Kyrgyzstan
To be honest, if someone had asked me a couple of years ago to point out Kyrgyzstan on a global map I probably would only have been able to do so very, very roughly. Influenced by the great photograhers Jack Harding and Albert Dros and driven by the ongoing desire to camp outside in the mountains under the night sky, I started planning my first trip to Kyrgyzstan in December 2021.
Back then I had only watched a couple documentaries about this country but I was instantly fascinated and blown away by its beauty. For the next nine months I acquired more knowledge about the country and the culture as well as started gathering all my equipment for the trip. And at the end of August 2022 Matthias and I finally took off to Kyrgyzstan - the country whose surface consists of 80% mountains.
Despite having travelled many different countries before, the taxi ride from the airport to downtown Bishkek with cows basically walking on the highway was an adventure on its own. After a few days in the capital, we drove eastward to the city of Karakol. From there, we spent our first night outdoors before embarking on our most exhausting hike. Our guide Ibraim drove with us 5 hours even further east towards the Chinese border. Temperatures at night were predicted to be 5°C, but were actually below -5°C. Here, far away from any civilization, we observed one of the clearest night skies so far. With only a day of rest in Karakol afterwards, we continued our adventure. Next, for four full days, we ascended more than 2,500 meters to the viewing point of Peak Karakol and Lake Ala Kul, wild camping in our own tents. After this, we enjoyed some rest days at the Canyon of Forgotten Rivers and the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul - one of the planet's biggest mountain lakes.
But the adventure wasn't over here. Before heading back to Bishkek, we drove a full day to the remote area of Lake Kel-Suu. Despite a very painful knee, we discovered this no-cellphone-coverage-area by foot, spending the nights in a yurt with Tursun and her family. To date, Kyrgyzstan remains one of my favorite destinations with amazing places to explore and wonderful people to meet.
I will definitely come back one day and explore the rest of the country!
