This summer was a hard time for the land of Kazakhstan. It brought various incidents which ended with a terrible fire that destroyed one of the most beautiful places of Central Asia – mountain resort Medeo. Many zones are still under the threat of fire. Planes kept flying over the region for all the summer period and one journalist often joined them to collect some material about the nature of south-east Kazakhstan and take photos of the region. Some of them are presented in this post.

The Issyk river

Valley not far from the border with Kyrgyzstan.

National park “Kulsai lakes”.

The valley of the Turgen river resembles some place of the Himalayas.

Moraine lake

The same lake from the helicopter. Do you see the tent of researchers?

Glacier of youth next to the lake. They say it will fully melt in 50 years.

Some places are still untouched by humans. Here widely grows Tien-Shan fir. People do not live here but poarchers are not rare. They not only destroy the local fauna but also may cause a fire.

Fields of Asian buttercups (Ranúnculus).

Turgen mossy spruce.

Drink water

Glacial lake with an unusual color of the water. Probably it’s because of algae growing there, which doesn’t happen often.

Helicopter-pilots take a risk when fly here. Atmospheric pressure drops rapidly in the mountains, and mist can cover in minutes.

Medeo mountain resort.

Moraines – permafrost formations.

Issyk lake.

Bartogaiskoye reservoir gateway.

Astrophysical Observatory

Near the Turgen river

Turgen mossy fir are considered to be relict and that is why are specially protected.

There are many pastures here.

Kazakh city – Kaskelen.

Ak-Tau mountains

Helicopter Mi-26 can lift 15 tons of water at once.

The place called Sorbulak even has its own ecosystem. For example, the place has Dalmatian pelicans (Pelecanus crispus) which are included in Red List.

South shore of Balkhash lake.

Fire in reeds is very dangerous, it destroys the ecosystem.

Geometry on the fields.

And coming back to the civilization: here is an international airport of Almaty from the height of three thousand meters. Quite a rare shot. We hope we gonna come back soon.

via voxpopuli