Lake Shaitankol

There is a legend that a beautiful girl dropped her pointed headdress adorned with feathers and jewels in the steppe. The Kazakhs call it Karkar. Some of them say that only one diamond fell. Nevertheless, the legend very accurately describes the local beauties - truly a diamond in the middle of the steppes.

The lake got its name, meaning "Devil's Lake", allegedly because many hunters were lost in the area. The lake is at an altitude of 1200 meter above sea level and is located in the middle of pine trees in the Bugyly mountains, 5 km southwest of Karkaralinsk. The length of the lake is 60 m and its width is 40 m. The lake can be reached on foot and usually takes 5 hours round trip. The lake is oval shaped and surrounded by cliffs up to 10 m high. The depth of the lake is unknown. Since it is fed by groundwater and precipitation, the water level never drops throughout the year.

Legend is a somewhat tragic love story. Legend has it that long ago there was a beautiful girl named Sulushash, who was the daughter of a wealthy landowner named Tleuberdy. Sulushash fell in love with a poor shepherd named Altai, but the girl's father did not want them to marry and forbade them to see each other. For this reason, the lovers decide to escape, taking Kausar, a friend of Altay's, with them. They traveled for days through the Kazakh steppes and hid in the forest until they reached the Karkarali Mountains.

Altay and Kausar left the girl by the lake and went hunting. While hunting, Kausar fell off a cliff and died. Meanwhile, Tleuberdy reached the forest and set fire to the forest, trying to get them out of their hiding place. Firstly, Sulushash hid in a cave, but unable to bear the smoke, she left the cave and started running. While running, she came across a tiger, jumped into the lake to save herself from the tiger, and started drowning because she could not swim. Hearing Sulushash's cry, Altay ran to the lakeside, but when he reached all he could see was his head above the water. Distraught, Altay killed himself by stabbing a dagger in his chest.

Devil's Lake

 

panoramic view