Kazakhstan
Saryarka
"Saryarka - Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan" protects largely undisturbed steppe and wetland areas that are essential for migratory waterbirds.
The site comprises Naurzum State Nature Reserve and Korgalzhyn State Nature Reserve, which includes the vast Korgalzhyn-Tengiz lake system where millions of birds feed annually on their way from Africa to Siberia. The steppe is the habitat of the formerly critically endangered Saiga antelope.
Community Perspective: Stanislaw describes an overnight visit to Korgalzhyn in winter (with sightings of Saiga and Wolf), Solivagant visited the same reserve in May and found the Steppe landscape with its flowering tulips the highlight, Clyde did so in June and saw many birds and foxes, as did Els who also managed to find a Saiga. The second location, Naurzum, stays unreviewed.
Site Info
Official Information
- Full Name
- Saryarka - Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan (ID: 1102)
- Country
- Kazakhstan
- Status
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Inscribed 2008
Site history
History of Saryarka
- WHS Type
- Natural
- Criteria
- ix
- x
Links
- UNESCO
- whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
- whc.unesco.org — whc.unesco.org/
Related Resources
- visitkazakhstan.kz — Korgaldgynskiy State Reserve
- visitkazakhstan.kz — Naurzum Nature Reserve
News Article
- May 27, 2015 wildlifeextra.com — New mass die-off of Saiga antelopes in Sary-Arka
- July 12, 2008 birdlife.org — Two of central Asia's most important steppe-wetland Important Bird Areas, Tengiz-Korgalzhyn and Naurzum, have been recognised as WHS
Community Information
- Community Category
- Natural landscape: Rivers, Wetlands and Lakes
- Natural landscape: Volcanic
Travel Information
Guided Tour Only
Recent Connections
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Pelicans
"It features wetlands of outstanding i… -
Guided Tour Only
Tours of the reserves are only conducte… -
Strict Nature Reserve
Fully: "Korgalzhyn and Naurzum State Na…
Connections of Saryarka
- Geography
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Notable lakes
two main lakes L.Aksuat (22,000 ha) and L. Saramoin (12,600 ha)(UNEP-WCMC)
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- Ecology
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Flamingos
"Lake Tengiz is the world’s most northerly breeding site for greater flamingo, numbering up to 10,000 pairs" (AB ev) -
Steppe
"They lie within a temperate Eurasian steppe grassland" (AB ev) -
Critically endangered fauna species
Siberian white crane - "world population is estimated to be around 3200-4000" (wiki) -
Dunes
a belt of hummocky fixed sand dunes (UNEP-WCMC) -
Gray Wolf
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Pelicans
"It features wetlands of outstanding importance for migratory water birds, including globally threatened species, among them the extremely rare Siberian white crane, the Dalmatian pelican, Pallas's fish eagle, to name but a few." (Official description) -
Endorheic Lakes
Lake Tengiz -
Bird Migrations
OUV: The wetlands of Korgalzhyn and Naurzum State Nature Reserves are key stopover points and crossroads on the Central Asian migratory bird flyways and are of outstanding importance for migratory waterbirds on their way from Africa, Europe and South Asia to their breeding places in Western and Eastern Siberia. -
Extreme temperatures
"The characteristic features are aridity and drastic temperature changes (oscillations) over the years, as well as within one year (winter up to about. –40°C, summer up to about. +40°C). Sometimes during spring within 3-6 hours the temperature may drop or rise by 20-25 °C" (nom fil) -
Eagles
Pallas's fish eagle (Official description) -
Over 300 bird species
"In total, 351 bird species have been recorded (112 breeding and 239 migratory) within the nature reserves" (AB ev) -
Strict Nature Reserve
Fully: "Korgalzhyn and Naurzum State Nature Reserves have benefited from long-term legal protection as strict nature reserves (IUCN Protected Area Management Category Ia)." (AB ev). Both are accessible on guided tours from visitor centers.
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- Damaged
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Poaching
..critically endangered Saiga antelope, formerly an abundant species much reduced by poaching; Poaching and legal hunting remain a high threat
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- WHS on Other Lists
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World Biosphere Reserves
Korgalzhyn was made WBR in 2012See www.unesco.org
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Ramsar Wetlands
Naurzum Lake System, 2009 Tengiz-Korgalzhyn Lake System, (1976) 2007
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- Timeline
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Late Pleistocene
The increase of climate's aridity (in Late Pleistocene - Holocene) led to the break-up of a large (in ancient times) river drainage system and to the creation of a lake chain along the Turgai hollow (nom file)
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- Science and Technology
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Space Exploration
Lake Tengiz in Korgalzhyn Nature Reserve "On 16 October 1976, the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 23 unintentionally splashed down into the northern part of the lake, which was frozen, crashing through the ice. The crew was saved thanks to a very difficult but successful rescue operation" (Wiki)
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- Visiting conditions
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Guided Tour Only
Tours of the reserves are only conducted by rangers in a 4WD vehicle. At Korgalzhyn, they need to be prearranged via the visitor center.
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News
- wildlifeextra.com 05/27/2015
- New mass die-off of Saiga antelope…
- birdlife.org 07/12/2008
- Two of central Asia's most importa…
Recent Visitors
Reserved for members.Community Reviews
Show full reviews
One of the best things about using WHS as your travel compass is that it sometimes pushes you to go somewhere that seems inconvenient and involves a subject you have no interest in. And after you complete that visit, you are glad you did it. That was how it went with my June 2024 visit to Saryarka, the WHS of Steppe and Lakes.
The Korgalzhyn Nature Reserve (the most accessible part of Saryarka) superficially has a similar geographical position to the Kazakh capital Astana as Tanbaly WHS has to Kazakhstan's second city Almaty. Both need a full day trip to visit from the big city, with a car (rented or hired with a driver). Korgalzhyn lies only 125km away from Astana, and although it is a secondary road with a speed limit of 80 km/h, we arrived after about 1h45. The outgoing traffic from Astana is nowhere near as busy as in Almaty.
But while you can roam around on your own in Tanbaly, Korgalzhyn needs a proper local guide and a 4x4 vehicle. The Reserve is crossed by sand roads and tracks only, and we also did a fair bit of off-roading through the steppe grass. The tracks were muddy at times as well – it had rained a lot in the past weeks, and the grass was very high. There were still some flowers, but they mostly bloom here in April/May.
Most foreign visitors here are birders – my guide said that Dutch and Danish …
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I visited this WHS in June 2017. From Astana, we drove for around 2 hours (130km) to the "Bird Paradise" Visitor Centre in Korgalzhyn. The impressive flat steppe view will kick in after you exit Astana and will continue till you get to Korgalzhyn. Countless horses and cattle, a few old Soviet Union ghost buildings, and a vast never-ending flat steppe. Road conditions are not too bad but careless overtaking and non-existing markings on the asphalt are the cause of frequent car accidents.
Once in Korgalzhyn, we visited the Visit Center "Birds Paradise" with its old dioramaas and watched the 20 minute information video named "Mystery of protected lands". Hanging on the wall among different birding certificates, I spotted the original UNESCO Biosphere inscription certificate but not the UNESCO WHS inscription certificate. Korgalzhyn Nature Reserve is the largest protected area in Kazakhstan and is at the crossroads of migration routes for migratory birds, making it one of the key ornithological areas of international importance with 346 bird species, 700 butterfly species, 14 fish species, 374 species of flora, 2 species of frogs, 4 species of snakes and 43 species of fauna. Outside of the designated area, I could already spot pygmy owls, swans, marsh harriers, pelicans, herons, warblers and several waders apart from several marmots.
Instead of losing precious time to take lunch, I brought some packed lunch with me and spent more time by the designated lakes. We drove more than 60km offroad on grassland and shrubland to see …
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The agency in Kazakhstan which prearranged our trip to Korgalzhyn was concerned about whether we would be able/allowed to get inside. It appears that both the road from Astana to Korgalzhyn and the dirt road from Korgalzhyn into the park can get flooded/impassable in spring and our planned date of May 4 was still in the “problem” period. Phone calls to the reserve had received a “well we will see on the day” response. In the end, the period immediately before hand had been dry and we had no problems.
As you make the 2hr drive from Astana to Korgalzhyn there are some interesting aspects of Kazakhstan’s “Russian” past and present to look out for. Around 40kms out you drive past the site of the ALZHIR women’s gulag where the wives, sisters, mothers etc of class enemies had been deported for “Betrayal of the Motherland” – guilt by association. The road then enters an area of flood plains of the River Nura on its way to the endorheic basin of Korgalzhyn – on our day of travel the river was a huge lake lapping the road and showing that it could easily block it. This was followed by an area of rolling, but no longer “virgin”, steppe which had been ploughed up during Khrushchev’s “Virgin Lands” campaign – indeed Astana (then called “Akmolinsk”) had been renamed “Tselinograd” = “Virgin Lands City” in 1962. However, the closer you get to Korgalzhyn the more …
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Visited December 2016.
It is not a good idea to visit Northern Kazakhstan during winter. And especially windy Korgalzhyn with temperatures dropping to -20 degrees when I was there at the beginning of December. But I did, and this state reserve is ticked on my list.
It is possible to visit Kargolzhyn National Park as a day trip from Astana, but you have to arrange everything in advance because there’s no one at Visitors’ Center (they call it museum in the village) who can take to the reserve without prior arrangements.
The first bus from Astana Saparzhay Bus Station, very close to the train station, departs at 10am, and at 9am all tickets were sold out. I wanted to take a marshrutka, but the driver wanted to charge more than other pax in his car, so I waited the next bus (500KZT) at 1130 am. And I was a very good idea, because in the bus I met a young speaking English man (Artiom Yanushevski) who helped me a lot.
Korgalzhyn used to be a small town but after the collapse of USSR most people with German, Polish, Russian and Ukrainian origins left the country. Only the half of the village is Kazakh and everybody speaks Russian. Lots of ruined houses, and at this time of the year everything covered with snow, lots of snow.
After visiting Aksu Zhabagly on an organized tour with a German-Kazakh tour company (that cost me a lot, but it was worth), I decided to …
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