almaty and wondering about possible sightseeing options? Consider visiting the top 3 most splendid attractions. Kaindy Lake - a magically stunning body of water crafted by nature itself. Submerged pine trees resembling Christmas trees, the flooded forest lake is a treat to behold. Marvel at the magnificence of Charyn Canyon - experience the warm climate that is bereft of snow in winter, and impressive summer sunsets. Seize the opportunity and embark on an exciting road trip immediately!
Location
Charyn National Park
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
5.0
(15 Ratings)
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Olya2201902016
Nov 24, 2023
Wonderful trip to Almaty - Great tour! Wonderful views and photos! The guide is incredibly cool! Do not interfere with other groups! It was a lot of fun and safe driving in the jeep! Everything was according to the program 👏🏽
Review provided by Tripadvisor
351staciac
Sep 28, 2023
Don’t miss out! - Andrei is a very accommodating and thoughtful tour guide, and his love for his country is inspiring and contagious. We went on the 16 hour tour and had an unforgettable time. We can’t believe how many strikingly different, beautiful places we got to see in just one day! From horseback riding and hiking to trying the local cuisine at a local family’s house and stepping inside a traditional yurt, our day was packed with a variety of unique experiences that could only be made possible by an experienced and caring guide. We especially enjoyed seeing Sunken Forest, which looks like it came out of a fairytale. In addition, we truly felt like this tour went beyond the touristy spots and opened our eyes to actual Kazakh culture. Throughout the trip, Andrei told us about many local traditions and the history of the Kazakh people, from which we got a glimpse into the real life of people in local communities. We highly recommend Andrei’s tours!!!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Suddhasatwa_r
Jun 19, 2023
Do not miss the tour - Really great tour. Dimitri is great driver and freindly and guide He is very friendly and helpful. Really enjoy the tour. I like to go again
Review provided by Viator
Familymanfromuk
Feb 8, 2023
Andrey took care of everything for you! VIP service. - I only had one spare day in Almaty so went for this express tour of the 3 biggies: the big canyon, Kaindy Lake & Kolsai Lake. Long day 05:30 to 8pm but packed with wonderful memories door to door and additional surprises like the sunset picnic, local guesthouse lunch in a traditional Kasak home, local secret tracks, a horseback ride and more. The vehicle Andrey uses is extremely comfortable and there’s nothing he wouldn’t do to help you take home amazing memories of Kaz. Fully recommend Andrey.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dauren_temirkhanov
Jan 22, 2023
Nice journey. - The tour is thought out to the nitty-gritty. Everything is very beautiful, mountains, rivers, lakes. Guide Andrew organized a picnic, showed off secret trails and had a lot of fun
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Emily
Jan 3, 2023
Fantastic one day tour, great communication, lovely guide! - We are a Canadian couple living in Kazakhstan on an international assignment. While in Almaty for the New Year, we decided to take one day for a trip to some of the nearby parks. We chose this trip as it hit a few highlights in one day.
Our guide was Dmitry who was very knowledgeable, spoke great English, was super friendly, and never rushed us. We wanted to hike around a bit (we are avid hikers), so we hiked to and from both lakes (5 km and 4 km round trip) and along the ridge of Charyn Canyon. The lunch stop at a local guest house was fantastic, and Dmitry brought along coffee and tea for us as well. It was a long day (14+ hours) but 100% worth it!
Great communication from Andrey (owner) and Dmitry leading up to the tour, very reliable transportation, especially in winter weather and mountain roads (Land Cruiser with studded winter tires), and Dmitry was an excellent driver in adverse conditions. Definitely recommend this tour and tour company - we will use them next time we are in the area.
Tip for this tour: bring snacks! It’s a long day and while there are a couple of stops for fuel, etc., (you can grab food), we were glad we brought along snacks for the hours on the road.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
H5954ucalexj
Dec 8, 2022
Best Tour in Kazakhstan - My trip with Andrey was an absolutely fantastic one! He was able to plan the entire day with perfect detail to make sure that we saw Lake Kolsai, Kaindy Lake, and the Canyon. The food and coffee were exquisite. I’ve taken about 50 tours over 100 countries in my life and I can say this one was in the Top 3. I fully support Andrey’s vision in constantly searching for new ways that tourists can experience emotions in their travel. Find out for yourself what awesome emotions this trip will instill in you, you won’t regret it!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Kbpe1
Sep 1, 2022
Day trip to lakes and canyon - Excellent guide, very knowledgeable about the canyon and lakes.
Scenery was awesome with the clear water, sunken trees and canyon.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
S7754nm_
Aug 23, 2022
Best trip ever - On August 6, with the company Kolsai Tour, we visited Lake Kolsai and Lake Kayindy, Black Canyon and Lake Charyn (Valley of Castles). I would like to thank the team for their love of their work and professionalism, in particular our guide Hakeem. He told us a lot of interesting historical facts. Hakim is a true professional and also with a great sense of humor:) the trip was very fun and comfortable, we were shown secret places with a great view. Besides, we had a really good meal at home!
The four of us rode with our friends, and we got unforgettable emotions and experiences!
P.S. Hakeem is also a great photographer!
P.S.S. Enjoy the moment!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Pavel
Jun 24, 2022
Marvelous journey - We with my wife have been stayed in Almaty only for four days, therefore we didn't have much time to see all sightseeings around. I have contacted with Andrey and arranged all details of private tour in advance. As I understand its a group of professional guides. We were picked up from the hotel at the agreed time, our tour guid Nikita, very friendly and positive young man, gave us all information on the way to our destanation as we passed interesting places and answered all our questions. The trip were very comfortable, well-equipped huge off-road car, with plenty of space, AC an cold beverages;). We've made several stops along the way to make photos, and even as we had schedule, everywhere we had our free time as much as we need it. There is no need to describe all incredible nature masterpieces such as mountain lakes with crystal blue water and grand canyon with sophisticated shapes, you need to see it by your own eyes! All tour was organized extremely good, we've got breakfast and lunch in authentic guest house, where local celebrity aunt Shakira cooked delicious national cousine.
We definitely will be back to Kazakhstan for new tours with this guys!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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