News

Published map of Karkaraly mountains

03.10.2018

A tourist map of Karkaraly mountains published by the Avalon Historico-Geographical Society in the framework of the project "Mapping as a Tool for Ecotourism Development in Kazakhstan" with the financial support of the United States Government, was presented on 26 September, 2018 at the "Astana Leisure 2018" travel fair.

Karkaraly National Park located in Karaganda region of Kazakhstan, in central part of the country, is one of the most popular holiday destinations among Karaganda residents and city visitors. Slopes of the Karkaraly mountains are cut by numerous ravines with rivers and springs flowing in them. The mountains, mainly of granite type are covered with pine and birch forests as well as shrubs. The special attractions of the Karkaraly mountains are numerous lakes, which are worth visiting and bathing in. These include the lakes Shaitankol, Basseyn (Swimming pool), Pashennoye and Bolshoye (Big) lake. The territory of Karkaraly is inhabited by a great variety of animals, most common of which are elks, deer, roe deer, squirrels, badgers, marmots, lynxes, wolves, wild bores, foxes and hares. It is also inhabited by argalis (Ovis ammon) which are included into Kazakhstan Red List. Among rare birds one may name golden eagles, black storks, saker falcons and eagle owls. Territory of the national park is divided into two large areas, namely the Karkaraly mountains and the Kent mountains.

The pocket edition, the latest in "Avalon Travel Guides" line was published in A3 size in 3 language versions (Russian, Kazakh and English). Each map includes overview scheme of the region, maps of Karkaraly and Kent mountains, Karkaralinsk town plan, main tourist sights' short descriptions, as well as some useful accommodation and travel information. The map will be distributed for free via tourist information centers and geographic societies in Kazakhstan, as well as embassies of Kazakhstan abroad. A part of circulation will be distributed in the framework of travel fairs in Kazakhstan and abroad.

In addition to the printed map publishing, all respective travel information, including photos, was added by the project team to the major web mapping services (Google Maps, OpenStreetMap, Wikimapia, as well as geotagged pages and places part of Facebook). 

It is hard to find properly mapped protected areas in Kazakhstan, they are not covered properly in the main web mapping services too. The same can be said about their buffer zones, which are usually the places, where community-based ecotourism has been developed. So, the authors believe, that mapping Karkaraly, both on paper and online, will contribute to the recreational load and biodiversity protection issues solution through regulation of tourist flows and create additional economic opportunities for local rural communities, involved into ecotourism development, by attracting more tourists to the homestays of Karkaralinsk.

The next 4 tourist maps of other mountain areas of Kazakhstan (Dzungar Alatau, Kokshetau, West Altai and Sairam-Ugam) will be published by Avalon Historico-Geographical Society in the framework of the project above-mentioned in April 2019 and presented in the framework of KITF-2019 travel fair in Almaty.

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News by Avalon Historico-Geographical Society

Photos by Mariya Brizitskaya and Vitaliy Shuptar