Glossary
The encyclopedia of the tourist
S
Safed-Bulan. In
the Moslem graveyard, on outskirts of the village of Safed-Bulan,
between the villages of Ala-Buka and Kerben, is the brick
mausoleum of Shah-Fazil, reputedly built by his son around 1050
AD and it is still an operating Sufi mosque and pilgrimage site.
The central cupola is almost 16 m tall, and the interior is decorated
with decorative panels, rosettes and relief inscriptions with
Quranic texts and inscriptions in Farsi. Ibn-Nasir’s tomb stands
in the middle surrounded by Islamic grave stones or kayrak. The
site underwent major restorations in 1978 and 1996. People know
the site as Safed Bulon, after a black maiden who is said to have
lived in the area. Please note, the mausoleum is an example of living
Central Asian Sufism, i. e. a site of religious significance - not
a sterilized ’monument’ or ersatz culture, and so visitors should dress
modestly when visiting. Top
Saimaluu-Tash. Tens of hectares are covered by
the Stone Gallery, with tens of thousands of black-and-white rock paintings
in the upper Saimaluu-Tash tract, dated to the 2nd century B.C. - 8th century
A.D.
The Gallery is 30km to the south of Kazarman. The diversity of the paintings'
subjects is amazing: pictures of animals and people, hunting scenes, ritual
symbols, battles and work. The ruins of ancient settlements are preserved
on the outskirts of Kazarman, reminding one of the city of 10-12th centuries.
Memorials from the saks and usunis epochs are represented by 3-5m high barrows,
scattered around, with burial chambers inside. Top
Sak-Usan,
kurgans. Located in the village of Alexandrovka, West of
Bishkek, there are a number of burial mounds scattered about the
farmland. These are the last resting places for a some of the
nobility of the ancient Sak and Usun tribes that settled in the
Chui valley between the 7th century BC and the 3rd century AD.
Top
Salkyn-Tor.
A picturesque canyon located 14 km to east of Naryn, where
there is a former pioneer camp with several picturesque shelters
and picnic spots. There is a small hotel located at the foot
of the valley. Top
San-Tash.
Just inside the Kyrgyz border with Kazakhstan on the
road between Tyup and Kegen, lies San-Tash, where there are
a number of barrows (burial mounds) dating from the 7th to the
3rd century BC.
When the renowned Russian
explorer Semenov (Tianshansky) first visited the region,
he found here a large barrow of smooth stones. Legend has
it that it was constructed by the army of Timur. They found their
way into the basin and he gave an order that every soldier was to
pick up a stone from the shore of the lake and take it to the pass …
when the campaign was over they would return it to the shore. Very few
of the soldiers survived and so the army effectively constructed its
own memorial.
To the South lies the Djergalanskiy
Zaiiv Canyon and the Tyup State Zoological Reserve.
Top
Sarala-Saz.
A jailoo about 50 km Northwest of Kochkor. It is one of the
largest high altitude meadows in the Kochkor region. On
the way up to the jailoo are several large burial mounds dating
from the 1st to the 5th centuries - measuring 60 meters in diameter
and 13 meters high.
A nearby waterfall is known to locals
by the romantic name «Look for me» because it is well hidden
amongst the rocks. It is possible to stand within a few meters
of it, hear the rushing water, but not be able to see it. Higher
up, past patches of wild onions, is a permanent glacier.
The legendary hero Manas is supposed
to have visited frequently and relaxed on the nearby Kara-Too
mountain, playing the traditional game «Ordo» with his followers.
According to the legend, noticing that his horses were wandering
away, he threw huge stones in front of them to persuade them to return
- over a distance of 10 kilometers!. The stones are still to this
day as witness to his incredible strength. Top
Sargyr
Pass. At 3100 m this is the highest point on the 177 km
road between Kazarman and Djalal-Abad and clearly marks
the distinction between a spectacular road clinging to the
mountain side and fertile mountain valleys. The pass is closed
for most of the year by snow.Top
Sary.
A village to the west of Kyzyl-Suu where there are some
ancient barrows (burial mounds). Top
Sary-Jaz.
The valley swings west from the north eastern foot of
Khan-Tengri to the town of Enilchek.
At an altitude of about
3600 m, surrounded by 5000 m peaks like Semenov (5816 m)
and Karakol (5280 m). There are the Uch-Kol petroglyphs, the
Ak-Chunkur caves with early ochre wall paintings, hot springs
and evidence of early mining activities including an early
ore smelting furnace.Top
Saryg. On
the South West outskirts of Bishkek - arachaeologists have
discovered the remains of an ancient settlement dating from
the 5th to the 12th century.Top
Semenov-Tyanshansky, Petr Petrovich. In Balykchi is a
statue of the Russian explorer Petr Petrovich Semenov leading his packhorse.
He was awarded the honorary title Tian-Shansky by the Tsar in 1906, some
50 years after his expeditions, in recognition of his achievements.
Born in 1827, Semenov was elected a member of the Russian Geographical Society
in 1849 and later, in 1873, he became a vice-president of the society and
he was to be an influential voice for the expansionist policy of the Russian
Empire into Central Asia.
He translated the book «The Physical Geography of Asia» by the famous German
geographer Karl Fitter from the original German into Russian and traveled
to Italy, apparently climbing Mount Vesuvius seventeen times.
In August 1856, he arrived in Almaty — known at that time by the name Vernoe
— and with an armed group of Cossacks, he crossed the Kungei-Ala Too mountain
range and entered the Issyk-Kul hollow from the East. He mapped the lake,
which he described as «A blue emerald set in a frame of silvery mountains».
Later he approached the lake through Boom Gorge and discovered that the Chui
river did not flow through the lake as everyone had previously assumed.
He returned in 1857 and proceeded further into the Tian-Shan mountains and
discovered the upper reaches of the Naryn river. In July 1857, he crossed
the Kok-Jar mountain pass and became the first Westerner to penetrate the
region around Khan-Tengri and what was later to be named Peak Pobeda. He
showed that the Tian-Shan mountains were not made up from young volcanic
rock formations — but were, in fact, a very old mountain range. He explored
many of the regions glaciers.
He died in 1914. Top
Shabdan. A village
in the Chon-Kemin valley. Nearby are some ancient barrows
(burial mounds) dating from the 4th and 3rd century BC.Top
Shamshy, gorge.
It is situated in east part of Chu valley in Shamshy gorge in 85
km from Bishkek city. In these gorges there are thick forests represented
by firs and other evergreen trees that are source of charming aromas.
Tien-Shan fir trees and pines represent natural forest. In summer
on forest glades you can admire bright butterflies that are fluttering
over the flowers. This area is the place of inhabitation of wild boars,
deer’s, ermines, hares, turkistan lynxes, stone martens. Behind fir
forest there are separately standing archa bushes and fir trees. Wonderful
high plants of sub alpine meadows grow mostly on north and west slopes
where there is more moisture.
As a place of interest can serve lake Tuyuk-Koltor (altitude
2725 meters, area of surface 0.2 square kilometers) that is situated
in upper Tuyuk river, Shamshy and Chon-Koltor waterfall hat consists
of several cascades and is located in the right tributary (hamshy river)
to Chon-Koltor river.
The Shamshy gorge is considered by some people
to be the most beautiful of the canyons in the Kyrgyz Krebet.
The golden mask of the ancient beauty, Queen Shamshy, was found
nearby. Twelve kilometers into the valley is the junction
of the Shamshy and Tuyuk rivers. (Not to be confused with the
Tuyuk river of Kok-Moinok). The wooded slopes and high mountain
plateaus are home to a wide range of fauna and flora.
In summer it is possible to cross
the mountains and head towards Kochkor.Top
Sharkyratma.
The cascade waterfalls. Top
Shopokov. A small
town on the road between Bishkek and Tashkent - named after
a hero of the Soviet Union who fell as one of the 28 Panfilov
heroes, killed defending a small village outside Moscow against
invading German tanks in 1941.Top
Shoro-Bashat.
Just inside the border with both Uzbekistan and Jalal-Abad
oblast lies the site of an ancient settlement which dates from
the 4th century BC through until the 5th century AD. Top
Shyrdabek.
Shyrdabek, on the Naryn - Osh road, is the site of an ancient
fortress dating from the tenth century. The fortress was built
at the cross-road of caravan routes and measures 120 x 117 m.
The walls are 6 m high. In the corners of the fortress there are
towers. The walls and the towers are made of pahsa and adobe and have
loop-holes.Top
Skazka,
valley. (Skazka = «fairy tale» in Russian.)
Off the road between Tamga
and Kaji-Sai - after the village of Tossor - sandstone
cliffs have been shaped and eroded into a variety of crags
and pillars varying in colour from red to orange.Top
Sokoluk. The
Sokuluk gorge is located to the south-west of Bishkek (72 km). In
the Sokoluk Valley to the West of Bishkek lies the village
of Tash-Bulak («Stone Spring»). It sits astride the Sokoluk
river which flows through alpine meadows and woodland with
many varieties of wildlife. The village is still known to many
locals by it's Soviet name Belagorka, and it was the site of a very
successful collective farm. Nowadays the village is not as prosperous
but is still quite attractive with decorated houses. It can serve
as the starting point for several walks. In this wonderfully beautiful
place there is one of the highest waterfalls in the whole North Kyrgyz
range. The height of it is 60 meters and it produces a water cloud which
hangs around it. On the way there (which is easy and takes around 1 hour)
you can see bushes of wild current and bushes of other wild berries and
flowers.
Nearby is the Pigeon»s waterfall - not to be confused
by it's more famous namesake in the Alamedin valley - which plummets
over the steep cliffs. There is a trail over the mountains to the
Kochkor - Suusamyr road which used to be used to drive sheep over the
mountains, but it hasn»t been used in recent years and is generally
impassable now.
There is a route between the
Sokuluk gorge and Ala-Archa over the Ozernyi pass (3900
m).Top
Sol-Unkur-Caves.
To the East of the Sokh enclave, including some memorials
dating from the Mesolithic era.Top
Suluu-Terek, Dry Canyons
(Konorchok Canyons) - 125 km from Bishkek these canyons stretch
for nearly 200 km.
After 50 minutes of slow walk the valley of red castles,
columns and sculptures is opening to your gaze. These canyons
are the masterpieces of nature’s architecture.
It‘s wonderful at any season, but it is the most
interesting and attractive at the period from May till October,
when everything is growing and blooming. It’s a valley of contrasts.
It’s a temple. It’s great nature’s theatre.
To see Sulu-Terek Canyons completely would take a
long time - but it is possible to spend a few days exploring the
spectacular scenery. The canyons have romantic names like "Grand Canyon",
"Bobsleigh" and "Skyscraper". They were formed about one and a half
to two million years ago and since that time erosion by wind and
water has turned a plain plateau into gigantic stone pillars, some
of which are 400-500 meters high. The canyons see almost no precipitation
at any season of the year - between 1980 and 1990 the canyons received
no snowfall at all, and in the last decade of the twentieth century snow
has fallen twice. If the air temperature in Bishkek is 20 degrees below
zero, in the Sulu-Terek Canyons it is +5 degrees - however, in recent times
the climate in the Canyons is becoming a little colder. One peculiarity
of the Sulu-Terek Canyons is that plants growing there tend to be very large
- much larger than usual. One of the main attractions at Sulu-Terek is
an extinct volcano, dating back to 2.5-3 million years ago with slopes
covered with fossilized sea shells the size of the child's fist and the
remnants of lava.
The unique beauty of the Sulu-Terek canyon lies in
its overwhelming rocks, dry and transparent air, long shadows
fall- ing from the nature-carved sculptures lit by the setting
sun of the Tien-Shan.
Dry, free from any vegetation, the canyons display
a red colour due to the oxidation of mineral particles; they look
like an accumulation of half -ruined castles, ancient temples, modern
skyscrapers, columns and spires, The queer shapes of these constructions
led people to give them strange names.
The Konorchok canyons are the product of an erosion
process lasting for several millennia. The movement of the earth
crust produced cracks and fissures. Rainwater, filling the cracks
during frequent summer thunderstorms, loosened castles of Konorchok
the sandstone stratum beneath the surface soil and decorated the landscape
by carving fantastic columns. The slopes of the sur-rounding highlands
eventually turned into a labyrinth of sharp pointed ridges, low table
mountains, domes, pyramids and pil-lars. Thus step-by-step, time, water
and wind created the fairy-tale land of Konorchok. Looked at from a
distance the landscape resembles the ruins of ancient towns spread out
on a vast stretch of earth.
The Castle Rock is an impressively large massif with
a flat top rising up to 300 metres, crowned with crenellated turrets.
Picturesque tracks, twisting among the walls of the canyons, form
massive blocks of rocks that gleam under the rays of the sun with
all the hues of crimson, copper and orange. At sunrise the towers
and domes of Konorchok become tinged by red and purple banners that
flutter and play in the rays of the sunset, finally absorbing the golden
hues of the expiring day. Top
Surat-Tash.
There are ancient petroglyphs dating from about 1000 BC on
the rocks of Surat-Tash.Top
Suusamyr, valley. The Suusamyr
valley is a high steppe plateau - 2200 meters a. s. l. - that although
only some 160 kilometers from Bishkek is also one of the more remote
and rarely visited regions of Kyrgyzstan.
There are signs of early settlement dating back to between
the 9th and 11th centuries.
The population, of about 6000, is mainly Kyrgyz and they
are nearly all involved in agriculture. In Soviet times this was one
of the major sheep breeding areas in the country. Up to four million
sheep would be driven over the mountain passes in Spring to graze on the
luscious grasses of the steppe.
Since 1991, the flocks of sheep grazing here have dwindled
substantially and the people have diversified into other forms of
agriculture - growing potatoes, garlic, cabbages and fodder crops.
Today, most foreign visitors simply pass through as they travel the
main Bishkek - Osh road.
Leaving Bishkek, you travel to Kara-Balta and then turn
South towards the mountains. The road climbs through the spectacular
Too-Ashu gorge - the original road climbed right to the top of the
pass, but nowadays there is tunnel burrowed under it. You emerge from
the tunnel and the plain lies below you. It is worth stopping and climbing
a little to get a spectacular panorama of the plain.
Descending the road comes to a junction and a sign points
to the village of Suusamyr, some 15 km west of the road, and the
right fork takes you on towards Osh in the South, the Toktogul reservoir,
lake Sary-Chelek, or the road over the Otmek pass to Talas.
Suusamyr village lies at the Eastern edge of the plain
and has a yurt camp in summer, it is possible to find home stays,
and there is a dacha some kilometers from the village which takes in
guests.
From the village, there are two roads to Kochkor. The
Northern route follows the valley of the Karakol river - at the
foot of the Kyrgyz Range and is practically deserted - there are virtually
no settlements here. The Southern road takes you through the villages
of Kojomkul and Kyzyl-Oi before you reach the turning to Min-Kush or
continue onto Chaek and Kochkor. The roads are not good.
Karakol is a small village on the banks of the river of
the same name where it emerges at the extreme Eastern edge of the
plain.
Kojomkul is named after a giant of a man, (he was 2.3
meters tall), and who died in 1955. The village has a small museum
where you can see photographs of him, some of his clothes and you can
see huge stones which he is reputed to have lifted onto his shoulders.
A little out of town you can another weighing almost 700kg which he is
supposed to have lifted and placed on the grave of a local official.
The road to Kyzyl-Oi (Red Bowl) passes through a narrow
valley of the Kekemeren with the mountains rising steeply on each
side. Top
Suyab. Near
the mouth of the Chon-Kemin valley - archaeologists have
discovered the remains of the ancient settlement of Suyab, dating
from the 6th to the 11th century.Top
Suz. To the West
of Leninpol, archaeologists have discovered the remains of
a town dating from between the 6th and 12th centuries.Top
Svetlyi Mys. Hamlet of Svetlyi Mys, tucked away
near the shores of lake Issyk-Kul, just South of the village of Belovodsk
— about 50 km from Karakol.
This is reputadley the burial place for the Apostle, Saint Matthew.
Having been a tax collector, he was called to be a disciple of Jesus.
According to tradition, he later wrote the Gospel of Saint Matthew for his
fellow countrymen in Palestine, - but about the time of the persecution of
Herod Agrippa in AD42, he left for other lands. Of his subsequent life and
career we have only inaccurate or legendary information. Ancient writers are
far from unanimous about his travels, but almost all mention the land of
Ethiopia - South of the Caspian Sea, not the one in Africa! - and some mention
Persia, the kingdom of the Parthians, Macedonia, and Syria. There is little
information about his death and at least one author maintains that he did
not die as a martyr - although others disagree. Is it possible that he made
it as far into Central Asia as Issyk-Kul — and died here?
Whether he did, or not, this site has attracted pilgrims for centuries,
and it is thought that various religious communities (Nestorian, Armenian,
Orthodox) have been been based here. In 1888 the Tsar ordered that an orthodox
monastery be founded here - some of the wooden buildings still remain - and
the roads were set out in the form of an orthodox cross. In the uprising
of 1916 the monastery was attacked and most of the monks were killed. One
of the icons of the Virgin Mary was said to have shed tears and blood - and
was later placed in the cathederal church in Karakol, where it can still be
seen. Two monks survived - one fleeing to Almaty and the other moved down
the road to Ananievo - and were later canonized as saints. Top
