Kyrgyzstan Discovered

Joining Day 1: Your Bishkek airport transfer will take you directly to our joining hotel, ready for the start tomorrow. Today you will meet your crew for your tour briefing and welcome dinner.

Day 2: We take delivery of our 4x4s. Leaving the bright lights of the city behind we drive to the magnificent Burana Tower, an 11th Century minaret that was spared from the ravages of Chinggis Khan's armies, making it one of the oldest structures in Central Asia. We continue onto the astounding Chong Kemin National Park, a stunning park of rivers, gorges and forests located close to the Kazakhstan border before riding south to the shores of the mighty Issyk Kol

Day 3: The beautiful Issyk Kol is the second largest alpine lake in the world and bordered to the south by the lofty snow-capped Tien Shan Mountains, this region is postcard perfect. We visit a wonderful field of petroglyphs at Cholpon Ata, dating back to 1500BC before driving along the shoreline of Issyk Kol with distant views of the Tien Shan Mountains. We will enjoy a special section as we venture into the Semenov Gorge, a landscape of exceptional beauty with the glacially fed Aksuu River dissecting the gorge.
We drive around the eastern edge of the lake where, reputedly, the Black Plague of the 13th century had its origins, before arriving at Karakol, our base for the next few nights

Day 4: Today we explore the tracks on the western side of Karakol. We shall witness a traditional eagle hunting demonstration before exploring the red rock canyonlands including the beautiful Jeti Orghuz rock formations that lies at the head of a breathtaking alpine valley that tumbles down from the Central Tien Shan Mountains. We will enjoy a “feast” in a local ger camp before returning to Karakol, allowing us time to explore this town. Today’s 4x4 action is thrilling and scenery beyond apt description.

Day 5: Driving east toward the mighty Celestial Mountains, we are amongst giant 7000m / 23,000ft snow-capped peaks that form part of the Chinese border. We will cross the lofty Chong Ashuu (Pass) through a barren landscape of high-altitude desert, before descending into the wild green Sary Jaz Valley with breathtaking views of the Celestial Mountains, before returning to Karakol. Todys drive is simply breathtaking

Day 6: Turning west we drive along the southern shoreline of Isskyl Kol with the Tien Shan in the close distance. We shall visit the beautiful Eki Naryn Gorge, home to Snow Leopard, bear & wild boar before overnighting in Naryn, a former stop on the ancient Silk Road.

Day 7: It’s a relatively short drive today being a mix of paved and dirt tracks as we venture south to one of the finest remaining examples of Silk Road Caravanserais, Tash Rabat. Driving the narrow valley toward Tash Rabat is utterly breathtaking, we are following the ancient Silk Road, with a lush green landscape wedged between two valley walls, dissected by a milky river that rushes past our ger camp. We spend the remainder of the day exploring Tash Rabat and its surrounds. We spend a night here and have dinner in a large ger, it's wonderful stuff!

Day 8: Dragging ourselves away from Tash Rabat we turn north and cross a number of 3000m / 10,000ft passes including the wonderful Moldo Ashuu (pass) that has an exciting series of dirt switchbacks with amazing views of the distant valley we just ascended from. From Moldo Ashuu (pass) we remain at 3000m / 10,000ft until we reach the beautiful Song Kol Lake where we enjoy a second night at a ger camp with an epic view of the lake and surrounding mountains.

Day 9: From Song Kol we descend somewhat and drive into remote Central Kyrgyzstan. We spend the day crossing mountain passes and driving remote tracks before arriving at the old mining town of Kazarman, that is closed off for the majority of the year due to snow. We stay overnight at a homestay run by the effervescent Baktygul, the dinner Baktygul puts on is amazing considering the towns remote location and limited supplies.

Day 10: Leaving Kazarman it’s only a stone’s throw to our next destination but it will take us a large part of the day as we drive amongst the valleys and mountains of the region. Our destination, Arslanbob, is home to the world’s last remaining ancient walnut groves and is scenically located under the Babash Ata Mountain Range. This village is unique in Kyrgyzstan as its home to the mostly Uzbek people. Tonight, we have a homestay with an Uzbek family and enjoy a traditional Uzbek meal

Day 11: Descending from Arslanbob we hit the main Osh – Bishkek Highway that hugs the border with Uzbekistan. Turning off the highway we reach the UNESCO listed Sary Chelek Nature Reserve mid-afternoon allowing us time to explore this stunningly beautiful region of lakes and forested mountains. We will spend two nights in the village of Arkit at the gates to the nature reserve.

Day 12: Often referred to as the most beautiful place in Kyrgyzstan, and that’s really saying something, we spend a full day exploring the lakes around Sary Chelek and take a boat trip out onto the lake affording us amazing views of the 4000 mt peaks of the Chatkal Range that form part of the Western Tien Shan Mountains

Day 13: We make our way through this epic landscape back to the highway, and into an incredibly barren landscape that winds and twists its way to Toktogul. We get wonderful views of the incredible azure-coloured waters of Toktogul Reservoir before arriving at Chychkan Gorge where we spend a night at a lodge with a remarkable balcony that hangs out over the raging Chyckkan River, just below!

Day 14: Continuing north we cross our last significant pass of the trip, the 3500m / 11,500ft Too Ashuu before descending into the capital of Bishkek. We will enjoy our final dinner where we can reminisce on what has been an extraordinary 4x4 adventure to a remote part of the world rarely visited by the tourist hordes

Departure Day: Spend a couple more days in Bishkek or fly home