Charinsky Canyon
In Kazakhstan, 200 kilometers from Alma Ata, there is an amazing beauty attraction of these places - Charyn Canyon. With its relief, it resembles the well-known Grand Canyon, but in a reduced size.
The Charyn Canyon stretches for 154 kilometers along the Charyn riverbed and was formed more than 12 million years ago from sedimentary rocks. Nowadays, the height of the canyon reaches up to 300 meters in places, and the most beautiful place is considered to be the "Valley of Castles" with a length of 2 kilometers and a canyon width of 20-80 meters. The Aktogay and Shurotgai gorges are of no less interest. Amazing figures, towers, and rocks formed by water and wind are scattered throughout the canyon. Once you get here, you feel like a fairy-tale hero among the ancient trees and stone walls.
In 2004, the Charyn National Nature Park with an area of 1,270 km2 was established on the territory of the Charyn Canyon, where the grove of the Sogdian ash tree, which survived the ice Age, feels safe. Another similar grove is found only in North America. In 1964, this grove was declared a natural monument. The grove of Asian poplar is also of interest to scientists and tourists. A large abundance of landscapes hides a huge variety of flora and fauna. Here you can find up to 1,500 varieties of plants, 62 species of mammals and more than a hundred species of birds. Of the representatives of the animal world in the Charyn Canyon, you can easily meet foxes, gazelles, stone martens, hares, ermines, jerboa.
Tourism is very well developed in Charyn Canyon. Tourists can go rafting on the river by canoe or boat, go fishing, and walk through the vast expanses of the canyon. Hiking trails pass through the most beautiful and interesting places of the canyon.
