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100 EXPERIENCES OF MODERN KAZAKHSTAN
BIG ALMATY LAKE The Eastern branch of the Big Almaty gorge, to the south from Almaty, leads the traveller to the Big Almaty Lake, surrounded by mountains covered with conifer forests. These are the Trans-Ili Alatau Mountains, with at an altitude of about 2500 metres above sea level. The panorama from the shores of the lake is charming with the distinct “Peak of the Soviets�, the road to the Ozyorniy pass and the spurs of the Big Almaty Peak all reflecting in harmony with the deep turquoise colour of the lake. Big Almaty Lake, or BAO, which is what Almaty residents call it, was formed about 10,000 years ago by the collapse of the land associated with tectonic movements. You can still see traces of faults and imagine the scale of the ancient catastrophe. In 1977 a devastating mudflow prompted an increase to the security defences of the city, including increasing the height of a natural dam on the Big Almaty Lake by 10 metres. Nowadays, there is a modest hotel of the Tien Shan Observatory next to the lake (formerly the State Sternberg Astronomical Institute, SAI), where, if you are lucky, can look at the starry sky through a telescope. 180