Karakol

Karakol ("black lake") is a high village in the upper Western Karakol valley, on the eastern side of the Talas Alatau near the Suusamyr valley, in the Kyrgyz Range–Suusamyr planning zone of the Autonomous Tribal Regions (ATR). It lies at about 2,550 meters, and its population is about 900 (estimate).^[1] The village grew from a winter camp of a Soviet state farm and stands at the end of the all-weather road into the valley, about 20 kilometers long, which leaves State Route 1 in the western Suusamyr and leaves the ISEZ corridor at the Suusamyr crossing point of the Qara-Chik Demarcation Line, at about 2,660 meters the highest crossing on the line. Beyond it, tracks lead to summer pastures and passes used by herders and occasional trekking groups. The Karakol Mountain Logistics Depot in the village stores fodder and fuel for herders, and there are stands of Tian Shan spruce on the shaded slopes nearby.^[1]

References

1. ^ United Nations Mission in Irad (2021). Pastoral Livelihoods in the Talas Alatau Zone. Kara-Oi.