Kyrgyzstan
Overview
Click here to read Justin Black’s article Kyrgyzstan: The Undiscovered Country
Video: Kyrgyzstan with Visionary Wild (click below)
In early 2024, Smithsonian Magazine called Kyrgyzstan the “next adventure travel destination,” though we’ve long realized it’s beauty, charm, and grandeur – our Director of Operations, Lena Black, was born and raised there. For lovers of wild mountain landscapes, few destinations on Earth are more spectacular than the Kyrgyz Republic (also known as Kyrgyzstan) with its soaring peaks ranging from alpine to himalayan in beauty and scale. The Tien Shan mountains rise higher and wilder than the Rockies, Sierra Nevada, Alps, or Andes – peaks below 16,000-feet in elevation are barely considered worthy of a name. Along the Chinese border, the Kokshaal-Too range soars to truly himalayan heights, including the world’s most northern summits over 7,000 meters: Khan Tengri (translation: “Lord of the Skies,” 23,000ft.) and Jengish Chokusu (or Pik Pobeda, “Victory Peak,” 24,400ft.). The landscape beneath the peaks is sublime: glacier-carved gorges, slopes covered in purple, yellow, pink, orange, and white alpine wildflowers (there is far more edelweiss here than in the Alps), raging rivers, spruce and fir forests, and high pastures where semi-nomadic Kyrgyz graze small herds of horses, yaks, sheep, goats and cattle during the short summer.
Kyrgyzstan’s majestic mountain landscapes and unspoiled natural beauty make immensely appealing to avid photographers and adventure travel aficionados, it has been relatively unknown and little-visited. Kyrgyzstan is just now gaining recognition as a highly desirable travel destination for its magnificent mountain scenery, comfortable climate, and immensely welcoming culture, recently ranking high on Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel Top Countries list. When we recognized the immense array of opportunities that Kyrgyzstan offers the passionate photographer, we conducted extensive scouting of the country, enabling us to develop an exceptional photography-focused itinerary for those seeking to travel in style and comfort, with a spirit of exploration and adventure. Of course, our itinerary continues to evolve from year to year as we learn of new locations and opportunities.
Our adventure begins in the surprisingly cosmopolitan capital of Bishkek, where our guests will be met upon arrival at the airport and transferred to the thoroughly modern Solutel Hotel, offering excellent accommodations and English-speaking staff, conveniently located in the city center. There, we will gather and welcome you to our introductory orientation and first dinner as a group. Early the next morning, we load up into our four-wheel-drive caravan, comprising three highly capable and comfortable Toyota Sequoias to carry our six guests, plus Visionary Wild photo leaders Justin Black and Jerry Dodrill, both veteran Kyrgyzstan travelers. Two additional 4WD support vehicles will carry gear, provisions, our cook and camp staff. From there, we set off on our spectacular route through the Tien Shan mountains.
Our itinerary is designed to make the most of prime light on the landscape morning and evening each day. After dark, clean air and absence of light pollution provide a superb opportunity for nighttime landscapes including the Milky Way. Wildlife we typically see along the way includes golden eagles, Marco Polo sheep (the largest wild sheep in the world), Lammergeier (or Bearded Vulture, a bird of prey with a ten-foot wingspan), ibex, and numerous marmots. If we are very lucky, we might even see a shy snow leopard or asiatic wolf. We will also enjoy excellent opportunities to interact with and photograph the Kyrgyz people themselves, particularly herders in the high pastures, families at our yurt camps, and at the sprawling and colorful Osh Market in Bishkek. This will be a highly productive and immensely fun photographic adventure that you’ll never forget.
Itinerary
July 4: ARRIVAL DAY
We expect that most participants will arrive in the morning on a Turkish Airways flight from Istanbul. You will be met at the airport and transferred to Solutel Hotel in central Bishkek. There, we have arranged early morning check-in so you can go straight to your room several hours ahead of normal check-in time. Meet your fellow photographers, relax in the hotel, or perhaps take a walk to explore downtown. That evening, our itinerary officially starts with a 4pm group meeting in the salon bar, followed by dinner at one of Bishkek’s finest restaurants.
Overnight: Solutel Hotel (D)
July 5: INTO THE MOUNTAINS
After an early breakfast, we drive via Kochkor valley up into the mountains and a landscape almost too perfect to be real: lake Song-Kul. Enjoy a home-cooked lunch in our yurt camp, photograph around the lake and up into the mountains, have dinner, and have a restful night in our comfortable and traditional Kyrgyz yurts.
Overnight: Yurt camp (B,L,D)
July 6: DAY AT SONG-KUL
Sunrise and sunset photography around the lake, plus photo sessions with local herders.
Overnight: Yurt camp (B,L,D)
July 7: SILK ROAD ROUTE
After a morning photo session and breakfast, we descend from Song-Kul via the scenic canyons of Karatal-Zhapyryksky State Preserve toward the town of Naryn, located on a main Silk Road route. After lunch, we continue on to a yurt camp beside a mountain creek in a gorge with soaring rock walls, near the fortified stone caravanserai, Tash Rabat, that once sheltered Silk Road travelers on the ancient Torugart Pass trade route into China. The current structure dates from the 15th Century, but earlier remains indicate that a structure stood on the site for hundreds of years before that. In a nation of nomads, stone structures were rare enough that the Kyrgyz name “Tash Rabat” translates as “stone building.”
Overnight: Yurt camp (B,L,D)
July 8: TASH RABAT AND KÖL SUU VALLEY
After an early breakfast, we will explore and photograph Tash Rabat before driving via the At-Bashy mountain range to the escarpment of the Kokshaal-Too mountains and the turquoise alpine lake Köl Suu, located in a narrow gorge winding between the high peaks. This evening we will enjoy the spectacular scene photography of the mountains and Köl Suu River. Assuming the weather is clear, this is a great location for night sky photography of the Milky Way over the mountains.
Overnight: Yurt camp (B,L,D)
July 9: KÖL SUU LAKE
Up early to photograph pre-dawn light, and after breakfast we’ve organized an excursion by boat on the little visited turquoise lake Köl Suu, dramatically positioned in a deep glacier-carved gorge between peaks soaring to 16,000 feet. The relatively short approach from our camp to the lake can normally be traversed in our group vehicles, though in wet years, it may involve a combination of travel by specialized 4WD vehicles and a mile or so on horseback. We’ll be back in time for dinner, more sunset and twilight photography near camp.
Overnight: Yurt camp (B,L,D)
July 10: KOK SHAAL-TOO RANGE OF THE TIEN SHAN MOUNTAINS
Sunrise shoot, breakfast, and drive to the little-visited Kotur Valley beneath high peaks on the border between Kyrgyzstan and China. A modern mountain lodge provides an opportunity for recharging, laundry, sauna, and a shower.
Overnight: Lodge (B,L,D)
July 11: KOK SHAAL-TOO
We continue on to a new location beneath a breathtaking panorama of glacier-draped high peaks of the Kok Shaal-Too range.
Overnight: Visionary Wild tent camp (B,L,D)
July 12: KOK SHAAL-TOO
Early morning and evening “magic hour” light on the peaks, and an excursion to the glaciers.
Overnight: Visionary Wild tent camp (B,L,D)
July 13: NARYN
After sunrise photography and breakfast, we leave the border region and drive to the town of Naryn, the regional capital, for an opportunity to resupply and photograph the local Kyrgyz culture.
Overnight: Khan Tengri Hotel (B,L,D)
July 14: EKI-NARYN TO ISSYK-KUL
After breakfast, our caravan traverses a beautiful overland route through the mountains south of Issyk-Kul (the second largest alpine lake in the world), following wild rivers through high pastures, or “jailoh,” with alpine wildflowers in bloom, waterfalls plunging in side canyons. The photography along the way and near camp is incredible. Our crew will set up our tented camp beside an idyllic river in the mountains, with ancient petroglyphs located right in camp, at about 11,000 ft (3,353 m).
Overnight: Visionary Wild Tent Camp (B,L,D)
July 15: ONWARD TO KARAKOL
After morning photography and breakfast, we will continue over the high pass of Tosor, dropping down to our first views of the vast sapphire waters of lake Issyk-Kul. There, we will meet a professional Kyrgyz eagle hunter and his trained Golden Eagles, to photograph a training session. We then proceed to the town of Karakol and the charming and comfortable Green Yard Hotel (the best hotel in eastern Kyrgyzstan). Dinner will feature an assortment of traditional dishes from the Chinese-influenced Dungan ethnic minority, served in the home of a friendly and hospitable Dungan family.
Overnight: Green Yard Hotel (B,L,D)
July 16: KARKYRA
We will have a leisurely start this morning, and will then drive north into the Karkyra Valley, to our camp along the pristine Turuk River on the border with Kazakhstan. If time permits, we will make an excursion into the beautiful Turuk River canyon in the afternoon. Accommodations tonight will be the nicest yurts you’ve ever seen, complete with connected en suite bathroom.
Overnight: Ak –Sai Karkyra Basecamp Luxury Yurts (B,L,D)
July 17: LORD OF THE SKIES: KHAN TENGRI BASE CAMP
After breakfast we head to the helipad for our jaw-droppingly spectacular forty-minute flight to Khan Tengri Base Camp on South Enylcheck Glacier at 13,000 ft (3,960 m), aboard a spacious Mi-8 MTB (mountain variant) transport helicopter, piloted by a highly experienced flight crew who fly this route regularly. The flight is a superb opportunity to do aerial photography of the high peaks, glaciers, and valleys, through the helicopter’s open windows. Beneath the 23,000-foot peak of Khan Tengri, and 24,406-foot Jengish Chokusu (also known as Pik Pobeda – Victory Peak – the highest peak in the entire Tien Shan mountain system), we will be positioned in a virtually Himalayan setting, with outrageous photographic potential. Nighttime photography with star trails over the mountains is one of our goals.
Overnight: Tents at base camp (B,L,D)
July 18: KHAN TENGRI BASE CAMP
This morning, we will make the most of early light on Khan Tengri and the surrounding mountains, and then explore the glacier via trails on the rocky medial moraine (no special gear or experience required). We will hope for the late alpenglow on Khan Tengri that can turn the marble summit pyramid a deep orange-pink.
Overnight: Tents at base camp (B,L,D)
July 19: BACK TO BISHKEK
Sunrise photography of the mountains and glaciers from basecamp will be followed by a morning helicopter flight back to Karkyra. From there, we will load up into our vehicles and drive to the north shore of Issyl-Kul, for lunch and a visit to a fascinating Kyrgyz cultural center, or an ancient petroglyph site, depending on group interest. We will then return to Bishkek, check into our hotel, and enjoy dinner at one of our favorite restaurants.
Overnight: Solutel Hotel (B,L,D)
July 20: DAY IN BISHKEK
After breakfast, we will make an excursion to the sprawling Osh market. This large city-center market features everything from spices, to produce, to dried fruit and nuts, traditional breads and pastries, traditional Kyrgyz clothing, rugs, housewares, and more, with special halls for the butchers, cheesemakers, and on and on. The photographic potential here is phenomenal. Nearby, we will make a short visit to the Tumar Group, makers of high quality Kyrgyz-designed handicrafts – both traditional and modern – including felt carpets, blankets, hats, slippers, handbags, toys, pottery, and more. Both Tumar and Osh Market offer excellent opportunities to shop for high-quality, authentic Kyrgyz handicrafts. After lunch, we will continue our tour through the city center, followed by some down time and a celebratory final dinner at one of Bishkek’s best restaurants.
Overnight: Solutel Hotel. (B,L,D)
July 21: DEPARTURE DAY
We all say “Jakshe bargyla” (goodbye) and go our separate ways until our next adventure. Airport transfer provided. (B)
Instructors
Justin Black
- JUSTIN BLACK is a photographer (www.justinblackphoto.com), writer, editor, expedition leader, photo workshops instructor, a Fellow ...
Jerry Dodrill
- Jerry Dodrill has been an award-winning professional photographer and highly regarded photography teacher for more than two decades. A protégé of the late legendary adventure photographer Galen Rowell ...
Gallery
Pricing
PRICING AND OCCUPANCY
All costs are per person.
Participants booking on a single-occupancy basis will have their own private accommodation throughout the itinerary, in hotels, tents, and yurt camps as well. Participants booking double-occupancy will share accommodations in hotel rooms and yurts, though they have the option of arranging separate tents in our tented camps if they would like more space. We are not currently pairing up individuals traveling alone in double-occupancy accommodation. If you are an individual traveler, please book at the single occupancy rate.
PAYMENT SCHEDULE
- 30% deposit is required upon registration
- 30% installment payment is due on October 8, 2024
- 40% final payment due March 7, 2025
Click here to review our payment, cancellation and refund policies; as well as terms and conditions for participation.
Please review our terms and conditions even if you have participated in previous Visionary Wild trips so that you are aware of current policies.
INCLUDED:
- Accommodation for all seventeen nights
- All meals and beverages (including wine and beer with dinner)
- All in-tour photographic instruction, land transportation, and guide services by leader team of two professional photographers, and professional Kyrgyz guides
- Round trip private-charter helicopter flights to South Enylchek Glacier Base Camp beneath the high peaks of Khan Tengri and Victory Peak
- Private excursion by Zodiac on Lake Köl-Suu
- Guided horseback rides (optional, and according to local availability)
- Support provided by professional local overland drivers, camp staff, and camp cook
- Permits for extensive special access to border zone areas
- Local tourism taxes
NOT INCLUDED:
- International and domestic air travel and domestic transportation within your home country, or any other travel services required to arrive at the tour commencement location, along with all associated taxes, levies and insurances
- Immigration, duty, passport and visa fees where applicable
- Travel insurance and emergency medical and evacuation insurance – required for this expedition
- Personal items including gifts or other purchases
- Any paid communications, alcoholic beverages other than wine and beer served to the group at dinners, hotel room service or minibar charges
- Any additional costs to extend your stay, such as hotel nights and meals, beyond the dates and meals specified in the itinerary
- Gratuities for local guides, drivers, and camp staff (we recommend that each guest budget US$300, or the equivalent in Euros or Kyrgyz Soms)
- Optional activities not explicitly listed as included in the itinerary
Highlights
- Expansive and pristine mountain landscapes: Kyrgyzstan gives the impression that someone decided to merge the Himalaya, the Swiss Alps, Mongolia, and southwestern Colorado into one country. The difference is that most of Kyrgyzstan is unspoiled and little-visited.
- Diverse photographic opportunities: We will visit a wide variety of locations on this itinerary, taking advantage of prime light in the morning and evening of each day, as well as superb nighttime landscapes.
- Focused attention and instruction: Trip leaders Justin Black and Jerry Dodrill, both experienced in leading expeditions in Kyrgyzstan, will provide generous and attentive support and photographic instruction throughout the expedition.
- Excellent support: Our superb local guides have worked with us on numerous past trips, and understand the unique interests and goals of photographers.
- Small group: Limited to just six guests, with a low 3:1 participant-to-instructor ratio
- Welcoming culture: The Kyrgyz Republic is a safe secular democracy, and the Kyrgyz people are delightful hosts with a fascinating and ancient history. We will enjoy excellent opportunities for interaction with and photography of the Kyrgyz people themselves, in the high pastures, at our yurt camps, and at the sprawling and colorful Osh Market in Bishkek
- Easy to get there: Fly Turkish Airlines to Istanbul and on to the capital of Bishkek (or Emirates via Dubai), with no visa required for visitors from the USA and many other developed nations.
- Travel in style: Our caravan of Toyota Sequoias will carry just two guests per vehicle, along with the driver, and an instructor or English-speaking local guide.
- Comfortable accommodations: Excellent hotels in Bishkek, Naryn, and Karakol, and in more remote areas in local yurt camps or our own luxury tent camp, supported by camp staff and cook.
- Helicopter to Khan Tengri basecamp for two nights: The trip culminates with private helicopter flights in and out of a comfortable, seasonally established mountaineering basecamp at 13,000ft. elevation, surrounded by a 360º panorama of glacier-draped high peaks, including Khan Tengri (23,000ft.) and Chengish Chokusu (24,406ft.).
- Aerial and drone photography: In addition to excellent opportunities to photograph among the high peaks and glacier valleys our helicopter flights, Kyrgyzstan is a superb location for drone photography.
Accommodations
This overland adventure involves travel into little-visited corners of a sparsely populated nation, where lodging options are limited. We therefore make use of a mix of very comfortable hotels, yurt camps, and tented camps.
Bishkek: Solutel Hotel – an excellent and modern European business-class hotel in the city center.
Song-Kul: Yurt Camp (with hot shower and toilet facilities) – Spacious, comfortable, and featuring the impressive hospitality of our Kyrgyz hosts, yurt camping may be simple, but it is very civilized.
Tash Rabat: Yurt Camp (with hot shower and toilet facilities)
Köl Suu: Yurt Camp (with hot shower and toilet facilities)
Secret Valley: Lodge and Visionary Wild Tent Camp (with hot shower and toilet facilities)
Naryn: Khan Tengri Hotel
Jailoo-Suu: Visionary Wild Tent Camp
Karakol: Green Yard Hotel – A very nice family-run boutique hotel: clean, modern, good beds, good showers, great breakfasts, solid Wi-Fi, and lovely grounds.
Karkyra: Luxury Yurt Camp (with en suite hot shower and toilet facilities)
Khan Tengri Base Camp: Established Mountaineering / Trekking Tented Camp (Wi-Fi, steam room, and toilet facilities)
Travel
Expectations
Traveling in Kyrgyzstan
by Justin Black
A trip through the mountains of Kyrgyzstan means adventure travel, but this is a very comfortable trip for folks who are just a bit adventurous. To help our clients understand the logistical details, we offer the following:
- How safe is it? It’s a simple statistical fact that a foreign tourist in Kyrgyzstan is safer than a visitor to the U.S.A. Kyrgyzstan is very welcoming to foreigners, and it is a secular democracy with relatively little petty crime. Though it has been no stranger to basic corruption, such as graft and nepotism among the political class particularly in the decade or two after the fall of the Soviet Union, an energetic anti-corruption campaign carried out throughout the country over the last several years has achieved outstanding results. Culturally, the ethnic Kyrgyz practice a rather laid back form of Islam, their history on the Silk Road and as a former Soviet Republic having made the nation impressively tolerant of religious and ethnic differences. We have never felt threatened or unsafe at any stage of our several visits there, and we have never experienced theft of any kind.
- Visas: Easy! No visa required for U.S. citizens and many other nationalities.
- Flights: Turkish Airlines offers regular direct flights from Istanbul to Bishkek at very reasonable cost. One can also fly Emirates via Dubai.
- Travel Insurance: Participants are required to arrange insurance to cover any costs associated with travel delays or disruption, cancellations, medical needs while traveling, evacuation, and repatriation expenses.
- Group Vehicles and Roads: We will use experienced local drivers and several capable and comfortable 4WD Toyota Sequoia SUVs to transport our group, and we will make some use of their off-road capabilities. Main highways in Kyrgyzstan are well-paved and very good, but many of the locations we access will be by a mix of pavement, gravel, dirt roads, jeep trails, and even a little cross-country travel. Getting around the mountains of Kyrgyzstan is not quite like a casual drive through a national park in the USA, but our drivers are highly experienced and the entire route will be scouted just before our itinerary to ensure it is safely passable.
- Toilets: Most are western-style, but if you’ve never had the pleasure of using a Turkish toilet, you probably will once or twice on this trip. To be indelicate, this sort of facility requires you to squat over a hole in the outhouse floor in order to do your business. Toilets with proper seats are the norm in hotels, in our tent camp, and at most yurt camps which generally have outhouses with flush toilets. Sinks with soap are available so you can wash up after.
- Showers: For bathing in camp, our expedition staff will bring along an impressive portable “banya” – a tented steam room set up for bathing. Due to limits of time and capacity, it may or may not be feasible for each person to bathe every day in camp, but we would expect to bathe at least every other day. Showers in the hotels are great, with plenty of hot water.
- Yurts: A yurt is a large, round, semi-rigid tent-like structure with an exterior made of wool felt over a frame of wooden ribs. In the Kyrgyz language, they are called “boz-uy,” which literally translates to “grey house.” In addition to Kyrgyzstan, yurts are traditional shelters in Mongolia (where they are called “Gers,” Kazakhstan, and China’s Xinjiang province. Your yurt will have proper twin beds inside. Sheets, pillows, and lots of cozy blankets are supplied too. A wood stove is installed for heat and operated if desired.
- Tent Camp: In remote locations where neither yurts nor hotel rooms are available, a large single-occupancy tent will be set up for each participant by our expedition staff (couples may of course share if they wish). Very comfortable portable camp beds are provided (our guests have generally been pleasantly surprised to find them very comfortable indeed). We provide loaner sleeping bags suitable for the temperatures we will encounter. If already have a goose-down sleeping bag that you like, rated to keep you comfortable in temperatures as low as 0ºF, then you may of course bring your own.
- Electricity: Kyrgyzstan operates on 220-volt current, using Type C and F plugs. Hotels will of course have power, as will our vehicles for the purpose of charging camera batteries. Yurt and tent camps may have electricity via solar panel or generator, available for a limited period each day. We recommend bringing sufficient camera batteries to cover three days of photography between recharges.
- Elevation and Fitness: We plan only short hikes of up to a mile (mostly less). A non-technical guided walk on the South Inylchek Glacier is an option, but not mandatory. Our travels will take us to elevations between 10,000 and 13,300 feet for extended periods. If your experience is that you acclimatize reasonably well to elevations around 10,000ft, then you should be fine. If you have never spent a day at 10,000ft and are unsure of how you might do at high elevations, we recommend consulting your physician.
- Horses: The Kyrgyz are an ancient horse culture, and there may be the opportunity for optional horseback rides at a few of our locations.
- Tea: Of course, we’ll bring plenty of good coffee, beer, wine, and other beverages too, but if you like tea you’ll be in heaven, as the Kyrgyz drink it at every meal.
- Vegetarianism: The Kyrgyz cater for vegetarians surprisingly well, preparing meatless meals on demand (given a little advance warning).
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about this or anything else related to the trip. Kyrgyzstan is a phenomenal place, and we look forward to sharing the adventure with you!
