Sary Chelek Lake

Sary Chelek Lake is the largest mountain lake in western Tyan Shan and a designated nature reserve. It is located in the western part of Jalal Abad district at an altitude of 1940 meters.
Sary Chelek is a landslide lake. It was formed when a river overflowed its valley after a major earthquake around 10,000 years ago. The lake covers an area of ​​approximately 50 km2 and is 7.5 km long. The first thing you notice about Sary Chelek is the incredible clarity of the water. This is very rare in the Tien Shan lakes, where the water is often opaque due to the large amount of mineral pollution in the mountain lakes. Sary Chelek is an exception. Sari Chelek is the second deepest lake in Kyrgyzstan and the third deepest in Central Asia. Its depth reaches 234 meters in some places, which is why the lake never heats more than 20°C in summer and barely cools down to 0°C in winter.
The shores of Lake Sary chelek are densely covered with fir trees, and spruce forests literally stretch from the water’s edge to the tops of the surrounding mountains. The Sary chelek biosphere reserve zone begins on the southern shore of the lake, created to preserve the unique natural diversity of the region. In addition to Lake Sary chelek, the reserve includes four other lakes and a large forest area with walnut and fruit trees. The largest lakes in the region, Iri Kel and Kaila Kel, are inferior to Lake Sari Chelek in size, but not in beauty. Fallen tree trunks and schools of fish can be seen at the bottom of these lakes.
For trekking and equestrian tourism, there are winding hiking trails that lead through small, somewhat steep gorges to the shores of the five lakes of Sary-Chelek. The tourist base of the lakes is the village of Arkit, a few kilometers downstream from Lake Sari Chelek.