One of the most extensive regions of Kazakhstan - the Kyzylorda region - stretches for more than 700 kilometers along the bed of the longest river in Central Asia - the Syr Darya. For centuries, the Syr Darya gave life to dozens of cities and nourished the pearl of the region - the Aral Sea. Correspondents of the MIR 24 TV channel learned why a tourist needs to be here.
DISAPPEARED CITIES
Kyzylorda region is the only region of Kazakhstan that can boast of so many ancient cities and settlements. Numerous tributaries of the Syr Darya have made this territory fertile and attractive for centuries. Cities and fortresses were built along the riverbeds, the ruins of which are being restored by archaeologists today. Walking the streets of disappeared cities is one of the reasons to come here.
Syganak was the center of trade and politics in the region. It was chosen as their headquarters by the Kypchaks, the khans of the White Horde, and in the XV-XVI centuries the city was twice the capital of the Kazakh Khanate. This is not surprising - it was Syganak who at that time controlled the main flow of goods from China to the countries of the Middle East, Central Asia and back.
Archaeologists have discovered here the remains of mosques, madrasahs, baths, a rich set of metal products and ceramics. But a significant part of the artifacts still looks at the tourist right from the city ruins.
“The entire population of Central Asia and the East strove to get to Syganak. It was believed that its bazaar is the largest. There was even a saying that they eat up to 200 camels a day. A huge population came there. Because he was on the classic path. From the south - towards the Kimaks, Kipchaks and to Siberia. Another branch went towards China, the third - towards the Volga Bulgaria, says Rustem Darmenov, a senior researcher at the Khalyk Kazynasy Institute of the National Museum of Kazakhstan.
It is known that before the Mongol invasion Syganak was a large trade and craft center. For refusing to surrender to the troops of Genghis Khan, Syganak was razed to the ground, but later restored again. Neither the troops of Tamerlane nor other conquerors could destroy it after a century and a half. Syganak was reborn again and again from the ashes. Life here died out only by the middle of the 19th century. Due to constant wars and a general decline in the region's economy.
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Another ancient city, Sauran, is not as large as Syganok, but it is well preserved. Today, thanks to the restorers, there is an open-air museum. The first mentions of Sauran date back to the X century. And already in the XIV the city was the capital of the White Horde - a steppe state founded by the son of Genghis Khan - Jochi. Scientists believe that then up to 15 thousand people could live here.
In Sauran, part of the fortress walls has been preserved, the main gate, elements of a mosque, madrasah, residential areas and a city square have been restored. And also - a water supply system unique for antiquity. From deep wells (kyarzes), underground galleries delivered moisture to different parts of the city. There is evidence that up to 200 Indian slaves worked on the construction of these conduits in Sauran.
GORGE OF PETROGLIFES
This is another historical value of the region. In the Sauskandyk tract, scientists have discovered one of the richest placers of ancient drawings in the country. There are about ten thousand of them here. The oldest are more than five thousand years old.
“Here you can see scenes of hunting, archery, there is even a unique image of two people rolling on a swing. Later, the Kazakh people began to call them "alty bakan". That is, people who lived in that period put their everyday life, beliefs, faith on the rocks. Thanks to these drawings, we know how they lived,”says Bekbolat Abuov, a research assistant at the State Museum of History and Local Lore of Shielin District.
Most of the petroglyphs date back to the Bronze Age. These are anthropomorphic figures, bulls and argali. Among the later images are horsemen, carts, mummers. It is obvious that this tract in the Karatau mountains was a sacred place. In the valley at the foot of the mountains, traces of ancient burials are visible, presumably from the Saka period.
KORKYT-ATA MEMORIAL COMPLEX
For Kazakhs, Turkmens, Azerbaijanis and other Turkic peoples, Korkyt-ata is one of the most revered ancestors. In the Kyzylorda region of Kazakhstan, not far from the Baikonur cosmodrome, a memorial complex has been erected in his honor.
Legends about Korkyt are found among many Turkic peoples. He is considered an ancient sage, storyteller, patron saint of poets and musicians. And Korkyt is also the creator of kobyz, one of the most popular musical Turkic instruments. There is a legend among the people that, having invented kobyz, Korkyt was able to deceive death. The sounds of a musical instrument so penetrated the soul that they bewitched the very angel of death Azrael. And he simply could not approach the wise old man.
“Korkyt-ata himself fought for immortality. But, wherever he was, he could not achieve physical immortality, and he realized that immortality is in his music. Our main monument is kobyz. When the wind blows, sounds of kobyz are emitted from there. People come here and listen to this organ, listen to the music of kobyz, which the great Korkyt-ata has brought to our days,”said Aidos Niyazov, director of the Korkyt-ata ethno-memorial complex.
Traditional kobyz should be hollowed out from a single piece of wood and covered with camel skin. Horse hair plays the role of strings. All this gives the instrument an extraordinary sound. 12 kyuis, or musical legends of Korkyt, have survived to our time. For centuries, people passed them on from mouth to mouth, until they recorded them in notes and on paper. And two manuscripts based on his legends are now kept in the Dresden and Vatican libraries.
ARAL SEA
Walking along the former bottom of the Aral Sea, next to the ships that once plied its waters, is another reason to visit the Kyzylorda region. Less than half a century ago, the height of the water in this place reached 20 meters. Now there is a salt desert.
The Aral Sea was once a huge reservoir that provided water and fish to dozens of settlements in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. From the middle of the last century, the Aral Sea began to sharply shallow. The rivers Syr Darya and Amu Darya feeding it began to be redirected to agricultural needs. Towns and villages, once built on the coast, today stand tens of kilometers from the water. In 1989, the reservoir was divided into Small and Big Aral. And by the beginning of the 2000s, the volume of water in the Aral Sea decreased 10 times.
“As a child, it was only 25 meters from the shore to my house. This water, I remember, overflowed and spread along the street. The houses were all built on piles, logs were driven in and houses were erected on them. Until 1975, I never bought fish because we went fishing all the time. And only when the sea receded, there was less fish, they began to buy,”recalls the director of the local history museum of the city of Aralsk.
Today, the Kokaral dam on the Syrdarya river allows filling the Small Aral. And the salt landscapes of the former seabed in the coming decades may again appear under the water column.
RIDDLE ISLAND "BARSAKELMES"
This island has attracted the attention of directors, writers and ufologists more than once. There are many stories that people here disappeared without a trace, and even time slowed down.
"Barsakelmes" in translation means: "If you go, you won't come back." The island was called the most "closed" nature reserve in the Soviet Union. It was almost impossible to get here due to the strict access control. They say that in a few tens of kilometers from this place, on the island "Renaissance", at one time a secret laboratory of biological weapons was opened. Therefore, the first tourists appeared here quite recently.
One of the stories, the authenticity of which has not been proven, tells of a whole topographic expedition that disappeared on the island in the 20s of the 19th century. The group was searched for for three months, but as a result the travelers returned themselves, claiming that they had been absent for only three days. It is said that similar incidents occurred with prisoners who escaped from prison. They hid on the island for what was thought for several months. And when they went out to the people, they found out that several years had passed.
Someone considers these stories to be fiction, others - the influence of the geoactive zone in which the former island is located. The best way to find out the truth is to come to Barsakelmes and check it in person.
