Kolsai and Kaindy Lakes
Alpine lakes in the Tien Shan. Kaindy is famous for the sunken forest of spruce trunks rising out of the water.
About
Kolsai is a chain of three lakes set in spruce forest at different heights, the lower ones reached by a short walk or ride and the upper lake by a day-long hike. The water is cold and a deep blue-green, and the mountains reflect in it.
Kaindy lies about an hour’s drive and a short walk away. Tall, bare spruce trunks stand upright in the clear turquoise water, a ghostly sunken forest that you can look down into from a boat or the shore.
History
Kaindy was created in January 1911, when a powerful earthquake in the Kebin area triggered a massive landslide that blocked a mountain gorge, and the river water slowly filled the space behind the natural dam, flooding the spruce forest. The trunks, preserved by the cold water, still stand upright, and in winter the lake freezes, giving rise to a popular ice-diving experience. The Kolsai lakes, by contrast, are older, formed by glacial and landslide processes in the Kungey Alatau range, and the region was set aside as a national park in 2007. The name Kolsai is often explained as meaning something like the lake in the valley, though the origin of the name is debated. These lakes lie in a border zone close to China, and until recent years access was limited. Today they have become one of the most photographed natural sights in Kazakhstan, with guesthouses in the nearby village of Saty.