Day 1: Kochkor — Kilemche lailoo
Transfer from Kochkor to Kyzart pass 2664. Meet your guides team with horses and start the tour. Within sight of the road, cross Kyzyl-Kiya jailoo, an enormous, relatively flat sea of grass. Continue over the Chaar-Archa Pass (3 061 m) into the Chaar-Archa Valley and eat a tasty lunch by the racing river, with views of holy 4400 m Baba-Ata Mountain. Sated, ford the river and follow the trail over verdant hills to Kilemche Jailoo. The name means “like a carpet,” and this swathe of grass covers whole mountain ranges, with shadings as subtle as any shyrdak (shyrdak is a Kyrgyz felt carpet). Dine and sleep in a yurt, naturally.
Horse time: 4-5 hours.
Trek time: 5-6 hours.
Day 2: Kilemche jailoo — Batai-Aral (Song-Kol lake 3016m.)
After breakfast at Kilemche, spend the morning climbing to Jalgyz Karagai pass (3 400 m), over the Song-Kol Mountains and into the lake’s basin. The morning climb affords wonderful views of Kilemche jailoo, and the pass itself is rocky and exciting. From the pass, Song-Kol is still distant, but as you traipse down the slopes, it gets larger and larger; the mountains on the other side get higher and higher, until finally the lake fills most of your field of view and the southern mountains tower above it. After lunch at Jaman Echki, follow the lakeshore east to the yurt at Batai Aral. Upon arrival meet your host family of Kyrgyz shepherds. Meals and overnight are in a yurt of shepherds.
Horse time: 5 hours
Trek time: 5-6 hours.
Day 3: Batai-Aral — Kochkor
Spend the day enjoying refreshing and well-earned rest at the lake side. Watching and/or participation in everyday life of shepherds: milking mares; making national milk products like kymyz (a fermented mare’s milk) or airan (a sour dense milk product); tending cattle. Eat a delicious lunch here, stroll along the lakeshore, and hope the legendary Song-Kol weather is kind. Afternoon transfer to Kochkor village.
Driving: 3 hours.
End of the tour
Accommodation & meals:
2 nights in yurts,
2 lunches,
2 dinners,
2 breakfasts.
Group size:
from 1 to 15
Requirements:
trekking boots,
weatherproof warm clothing,
hat,
sunglasses,
sunscreen,
sleeping bag and mat.