Burabay National Nature Park is a leading tourist attraction Kazakhstan. This park is significant to tourism but more importantly to the preservation of Kazakhstan’s wildlife and Mother Nature. Known as “the Giant in Central Asia” for its size, Kazakhstan is relatively new to global tourism. The beauty of its natural resources was once enjoyed only by the ruling Soviet Government, hidden from the rest of the world. Today, the country is opening its doors to anyone and everyone so that the world will see the splendor of its natural treasures, many of which are housed within Burabay National Nature Park.
Burabay (also referred to a “Borovoe”) is a wide mountain land that covers lush pine forests, icy blue lakes, hilly upland, cliffs that naturally look like gigantic bricks and exotic peaks that look like man-made pyramids. Okzhetpes cliff, in particular, looks like a young elephant, while Zhumbaktas Cliff resembles a sphinx. (“Okzhetpes” means “inaccessible even to arrows” and “Zhumbaktas” means “riddle stone”.) Three other interesting cliffs were christened “Cow”, “Sleeping Knight”, and “Knight”. Such rock formations and other mysterious-looking stones gave rise to local myths and legends. The surrounding areas are simply magical that early Kazakhs couldn’t help spinning legends and myths to express their feeling of awe. One such legend involves the Kazakh people and God. According to this popular folktale, God distributed rich forests, large lakes and fertile fields to all the nations of the world expect Kazakhstan. To the Kazakh people, the Creator only gave feather-grass steppe. The Kazakh questioned God and asked that they be given more than just barren steppes. God honored their prayer and gave Kazakhstan beautiful rocks, verdant forests, blue lakes, pure water, emerald fields, colorful flowers and bountiful steppes, and all of these God placed within Borovoe. This is one way of “explaining” the natural beauty of Burabay, now known to many as “Pearl of Kazakhstan,” which is truly one of the most picturesque places in Central Asia.
Burabay National Nature Park has 14 lakes, and the largest are Bolshoye Chebachye, Maloye Chebachye, Shchuchye and Borovoe. There are also small rivers, springs and disappearing channels. Borovoe Lake is found at the eastern foothills of Mount Kokshe. It is 4.5 kilometers long, 3.9 kilometers wide, 4.5 meters (average) deep, and with a total shoreline of 13.6 kilometers. The shores are covered with thick pine and birch forests. It is truly a picturesque site, made even more beautiful with the Zhumbaktas Island found at northwestern part of the lake and the surrounding hilly landscape with magical cliffs and capes.
The spectacular Borovoe Lake is refutably the leading feature of Burabay National Nature Park. It offers camp sites, resorts, restaurants, beaches, stores and entertainment areas. The eastern part of the lake regularly receives a number of tourists for its medicinal health resort complexes. Health clubs such as Okzhetpes, Borovoe and Blue Gulf resorts located between Sarybulak River and Gromotukha River are very popular for their medicinal mud and mineral springs. The surrounding mountains, pine forests and lakes effectively create a soothing, healing and therapeutic experience in these well-known health resorts. The first private health resort was built as early as 1910.
Located about 200 kilometers from the capital city of Astana and just about 100 kilometers from Kokshetau, Burabay National Nature Park is well within reach based on Kazakh standards. The country is so huge that most major cities and attractions are several hundred kilometers apart. Tourists continue to pour into the park for its amazing natural land and rock formations, lakes, legends, recreation facilities, 223 bird species, 54 mammalian species, 800 flower species and 305 species of vertebrate animals.