Archive sections: ‘For the Record’
A wide range of fossil fuels are found in Kyrgyzstan – coal, peat, gas and oil.
Everyone seems to have their favourite places in Kyrgyzstan … and this is also true when it comes to the valleys of the Kyrgyz Krebet. Everyone seems to have their own preferences. Ala Archa is, perhaps, top of the list for most people – with its alpine landscapes and variety of trekking routes. For some [...]
The Ala Archa National Park contains several places of interest. Perhaps the most poignant is to be found on the path which leads to the right of the gate of the base camp. After climbing up a fairly steep slope the path leads though a wooded area where there is a cemetery with nine graves and memorials to [...]
One of the places in Kyrgyzstan which is on almost everyone’s “must see” list is the Ala Archa National Park. One of the main reasons for this is that it is features in almost every guidebook about the country as an area of outstanding natural beauty … within easy reach of the Bishkek city center.
The Kyrgyz range of the Tian Shan (or Celestial) Mountains has several valleys that cut into or through it. The most famous are Kaindi, Too Ashu, Sokuluk (with the village of Tash Bulak), Ala Archa, Alamedin, Issyk Ata, Kegeti, and Shamsy. Each with their own characters and attractions. Many of the valleys have associated with [...]
The brothers Alantay and Taylak were leaders of the Sayak tribe of Kyrgyz, which settled in the Naryn river valley in the region of Ak Talaa. They are renowned for the resistance which they put up to a number of occupying forces. Their first campaign, in 1820, was against a Chinese (Tzin) unit, which had [...]
Not far from the town of At Bashi, about three kilometers from the main road, lie the remains of an ancient settlement, known as Koshoi Korgon.
Our experience on the Kara Keche road, on the way down from Lake Son Kul, reminded me of the work of a Swiss charity which works here in Central Asia: Pamir Bridges.
Hidden at over 3000 meters in the Ferghana range, about 100 km northwest of Djalal Abad, near the Kurgat Pass is the remote, small plateau of Saimaluu Tash. The name means “Patterned stone” and refers to the fact that here is a gallery of thousands of stone paintings – petroglyphs which are littered around the [...]
Petroglyphs – the word comes from the Greek (petra = “stone” and glyphe = “to draw”) and is used to denote pictures drawn or etched onto stones. These drawings, left for us on high rocks and in deep caves can provide evidence of the way of life and the environment of times gone by when there was [...]
