There may be no better country in the world for nature lovers who enjoy tranquility. Kyrgyzstan has Switzerland-like scenery, but you’re likely to have even the most famous destinations all to yourself (or nearly so) and you can discover the nomadic history of this country through its culture of yurts and horses that persists to this day.

Destinations

Bishkek: The very Soviet-feeling capital city has tons of parks and sits just below some world-class mountain hiking, such as the Ala Archa Valley

Kol-Tar Lake: The brightest electric blue lake you’ll ever see, accessible by a rough road and a half-day hike

Issyl-Kul Lake: The second-largest high-altitude lake in the world and the second-largest inland sea in the world (it has salt water!), there are continuous mountain ranges on both sides of this grand body of water

Karakol: This small city and nearby Jyrganan have superb green mountain and orange canyon (Seven Bulls & Fairytale Canyon) hiking

Song-Kul Lake: The drive to this huge high-altitude lake is out-of-this-world gorgeous and this yurt-ensconced lake (inhabited only in summer) is incredibly tranquil and remote

Magical views at Seven Bulls near Issyl-Kul Lake

Some Facts

  • A land-locked nation, Kyrgyzstan holds the distinction of being further from the ocean than any other nation. It is 90% mountainous!
  • Kyrgyzstan is one of the least urbanized countries I’ve visited–only 37% of people live in cities or towns
  • Despite being very similar in culture, Kyrgyzstan stands out from neighboring Kazakhstan by virtue of its lack of development. Kazakhstan has gotten rich from oil money and risen to be the #56 most-developed country on earth (in the highly-developed category), while Kyrgyzstan remains at #118 and certainly feels less modern
    • Corruption is widespread--Kyrgystan ranks #140 of #180 countries in a corruption index
    • On the plus side, Kyrgyzstan is (somehow, despite the corruption) one of the most equal nations–it ranks #26 for income equality globally
  • It’s a very young country–the average age is 27 and you see adorable babies everywhere!
  • 78% of the population is ethnic Kyrgyz, while 14% are Uzbeks and 4% are Russian. Kyrgyzstan was part of the Soviet Union, which purposely drew a zigzag border that put lots of Kyrgyz people in Uzbekistan and vice versa in order to foster conflict and limit the region’s power.
  • Kyrgyzstan has had THREE revolutions that forced their (all three corrupt) leaders to resign in 2005, 2010, and 2020
    • The 2005 revolution started very suddenly and protesters literally broke windows and took over the White House
    • This is in sharp contrast to the other three neighboring Stans, which have had dictators and no successful revolutions since independence
Kuurdak, a local beef dish

Horses. And Yaks!

Kazakhstan and Kyrygzstan have perhaps the most affinity for horses of any countries on Earth, a relic of their nomadic past. Ask a Kyrgyz person what their favorite animal is and don’t be surprised if they say “horse” without hesitation! Even urban children usually learn to ride horses at a very young age–I saw 5-year-olds confidently galloping around on horses and even 3 or 4-year-olds being sat on horses and guided around by their parents or siblings.

While there are many other countries like Georgia that have tons (TONS) of farm animals wandering around, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan are the first countries I’ve been to where most horses are allowed to wander freely and graze. Some have their feet tied so they can’t run too far and others are truly free, but it’s a very bucolic thing to see horses happily enjoying big open green spaces.

On a high-elevation drive to Son-Kul Lake, I even got to see my very first yaks! These gorgeous animals that look like gigantic bison-sized goats (with long beards and horns) are used as farm animals in very cold and high elevation climates.

Yaks near Son-Kul Lake

The Drive to the Lake

One of the most exciting and dramatic days of the year so far for me was a drive to the huge and high-elevation Son-Kul Lake that turned out to be much more of a challenge (and delight) than expected. I had rented a car with 2 fellow travelers I found through a Couchsurfing event I created and despite it not being a 4WD, we took it on many unpaved roads (necessary to access Kyrgyzstan’s most beautiful spots).

We predicted a 3-hour drive to remote Son-Kul Lake which turned into a nearly 6-hour journey due to the road being very bumpy and difficult and a delay in which our car could not make it over a concrete bridge/set of blocks/nightmare barrier in the road and we had to wait until a van of 10 Kyrgyz men helped us navigate it over this obstacle. Then, when we finally made it to the lake around 9pm, all of the yurt lodges (the lake is only inhabited in the summer and the only accommodation option is yurts–which are taken down and taken away during winter) were full :O After stopping to ask at several yurt lodges who advised us that all the yurts were probably full for the night, we finally found an available one–which was beautiful and quite a relief as I didn’t want to spend an uncomfortable and freezing night in the car.

BUT the drive to the lake was incredible, with scenery reminiscent of how I imagine Iceland to be–extremely verdant mountains, a narrow road next to dramatic cliffs, patches of snow on mountain ridges, jagged peaks, and finally a sunset over the mountains behind the lake. While the lake was super tranquil and nice, it was definitely a day that was more about the journey than the destination.

One of the most epic drives of my life!

The Calculator That Doesn’t Calculate

If you ever visit a country where most folks don’t speak English (which you should! Don’t ever let this stop you from going somewhere–it’s so easy to get around with Google Translate), you’ll notice that any place that tourist frequent (like bus stations, markets, ticket offices) will always have a big calculator sitting out. But this calculator never does any math–instead, the non-English speaking cashier will type the amount you owe them into the calculator and show you (e.g. the apples I’m buying cost 400 Kyrgyz som, so the cashier will type 400 into the calculator since they can’t say “400” in English). This always amuses me and it is indeed very much easier than trying to translate amounts across languages.

The Yurt Festival

Before I visit a country, I always research to see whether there’s any festivals happening around the time I’m there and I’ve been quite lucky lately! I got to attend a Voodoo Festival in Benin at the beginning of the year (which is fantastic and really the only reason you should go to Benin TBH) and I happened to be in the Uzbek city of Bukhara for their annual Silk & Spice Festival with delightful live music and dancing.

I had noted that there were two cultural festivals at Issyl-Kul (Kyrgyzstan’s largest lake, where my new friends and I were doing a road trip) on the same day and although the first one turned out to not be happening, we proceeded to the location of the second festival in a village and it was on!

About 15 yurts were set up, next to a big grassy area were locals were riding around on horses, an open yurt with a stage, an archery arena (where I tried a bow and arrow for the first time!), and a delicious plov and watermelon lunch. The proportion of locals to tourists was 10:1 and I was luckily enough to meet an English-speaking local guy who served me lunch and became my unofficial ambassador for the day, explaining the various happenings and what not.

I got to witness an all-male yurt-building competition (one team was wayyy faster than the other) and then an equally dramatic all-female yurt-tearing-down competition, a horse game in which riders competed to pull their competitor off his horse before they themselves fell, and and another game in which horse riders played a soccer-like game but with a sheep carcass instead of a ball!

My favorite part of the day was the people watching– I just adore the tall traditional Kyrgyz hats most locals were wearing and there were sooo many adorable children. A great day!

Yurt building in progress

The Successful Fight Against Bride Kidnapping

Kyrgyzstan has the unfortunate distinction of being the epicenter of a horrid tradition called bride kidnapping, in which a man kidnaps a woman he wants to marry (usually without her permission) and brings her to his family home, where he rapes her and his family convinces her through intimidation and shame (“Who will marry you now that you’re not a virgin?”-type nastiness or threats of violence) to sign a marriage certificate.

This has been a longtime tradition in Kyrgyzstan and most efforts to ban it came from foreign NGOs, until local feminist orgs and the media began publicizing cases in which kidnapped brides were brutally murdered and public opinion began to shift against the practice. With public opinion so strongly against bride kidnapping, the government basically had no choice but to pass a law banning it in 2017. (Ridiculously, the penalty for kidnapping a bride is only 10 years, compared to 15 years for stealing a car...and police don’t always enforce the law but still this was major progress.)

Another major step forward for women in Kyrgyzstan was a 2018 law that mandates 30% quotas for women in local governments–putting Kyrgyzstan ahead of the US in this statistic.

But despite having de jure access to birth control and abortion, many women still don’t have control over how many children they have as many husbands refuse to wear condoms or to allow their wives to use birth control and in many cases even what they wear is controlled by their husbands or families.

Ala-Archa Valley near Bishkek

“We’re Tired of Being Scared”: The Kyrgyz Queer Community Is Coming Out of the Shadows

I met with a leader of Indigo, an LGBTQ organization based in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, and learned about the issues and triumphs of the burgeoning queer community here.

Some challenges:

  • The country unfortunately emulates many of Russia’s laws, which have gotten more and more homophobic in the past decade, and there are currently multiple laws which have the potential to be approved that could restrict funding and freedom for queer people and orgs here
  • Queer orgs have been trying to get an anti-discrimination law passed in the country for an entire decade, so far with no success. No one is publicly advocating for same-sex marriage here–that would simply invite backlash and make things worse for queer Kyrgyz folks.
  • No openly LGBTQ person has ever run for office here and there are zero public officials who openly express support for queer people
  • Many trans people are afraid to go outside in the day as they often face bullying and violence. (But they do have pretty good access to hormone therapy and can get surgery here, though it is expensive.)

Some joys:

  • While there has never been an official Pride parade or festival here (or anywhere in Central Asia), Indigo hosts an annual ball with 250+ attendees
  • There are no out Kyrygz celebrities in traditional media (or queer characters in films or TV series), but TikTok culture has allowed some queer influencers to share their stories and become the first queer Kyrgyz celebrities
  • It’s much more common for queer people in the capital of Bishkek to be open about their identity at work. Just 10 years ago, they would have likely faced bullying and harassment for doing so, while most people don’t bat an eye at this today.
  • The Bishkek gay scene has flourished in the last 5 years, with the number of gay bars and cafes increasing from 1 to 5! A sentiment I heard from multiple queer people I met with is that LGBTQ folks are tired of hiding and being scared and want to let go of their fear and be themselves
    • Freedom of expression in general has really increased recently, with it now being acceptable in Kyrgyz society to port a unique hair color , tattoos, edgy fashion, etc.

With this new confidence permeating the community, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear of an LGBTQ person running for office here soon or of more and more queer orgs and spaces continuing to open up in the next few years.

With a leader of Kyrgyz Indigo, a local queer org