Kairak Waterfall Hike, Turgen Gorge, Kazakhstan
Only just over an hours’ drive from the city of Almaty in Kazakhstan and easily accessible by good, paved roads lies Turgen Gorge National Park. A landscape of dramatic snow-capped mountains, dense forests, glaciers, alpine meadows, beautiful waterfalls and fast-flowing rivers makes for stunning scenery and several great hiking trails.
The area is well known for having several waterfalls and is popular with day-trippers from Almaty who come to see them. The easiest fall to see and access is “Bear Waterfall” near to the visitors centre. The Kairak Waterfall is the largest of all the waterfalls in the area and is more difficult and time consuming to get to - so naturally that’s the one we wanted to see!
This is a relatively easy hike until the end section which is quite steep. Wear walking boots as the path can be very muddy and there are small sections of water to cross in places.
Start/end point: Visitors centre/café in Batan
Average duration: 3-4 hours return
Distance: 16km
When to go: The driving route into the gorge is free of snow from March-November, best conditions in September or October - also best to see autumn trees
Difficulty: Easy/Moderate
Maps/Info: The route is out and back and very easy to follow
All Trails provides a downloadable map for the hike which will sync onto Google maps/Maps me/other formats as required. NOTE - This shows the route one way only, so the distance is double what shows on the All Trails guide:
https://www.alltrails.com/en-gb/trail/kazakhstan/almaty/kairak-waterfall-trail
The hike:
Arriving in Turgen Gorge you will reach an entry gate to the park where you pay around £4 for two people for a visitor day pass. Continuing through the entrance gate and on the smooth tarmacked road for around 15km, passing the main visitors centre, the hiking trails off to Bear Waterfall and several others, and pretty much coming to the end of the “good” road surface, you will reach the small town of Batan.
The village of Batan
Parking here near to the small visitors centre/café is recommended, there is plenty of space whatever day or time you arrive.
Once parked, you will see that to the right hand side of the visitors centre/café is a gravel road where more people will have parked. Head down this gravel road until it turns into footpath - there is a gate across to cars can’t get through. Around 200m down the footpath is signage about the hike, how long it may take you, the topography of the area and interesting things to look out for, such as eagles.
Follow the path for around 8km, and you will reach Kairak Waterfall - it is quite hard to go wrong! There are several small water crossings on foot and other parts where you cross on bridges - when we visited in October 2023 some of the bridges were broken, out of use or badly damaged. Makeshift crossings had been put in place such as several logs clumped together to use like planks of wood. At points of the walk this was time consuming as only one person could cross at a time.
The hike was quite busy and we got there on a Sunday afternoon at around 1.30pm. We didn’t have much time until sunset so we had to walk at a fairly quick pace, until the very last section - the final couple of kilometres of the hike are very steep and uphill so we couldn’t go very quickly on this bit! There was a fair amount of ice still on the ground when we visited in October, so be careful when ascending and descending the steep sections.
Arriving at the end of the hike, you will be rewarded with the view of the booming and powerful Kairak Waterfall, the largest waterfall in Turgen Gorge at a height of 55m. The power of the water has created a tunnel through the rock which is clearly visible. Standing in the presence of such a large waterfall always makes me feel tiny, and this waterfall is surrounded by rocks as big as houses!
Look at the hole in the floor of the viewing platform!
After you’ve soaked up the lovely atmosphere at the waterfall viewing platform - which really can’t be called that as it was so broken and defunct as to make viewing quite difficult! - return back to the visitors centre the same way you came, following the 8km track through thick deciduous woodland and forest path, enjoying the sound of the water from the River Turgen as it surges past you at great speed, and looking up high at birds of prey swooping down into the valley.
This walk is really quite flat and easy going so is perfect for all groups and ages, and if you visit when we did in Autumn the colouring on the trees alone makes the trip worthwhile - stunning shades of ochre, cherry red, purple and amber collide to assault your vision. The thing you come for is to view the Kairak Waterfall, but what you take with you is an impression of the natural landscape in the area which is as varied as it is beautiful.