Almaty’s Lakes: Kolsai, Kaindy, Big Almaty
Almaty is the largest city in Kazakhstan, but it is also quite close to some of the most beautiful lakes that are still hidden in the middle of nowhere.
When you look up things to do in the city, you get the common options like museums and restaurants. But outside the city is where the major attractions live. You’ll see quite a few hostels and tour groups offering to take you to see the famous lakes or the canyon. I only had a few days here so I opted to see the lakes — I had seen pictures of Kaindy lake on a some travel feed and immediately was mesmerized. I saw how close it was to where I would be in Kyrgyzstan and made plans to make a quick stop.
I had to organize a private tour guide (who was more like a driver than a tour guide) to drive me around since I was arriving midday and had only a short time. I found him through Loco Hostel, which is run by his family.
Kolsai Lake:
This lake is lame. It’s more like your local park that has a lake where families come for barbeques. Like, it’s a nice lake, but there is nothing special about it. I didn’t know my tour guide was taking me here — if I had known, I would have asked to skip it. But it is close to where Kaindy is, so it’s not incredibly out of the way.
If you’re in the area and can’t find any restaurants (which is likely) here is one that is both a yurt camp in a town and a restaurant. One main national dish is the langhman — a thick udon like noodle soup with a tomato-y base and chunks of veggies and meats.
Kaindy Lake:
This. was what I had come here for. The trip to here was whack — I wasn’t officially explained any of this so I am extrapolating what happened. We went to someone’s backyard and parked — the owner let us in to wait for the car that would take us up there. The road there is rough (for about an hour) so we needed a four wheeler, since we came in a Toyota camry. But this is the car that showed up.
The other passengers in the car that had somehow grouped together at once shoved a bunch of their foods in the back for transport, and for a while there was someone just holding on to the outside of the car, standing on the bumper. Yikes.
The driver was bleeding openly on his leg, and seemed to be intoxicated. I was told at the end when we got out of the car, that he was actually drunk. Major yikes. We got to our accommodation and it was just these two sketch looking yurts.
But my suspicions were immediately gone after a quick walk, when I saw the lake in the dying sunlight. Even with my non-real camera (Pixel phone) the lake was gorgeous.
The next day, we went back down to the lake and I chose not to take a swim because I was feeling pretty ill. The lake was just as beautiful but really I prefer it in the evening over in daylight!
You can take a short walk up to see the lake from above, which makes the upside down looking trees more apparent. Thankfully, we had slept there overnight so we were able to see the lake without anyone else being there.
But soon after we came back to the yurts to have breakfast, there were already a dozen cars pulling up with tour groups and other independent tourists who were looking to beat the rush on visiting the lake. There are horses available for you to ride down to the lake, but it really isn’t necessary if you are a normally fit human being. One thing I tried was a sour butter/yogurt type of a deal called kaimak. It looks like what kurut would be like before it is concentrated or hardened but it tasted like a buttery sour cream.
After eating we had to kill a lot of time. We were trying to find another car that would take us down, but everyone who had just come up were busy enjoying the lake below. There is another small and not particularly spectacular lake behind the yurts to explore.
We came back to where we had parked the car and got invited into the house to chill and use wifi. Tea, crackers, and candy seems to be a constant supply brought out for everyone here, similarly to how it is in Kyrgyzstan.
Big Almaty Lake (BAO):
An hour or so drive from the heart of Almaty is the Big Almaty Lake. I couldn’t tell from the pictures why it was such a big deal, and almost considered skipping it and I am super glad that I did not.
After a long drive up a scenic road you get to a chilly area due to the elevation. You can see the lake from a distance, and it still doesn’t seem that special. There are a lot of people, and always will be.
Then you walk a little bit closer, and you see that the water is an incredibly beautiful opaque blue.
I have no idea what gives it this color, but it is very mystical and awesome.
A lot of locals don’t even know about this side of the lake, but if you walk to the bottom and head right, there is a little stream that feeds into the lake. This part is overgrown with plants, but is gorgeous especially with the sunset.
Just the lakes took me two full days to see, leaving from and arriving back in Almaty. It cost me $200 USD for just one person, including all food and housing, which seemed like a good deal (also the only option besides renting a car myself) for me!
