Ili River

The name of the river has been taken from the Mongolian «Ilansu», which means flickering, sparkling. It is formed by the confluence of the Kunges and flowing from the Central Tien-Shan.

It flows along a main valley through; the valley is wide and flat. The river valley narrows only in the Kapchagai Gorge region, after which it becomes flat. The flows into through several branches (bakanases), developing a broad delta.

At, the is the longest river in Zhetisy. Its source is in Almaty region; on the way back from it forms the Kapchagai reservoir, eventually plowing into, which some call a sea. In warm weather it is one of the loveliest places for city residents to recreate. It is at its widest point, deep, and covers an area of 1,847 sq. km.

For centuries, an image of the Budda has gazed into the sky from an enormous rock on the right bank. This is Tamgaly Tas (Written stones). The sun-blackened cliff-faces have preserved many petroglyphs (rock paintings), images of mysterious deities and late Buddhist inscriptions whose meaning has yet to be unraveled. There are many different drawings dating back to the 12^th century. Nearby is another rock with writings in an ancient Turkic runic script dating back to the 8–9^th centuries.

The river valley is full of contrasts and is extremely interesting: a full-flowing river among the infinite sand barkhan ridges divides into hundreds of pure lakes, overgrown with water-lilies, which are inhabited by thousand of birds and wild animals in the cane jungle; an abundance of fish and, as a finale- the immense expanse of.

All this beauty can be observed during a trip on the.

Of special interest is the «catch and release» fishing on the river. Currently, that kind of sport is becoming more and more popular among the fishing fraternity.

Rafting

river is long. Summertime water flow is 150 — per second. Length of the river in -. The area of the river basin — 68.4 thousand sq. m. Big tributaries in Kazakhstan — Turgen, Talgar, Charyn, Kaskelen, Kurty, Usek and Chilik river. The crosses different nature-landscape zones. In the upper section, in, — is a mountain river, in its middle flow — a flat river, in the lower flow — desert, crossing the Taulum and Saryesik-Atyray deserts. After the reservoir flows in a deep rocky canyon, up to wide. The river in this part is full-flowing with a rapid current and clear water. The canyon is about deep. When leaves the Kapchagai gorge, it flows along the Balkhash plain and falls into the Balkhash lake which it forms. The river presents no technical difficulties.

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