Location: Naryn Province Map
When: June- Sept
Means: following lake or next lake
Elevation:
3016 m
Surface Area: 278 sq km
Max Depth: 14 m
Average Depth:
8.6 m
Song Kol Lake or The Songköl (Kyrgyz Соңкөл,
English Song-Kul) is a mountain lake in the north of the Naryn
region of Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia. It can be reached during the
summer months (June-September) by off-road passenger vehicles via
two "roads": (a) from Kochkor or from Naryn, each via the A 365
towards Sary-Bulak and from the junction 85 5 km south of this
village km west through the Tölök valley along the southern flank of
the Karakatty mountain range and finally over the 3446 m high Kalmak
Pass and thus the Songköltoo mountain range, and with about 3 hours
driving time in both cases; or (b) from Naryn 85 km west to Ak
Valley and from there around 50 km over the difficult, 3150 m high
Moldo Pass through the Moldotoo chain north to the lake.
Songköl – Kyrgyzstan's second largest lake after Issykköl – is an
alpine freshwater lake, the largest in Kyrgyzstan. It has an area of
278 km² and is located in the Songköl lowlands, between the mountain
ranges of the up to 3856 m high Songköltoo in the north and the up
to 4185 m high Moldotoo in the south, at an altitude of 3016 m. It
has a roughly oval shape with a longitudinal extent in the NW-SE
direction of 29 km and a maximum width of 18 km. The maximum depth
is 13.2 m. On the southeast bank, the Songköl River drains the lake
to Naryn. The water temperature in summer is 11-12 degrees Celsius.
The lake freezes in the winter months (November – May), with the ice
reaching a thickness of 1.0–1.2 meters.
The Songköl lies in
the middle of a wide, flat hollow above the tree line. The
surrounding plateau, where only grasses and herbs grow, is grazed in
the summer months by thousands of sheep and horses, whose shepherds
and their families set up their yurts in the pastures for the
grazing season. Tourists can stay and be fed with some shepherds and
in some yurt camps set up especially for tourists.
The lake
and its outlying areas have been listed as an important bird area on
the Ramsar list since 2011.
Total area - 278 km², fresh water volume - 2.4 km³, length - 28 km,
width - 18 km. Average depth — 8.6 m, maximum — 14 m. The location of
the lake was formed by tectonics. The shore of the lake is low, the line
of the shore of the lake is not very noticeable.
On the other
hand, the continuously flowing waters of Ak-Tash, Tash-Dobo, and
Kara-Keche do not freeze often even in winter.
Sun-Kul is 29 km
long and 17 km wide, covering 292 square km. constitutes the area of the
existing lake.
The depth of the lake is different, on the eastern
side it is 10-15 meters, and on the western side it is up to 22 meters
deep.
Various grasses grow around the blue lake, and it is the
most beautiful, embroidered with red flowers. Also, the mountain slopes
on the coasts are covered with fescue grass and are a fertile home for
livestock.
It has been proven that 66 species of waterfowl and
marsh birds live in Sun-Kol. It was observed that 29 species of them
nest and hatch their young in the valleys on the shores of lakes, and 37
species are autumn and spring migratory birds. Ducks, herons, geese, and
seagulls swim above Sun-Kul, and various fish fight under it. To protect
the birds of Sun-Kul from various losses and to create full conditions
for their reproduction, they were taken into a reserve by the state.
The eastern part of the lake is part of the Karatal-Zhapyryk State
Reserve. The lake is inhabited by 10 species of fish such as whitefish
(Coregonus lavaretus Linnaeus, 1758), broad whitefish (Coregonus nasus
Pallas, 1776), peled (Coregonus peled Gmelin, 1789), common marinka
(Schizothorax intermedius McClelland & Griffith, 1842), naked osman (
Diptychus dybowskii Kessler, 1874), rare-scaly osman (Diptychus
gymnogaster Kessler, 1879), scaly osman (Diptychus maculatus
Steindachner, 1866), Severtsov's osman (Diptychus sewerzowi Kessler,
1872), gray charr (Noemacheilus dorsalis Kessler, 17 Noemacheilus
stoliczkai Steindachner, 1866).
According to various estimates,
from 41 to 69 species of birds live on the lake. 52 species of water
birds were also noted. The lake is an important migration point for
water birds such as demoiselle crane, mountain goose, black stork and
black-headed gull.