 |
A new initiative: Muza Tours and Travel supports the cooperation of the Kyrgyz National Commission for UNESCO and the Austrian NGO Alliance For Nature to nominate the nature reserve Besh-Aral as Natural World Heritage.
In July 2004, Muza invited the General Secretary of Alliance For Nature, an Austrian NGO of nature, culture and landscape protection, to do an informational tour around Kyrgyzstan, with two aims:
First of all, to initiate a cooperation between the Alliance For Nature and the Kyrgyz National Commission for UNESCO concerning the nomination and documentation of some cultural or natural World Heritage in Kyrgyzstan, as there is no place with this status until now.
The second advantage of this tour is that Christian Schuhboeck also works partly as a journalist. He will do some promotion of Kyrgyz culture and nature in Austria, in the form of articles in papers and presentations, perhaps in cooperation with the Kyrgyz Embassy in Austria.
Concerning the cooperation for the nomination and documentation of Besh-Aral, it is to say that usually such a work costs a lot of money, which is not easy to pay. In order to help financing the project, Muza Tours and Travel will organize in cooperation with Alliance For Nature World Heritage Journeys for the season 2005, and give a part of the income to the project.
The informational tour went through all the places, that were already on the tentative list for World Heritage, which are all nominated as Cultural World Heritage, except lake Issyk-Kul, which was nominated as Cultural Landscape. During the meetings with the National Commission, it was decided to cooperate concerning a Natural World Heritage Place, as Kyrgyzstan is very rich in regions worth it.
Below you can find for the moment a description of the tour we did and some pictures of it. As we get news from the project, we will keep you updated of course.
1st day:
We started from Bishkek with the aim to get to lake Issyk-Kul, but with some stops at places that are found on the tentative list for World Heritage in Kyrgyzstan. Our first stop was Krasnaya Rechka, which is a small village not far from Bishkek. On its outskirts, you can find the archeological leftovers of the ancient town of Nevkat, which was a quite important city on the Great Silk Road between the 6th and 12th centuries. Nowadays, you find the ruins of a Buddhist church, a citadelle, a cemetery and a castle.
Then we went on to Burana tower, which is on the tentative list as well. It is the leftover of one of three capitals of the Karakhanid Khanat, which held power over Central Asia for some time in the era of the Great Silk Road and had great influence on the people of this region. The town itself was called Balasagyn and existed from the 9th to the 15th century. The only leftover today is the minarett, but at this place you also find a hill with some ancient walls discovered there, and a collection of petroglyphs and turc gravestones, all of them found in the Chui valley and the gorges of the Kyrgyz range.
Arriving at the Issyk-Kul lake, we enjoyed this extraordinary mountain lake at an altitude of about 1600 m. It is the second biggest mountain lake of the world, with a length of about 180 km, a width of about 70 km at the widest point, and a depth of 668 m at the deepest point. The lake is slightly salty, which comes from the fact that there are several rivers leading into the lake, but no single one out of it. The lake is the tourism region nr. 1 in Kyrgyzstan, where hundreds and thousands of people spend their holidays every year in the pensions, hotels and sanatoria on the north coast.
2nd day:
In the morning we started our tour with the petrogliphies of an age of about 2000 years in the village of Cholpon Ata, and then went on to see some hotels in order to prepare and choose for the World Heritage Tours of the season of 2005. Going on to Karakol on the south-east edge of the lake, near the mountains, after lunch, we also visited the Przhevalsky museum, that is about the life and especially journeys and expeditions of this famous Russian traveller.
In Karakol, we had a demonstration of Dungan culture, as many of this chinese people are living there. They came to Kyrgyzstan about 150 years ago, as they were persecuted in China. As many other people that are mixed up in Kyrgyzstan, they brought their culture, habits, lifestyle, cuisine and traditions here. We had the chance to try about 5 different meals and also to see the national wedding dress. 
3rd day:
In the morning we had a short sight seeing of the Dungan mosque and the wooden orthodox church, then went on via the south coast to Kochkor. The south coast was amazingly beautiful, but unfortunately the weather was quite bad and we couldn’t take good pictures. 
On arrival in Kochkor, after lunch we had a demonstration of how to make the different traditional Kyrgyz felt carpets. The most important ones are calles Shyrdak and Ala-Kiyiz. Also, we were invited to watch the traditional Kyrgyz clothes and to have a look at ancient carpets in the small handicraft museum. There is also the possibility to buy some of the pre-made carpets or to order something specifically for you. 
4th day:
In the morning, we started our 3-hour drive to lake Son-Kul, where first of all we had lunch. Then our hosts especially for us put down a yurt in order to make it able for us to help putting it up ourselves. It was really interesting to see how everything and everybody works in dependance from one another, and how everything works as everybody works together for one goal. Also, we learnt all the specific names of the parts of the yurt.
Later in the afternoon, we had a training hour on horses, in order to prepare for our horse-back riding trip in Saymaluu-Tash later on the tour. The evening was spent with a big dinner in community of all hosts and neighbours, as well as guests of other yurts.
5th day:
This day was spent with the drive from Son-Kul lake to Kazarman. Although we were on the road the whole day, we enjoyed it a lot, as the landscape was one of the most beautiful and extraordinary ones:
 Hills and mountains looking like deserted moon landscape, but also high mountain passes and steep gorges with woods. In the evening we arrived in Kazarman, where we had dinner and went to bed quite early.
6th day:
Our horse-back riding trip! Quite early we started, as the road to the place where we had to take horses is really bad, and it takes 2 hours for about 50 km. On arrival at the shepherds place, we had tea and then left quickly for our 3 hours uphill ride to get to the remote place of Saymaluu-Tash. The trail leads through man-high plants, over a snowfield covering a small mountain river, and up flowering alpine pastures. Then we arrived on the moraine slope that forms Saymaluu-Tash 1.
There are thousands of rocks lying around, nearly black because of the sun influence, and nearly all of them carrying inscriptions! There are mostly hunting scenes or just animals, some of them considered holy, found there. But also, there are every-day scenes, where you see people ploughing, celebrating, etc. Some pictures of gods are found as well. The oldest ones of those petrogliphies are about 5000 years old, the youngest ones about 1800. Many of them were done as worship to gods before people went hunting, or after the hunt in order to thank the gods.
Only in this place you could walk around for hours and find a new hint on peoples lifes in this ages on every step. But conquering the mountain pass to your left, you could as well go to Saymaluu-Tash 2, where there is still more to discover! We haven’t gone there because it takes some time, but where we were, there is also a little lake resulting from glacious water, which is considered holy by locals, and where shamans in former times did their ceremonies and rituals.
After some walking around and a lot of picture-taking, we returned to the shepherd and than back to Kazarman for overnight.
7th day:
Early in the morning we left Kazarman, as this day was “on the road” once more: We went over mountain passes and magnificient landscapes to the Ferghana valley, where we stopped at first in Dzhalal-Abad for lunch. Then we went on to Ozgon, where there are a minarett and three mausoleums left over from the ancient town, that was one of the three capitals of the Karakhanid Khanat as well, just as Balasagyn (Burana). Those are found on the tentative list for World Heritage in Kyrgyzstan.
After that, we went on to Osh, where we were cordially welcomed in the Uzbek guesthouse where we stayed. To use the time as much as possible, we went to the bazar in the evening to take some good and interesting situational pictures. Then we had typical uzbek Plov, before we went to bed.
8th day:
A full day to discover the city of Osh, that celebrated the 3000 year anniversary some years ago! In the morning, we went up the famous and holy Sulaiman Gora, a mountain in the very city centre. This was also one of the places on the tentative list. Up the hill, you find the house of Babur, a Central Asian Emperor. There are several legends about the mountain, how it raised, which traditions are connected with it, etc. But those of course should be heard when walking up there!
Also, there is a museum about the region and its religions, built still under the Soviet Union, directly into the mountain. A second one was built some years ago to the feet of the mountain.
Later we went to see a mosque from the times of the Great Silk Road and then to the bazar once more. The Ferghana valley is well-known for its tasty and delicious fruits, that you find everywhere on the colourful bazar, which is the most ancient one in Kyrgyzstan: On the same place, people are trading already since more than 2000 years!
9th day:
In the morning we enjoyed our drive through the fertile Ferghana valley and went on to Arslanbob. This small village about 50km from the main highway Osh-Bishkek is famous for one fact: It is the place where the biggest nut forests of the world start! An amazingly big territory full of walnut trees, spread out over the mountainous region, with waterfalls and lakes in the mountains, a place to spend your holidays if one doesn’t want to be stuck at the beach with thousands of other tourists!
We did a 3-hours walking tour to the small waterfall, through the walnut forests and to a panorama view of the village and the surrounding mountains. In the evening, after dinner, we still had a uzbek folklore show organized, where 3 men in traditional costumes played on national instruments and also showed us the national dances.
10th day:
In the morning we left this nice little town in the forests to go further west, to a place called Safed-Bulon. This was our last place that was on the tentative list and one of the most impressing ones:
There are 2 arab mausoleums, one called Shakh-Fazil, that was built by a man of the same name for his father, who died in a very cruel way, and another for a woman called Safed-Bulon and 2700 soldiers. Those soldiers and their general, Shakh-Zhalil, came from Arab countries and tried to spread muslim religion in the Central Asian region. As local inhabitants were opposed to that in the beginning, they made a cruel plan: During the most important prayer on Friday, when nothing can and is allowed to take attention from praying people, they surprised the praying soldiers and cut off their heads. After that, a young woman called Safed Bulon came there, took the 2700 heads, washed them and buried them. To her honour, the second mausoleum was built, on the place where she buried the heads.
After the excursion, we had dinner with a local family and went on to stay in a small hotel on the way.
11th day:
Early in the morning, we started our drive back to Bishkek via the scenic route of the Osh-Bishkek highway. Especially the last mountain pass Tyuu-Ashuu is an experience of landscapes!
All in all, it is to say that we had a journey that covered very diversified places throughout the country and that gave a brilliant overview of Kyrgyzstans very special and beautiful countryside, as well as the cultural monuments left over from various periods. What was important as well, is the fact that we organized accommodation via CBT (Community Based Tourism) and stayed with families nearly everywhere on the trip, which gave a great insight into the peoples culture.
|
ENG
