Last updated on 04 January, 2019 at 12:19 pm
Imagine.
Surrounding you, long and arid steppes of Central Asia extend as far as your eye can see. Mountains go to above 4’000m. Your faithful steed gallops at full speed.
Okay, galloping was not on the first day, nor for the climb … But you get the scene.
The horse is king in the Kyrgyz countryside. Every child rides almost as soon as he knows how to stand up and as soon as he is 8 years old puts you to shame immediately. A horseback ride was a must-do activity in this country – especially as Céline was riding when she was a teenager.
There are two top destinations in the country for these: two mountain lakes, Issyk-Kul lake, the largest lake in Kyrgyzstan and one of the largest in Central Asia, located at 1600m altitude , and Son-Kul lake a little smaller but equally impressive and located at 3,000m altitude.
We had heard that during the hikes around Issyk-Kul lake, you stay in guesthouses where as at Son-Kul lake, you could stay in yurts. Therefore, for more authenticity, we decided to go to Son-Kul lake.
Journey to Kyzart
We took a marshrutka from Bishkek to Kyzart. A marshrutka is a public minibus leaving only when full (a schedule that can vary from a few minutes to several hours) in which we are tight like sardines – however, always less than in some shared taxis, let’s be clear. We were lucky because on our arrival at the Western Bus Station in Bishkek there were exactly 4 places left in the marshrutka leaving for Chaek (2 for us and 2 for our English friends met in Bishkek, and joining us for the horseback ride )! The marshrutka left 10 minutes after our arrival!
And here we go for 5h of drive
4h on concrete in bad condition with holes on everywhere and 1h on a dirty, dusty and rugged road. The bus goes to the left, goes to the right, as long as there is road / sidewalk, there is room to overtake, and if someone does not let you go, you horn to make your point. On the way, we stopped to drop a packet to a lady waiting by the side of the road, we are still wondering how they were organized. Further, 2 elderly people climbed in the bus. I told you that the bus was full? It still is. Except that where two can seat, 3 can seat as well. In addition, the driver pulls out a stool and the old lady sits in the aisle of the minibus.
The driver dropped us on the side of the road, at the Gate to Kyzart located about 500m from the village.
At the same moment, an old van stops on the other side of the road with 3 locals on board who offered us to climb in the trunk. But before going, vodka shot for everyone, and two times is better than one! The van then brings us to the village. We get off the trunk and re-shots for everyone (we obviously finally killed the bottle).
Looking for our hostel...
And from there, the adventure to find our accommodation begins. We have the address of our home, a phone number but no one answers. Without any sign and with Google maps not available in the area, it’s difficult to get by, even with our current location on the GPS map.
While we were struggling to ask our way, another car stops and offers us a ride on horseback and makes us an offer for 3 days. First things first, we will go back once we have found our beds for the night. We walk towards the expected hostel location on the map. No more than 200m further, a group of women in a yurt welcomes us and invites us to have tea. We refuse as we still have our big backpacks on our back and that we want to find our home first. One of them insists and pulls vigorously on my arm. Another take one arm from Celine and one from myself and pushes us to the yurt. They really wanted us to have tea with them!
It must be said that there were virtually no tourists in the village at that time.
They finally accept that we leave without having tea but barely 20m further, they catch us and offer us pastries, then they pour ALL pastries in a plastic bag, from there we were already ready to be besieged! And just behind, another lady brings us a dish of rice and meat for us to taste, but we barely had tasted that everything was poured in another plastic bag to take with us! Our dinner and breakfast for the next day were ready.
We are then taken to the store next door where the manager may be able to help us. As he doesn’t speak English, he calls his daughter who will do the translation on the phone, he then guides us through the field to the likely location of our home. On the way, we meet a man on a horse to whom the trader leaves us. Finally we found our accommodation. How hard was it to simply find our hostel!
Horse trek
We then went to negotiate the horse trek at the CBT hostel. According to our information, if we manage to pay 6’000 soms (about 80 CHF, 75 € or 80 $) per person for three days and two nights all inclusive, it’s a good price. He offers 18’500 soms for four people, 4’625 soms per person (65 CHF, 57 € or 65 $)! (details of the costs are available here below). We booked for a departure the next morning at 9am.
The next morning at 9am, we were ready for departure.
An hour and a half later, the guide and the horses were also ready, and here we go! Our guide is a young local of 16 years for whom it is the first hike as a guide, on the other hand we see that he has several hundred hours of riding horses to his credit.
The walk starts gently flat. We already see the character of some horses and the inexperience of some riders. When we mix the two, it gives (for me) a horse that refuses to go on or that eats and drinks whenever it decides.
Climbing the pass
After the appetizer comes the main part of the trip for this day with a long climb to the pass allowing the access to the lake. From 2’200m, the pass climbs (and so do we) up to 3’400m.
During the climb, the view of the valley and the surrounding mountains is splendid! We stop a few times to take pictures.
At the pass, the temperature varies according to whether one is in the sun or in the shade, between hot and fresh. Suddenly, the lake appears in front of us, azure blue, majestic and gigantic.
Towards our yurt camp
Once the pass is reached, we only have to go down to join our yurt camp for the night. Several camps are located in this area. Each is composed of 5-6 yurts. The Kyrgyz spend the summer here with their herd of horses or cows (a few heads at most, the majority are horses). The animals are free to move.
In the yurt, the beds are on the floor with big colorful blankets as mattresses. The rest of the afternoon is individual, between nap, pictures of the surroundings or walk. The meals are generous, the tea is flowing and is the only drink available: whenever our cup is hardly finished that it is filled again. Turkish toilets (or rather a board with a hole in the middle) train our gymnastics as well as our aiming skills.
The night is icy and reminds us that we are still at 3000m high. The two blankets are not too much in the yurt (in addition to several layers of clothing for some).
If you have the courage (or enough layers of clothes), we recommend you to leave the yurt during the night in order to admire the stars – the sky is magnificent!
Second day
The next day’s trip is rather flat along the lake. Being more comfortable, we begin to trot and even gallop on some parts.
It’s quite exhilarating to feel his horse galloping and to begin to levitate over him, feeling the wind flowing along us. (Except when we are on the guide’s horse, a little bloodier than ours and it trots as it wishes, I made myself a great fright by the way). After about two hours, we arrive at the second camp.
Our second yurt even has beds! Nice! Except that they were probably harder than the blankets on the ground (ouch the back).
This camp is more modern and has real toilets, you can even book a bed on Booking.com and is accessible by car. They have a swing and a soccer field. An international match was improvised. As much to tell you that there was no player of any national team, whether Kyrgyz, Swiss or English. At the same time, playing with flippers at 3’000m does not help.
Third and last day
The last day began with a climb to another pass at 3400m then the descent to the plain before ending with two hours of flat riding with a 360 degree panorama, surrounded by mountains and arid lands. We arrived in the middle of the afternoon at our base after more than 5 hours of horse – what an adventure!
What's next for us?
After this horseback trek, we went to Osh to embark for a road trip adventure of the Pamir Highway.
Pratical tips for ahorse trek in Kyrghistan
Organizing your horse trek
Treks for Son-Kul lake start from two places: Kochkor and Kyzart. By searching a bit, we found that treks from Kyzart are (significantly) cheaper.
We booked our trek at Kyzart CBT hostel but almost anyone can arrange this in the village. We were able to leave our big backpacks at the CBT Hostel.
How much does it cost?
The following rates have been offered for 3 days, 2 nights, 4 hours of horse riding per day to Son-Kul lake:
- 500 soms per day per horse (you must also count the one of the guide) – total: 7’500 soms,
- 800 soms per day for the guide – total: 2,400 soms,
- 450 soms per person per night for the yurt and breakfast – total: 3,600 soms,
- 250 soms per person per day for lunch and the same for dinner – total 5’000 soms (lunch at CBT on our return included).
Total for four people: 18,500 soms, or 4,625 soms per person (65 CHF, 57 € or 65 $). A much better price than we thought. We are at the end of the season, maybe that played a role.
In comparison, a French couple who left Kochkor and met one evening in one of the camps paid 25,000 soms (350CHF, 308 € or 350 $) for two for four days (three nights). Even for 4 days and 3 nights, we would not have paid that for 4, or two for that matter. Since from Kochkor, the first part as well as the return is done by car, this may explain some of the difference in price but not everything. And we pay for a horse ride, not for a car ride.
No need to be a rider with any experience to make such a trek.
I rode for the first time in my life. After that, it helps not to end up with a stubborn horse that refuses to move (more stubborn than me, yes indeed it exists, we guarantee you).
Transportation
The marshrutka leave the Western Bus Station in Bishkek, by the way so are the shared taxi.
As no marshrutka has as final destination Kyzart, you have to ask for the marshrutka for Chaek and tell the driver that you want to get off at Kyzart. The ticket costs 300 soms (4.20 CHF, 3.7 € or 4.20 $) per person. The stop is on the side of the main road about 500m from the village.
To leave Kyzart, we took a shared taxi organized by the organizer of the horse trek – especially because we left in the evening. We paid 1500 soms (21 CHF, 18.50 € or 21 $) for the car to Kochkor (place where our paths diverged with our English friends). We took then a shared taxi for Bishkek for 300 soms per person. In Kyzart, you can also wait on the side of the road for a marshrutka for Bishkek. It is impossible, however, to know a precise schedule, there should be two per day from what we heard. You can also hitchhike and negotiate with the driver but it may cost you more money according to a Russian tourist whom we met at Kyzart.
Where to sleep in Kyzart? The accommodations
In Kyzart, there are plenty of unannounced guesthouses. You can easily get there without reservation and talk with locals. Otherwise there is a guesthouse on Booking.com and an Airbnb. We stayed at Airbnb, for Kyzart this one is quite luxurious. In principle, the manager picks you up at the bus stop, it will avoid you our adventures (and vodka, which can be a pity).
The toilet (or holes in the floor) have usually paper. However, depending on the time of day or night, it is better to have some with you.
Miscellaneous
Drinking a bottle of vodka with strangers will cost you 100 soms (1.40 CHF, 1.20 € or 1.40 $). Even if you didn’t asked for anything. 😉
Some links of this page are sponsored. It means that if you use them to do your booking, we will get a small commission without being more expensive for you.
