Sary Chelek Expedition

Day 1

On arrival in Bishkek transfer to the delightful Asia Mountains Hotel where the night is spent. Facilities include air conditioning in all rooms, an outdoor swimming pool, and barbeque. After a chance to relax and freshen up explore Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan's small and beautifully positioned capital, which is set at the foot of the mountains with views of the surrounding glaciers.

Day 2 (B,L,D)

Leave Bishkek by minibus for the small hamlet of Dharik Tash (approximately nine hours drive), breaking your journey for lunch. Tonight's campsite is beside a river and close by a small track leading up into the mountains.

Day 3 (B,L,D)

Meet up with your horse and start the ride from camp after breakfast, covering approximately 30kms through a stunning landscape of wooded mountains, jagged rocky peaks, and meadows beneath, full of beautiful wildflowers. After enjoying a picnic lunch begin your descent to the Kara Suu River, where camp will have been set up in a picturesque valley.

Day 4 (B,L,D)

Today you will ride approximately 27km, first passing through the village of Kizel Kel, home to an old forge where the local blacksmith plies his trade. You then ride up into the mountains behind the village, which are carpeted in a bright array of wildflowers and offer breathtaking views for miles into the distance. You will enjoy lunch with a local Kyrgyz family at their summer camp, surrounded by livestock and playing children. Afterwards you ride back down from the mountains to the village of Arkit, where your campsite is situated beside a fast-flowing mountain stream.

Day 5 (B,L,D)

Today you enter the Sary Chelek National Park, passing through orchards and meadows before meeting up with the support vehicle for lunch, surrounded by woodland including magnificent wild mulberry and walnut trees. After lunch, and the opportunity for extended canters on your tough native horses, this 30km ride continues to the foot of the Ashuu pass (altitude 2,750m) where you camp in a secluded and beautiful valley carpeted by wild raspberries and flowers.

Day 6 (B,L,D)

This morning you ride 24km to Bakali Lake, first following a track that twists steeply uphill through woodland, and then cantering through wild flower meadows to a hidden lake at the base of tall cliffs. Enjoy a picnic lunch, to a back drop of frogs croaking musically from reed beds that fringe the lake's shore. After lunch continue for a further 15km, cantering along the shores of Kili Kel??? and Chacha Kel Lakes before reaching your stunningly beautiful campsite beside the turquoise waters of Iri Kul Lake, where surrounding mountains tower high above you and you can enjoy swimming and fishing in a pristine wilderness setting. A clear spring, ice cold and rich in minerals, bubbles up just yards from where you camp.

Day 7 (B,L,D)

Today you ride from the campsite beside Iri Kul Lake to the southern end of Sary Chelek Lake through hills and valleys covered in alpine flowers that include wild hollyhocks and harebells. Have a picnic lunch beside the highest alpine lake in the world, which is overlooked by dramatic cliffs pockmarked with caves full of bats and cloaked in tall green fir trees. After lunch you return by a different route for a second evening at your lovely campsite on the shores of Iri Kul Lake.

Day 8 (B,L,D)

Today is a rest day for the horses and guests. While the horses indulge themselves grazing through waist-high grasses, you can choose between fishing, swimming and walking through a landscape that is close to heaven on earth. Or you may choose to move no further than the campsite beside the lake, sipping chilled beer and relaxing after the exertions of the previous few days.

Day 9 (B,L,D)

Ride over the beautiful Kuturma pass (2446m) to Kara-Suu Lake, a distance of 15kms. The route up to the pass is very steep and narrow, and you will be astonished by the ability of the local Kyrgyz horses to negotiate such a formidable and rocky passage through the mountains. On reaching the high point of the pass riders can take in the magnificent view before their horses begin to pick their way downhill, often passing between tall boulders with only inches to spare before reaching Kara-Kamish Lake where you find camp set up for the night.

Day 10 (B,L,D)

Ride higher up into the mountains and visit the summer yurts of the local Kyrgyz people. After lunch there may be the chance to watch a game of ulak, near your campsite beside Kara-Kamish Lake.

Day 11 (B,L,D)

Descend from Kara-Kamish Lake, following the Kara-Suu River down a series of breathtaking waterfalls and cascades before the river broadens briefly into a wide alluvial plain, only to narrow again where the flow quickens through a stark and rocky landscape. Enjoy a picnic lunch beside the river, with the choice of a refreshing dip or an afternoon siesta afterwards. After lunch complete your riding adventure by riding back to the comparative civilization of Kizil-Kel, where you camp for the final night.

Day 12 (B,L)

Transfer by road back to Bishkek. Tonight is spent at the Asia Mountains Hotel.

Day 13 (B,D)

Spend the day relaxing in the grounds of the hotel or try some sightseeing and shopping in Bishkek A minibus and driver will be on hand for this service. This evening there will be a celebratory farewell dinner in Bishkek.

Day 14 (B)

After a simple buffet breakfast transfer to the airport.