Kolsay Lakes and Kaindy: Camping Beside Kazakhstan's Sunken Forest

Kolsay Lakes National Park sits on the north slope of the Tian Shan mountains in southeastern Kazakhstan, a range often called the "Pearls of Tien Shan" for the string of alpine lakes tucked into it. About 129 kilometers east-southeast of Almaty, at roughly 2,000 meters elevation, is Kaindy Lake — a 400-meter-long lake with a forest of dead pine trunks still standing upright underwater, nearly 30 meters down at its deepest point.

Both had been on our family's bucket list for a long time before we finally made the trip. Photos and videos of Kaindy in particular are everywhere online, but they undersell it — standing at the shoreline looking at those trunks disappearing into turquoise water is a different experience than scrolling past it on a screen.

Packing the car, kids and all

Getting to either lake means driving out from Almaty into the mountains, and this was very much a family production — our kids were old enough to help load gear, arguing over who got to carry the rolled-up sleeping pad to the car. If you're planning a similar trip with young kids, budget extra time for exactly this kind of chaos; it's part of the trip, not a delay to route around.

Camping at Kolsay: yurts, tents, and mountain air

Our camp for the trip sat in a high mountain valley near the first Kolsay lake, mixing modern dome tents with traditional Kazakh yurts set up for other groups nearby. It's the kind of site where you wake up, unzip the tent, and you're already looking at a wall of pine-covered mountains — no drive required to get to the view.

We spent one evening hiking up to an overlook above Kolsay Lake itself, watching small boats work their way across the deep-blue water far below. It's a steep enough climb that we were glad to have broken it up as a family activity rather than a rushed day hike squeezed between drive time.

Campfire tea, the Kazakh way

Evenings at camp meant a fire, a kettle, and a traditional Russian-style samovar for tea — simple, but exactly the kind of ritual that makes a mountain camping trip feel complete. Kids helped tend the fire under supervision, which, if we're honest, is more about the experience than the efficiency.

Kaindy: the sunken forest

The hike from the parking area down to Kaindy's shoreline isn't long, but the payoff is immediate. The lake formed after a 1911 earthquake triggered a limestone landslide that dammed a river valley, drowning the pine forest that stood there. More than a century later, the bare trunks are still standing, preserved by the cold water, poking straight up through glass-clear turquoise.

Getting down to the water's edge on the trail meant a bit of scrambling over roots and rock — sturdy shoes matter here more than they do at most overlooks, since the path along the shoreline is uneven and occasionally narrow.

More than a century after an earthquake drowned this forest, the trunks are still standing — a whole valley of trees frozen mid-drown in water so clear you can count the rings.

What this trip means for camping outside the US

If you're used to camping in the US, both of these parks are worth comparing notes on: Kolsay Lakes National Park has the infrastructure of a well-run mountain park — marked trails, designated camping areas, boat rentals — while Kaindy still feels wonderfully undeveloped, with no railings or boardwalks between you and that sunken forest. For international travelers curious about camping and glamping outside the United States, southeastern Kazakhstan's Tian Shan range is a genuinely underrated answer — dramatic alpine scenery, family-friendly logistics out of Almaty, and sights (a lake full of standing dead trees) you won't find replicated anywhere else.

This was the first of what turned into a string of international camping trips for our family, and Kolsay and Kaindy set a high bar. Start a checklist for your next international camping trip in Camper's Checklist to keep gear, layers, and kid-specific essentials straight before you're loading a car in a mountain parking lot an ocean away from home.