Discover Xinjiang
Karakul Lake
卡拉库里湖
A dark glacial lake at about 3,600 m on the Karakoram Highway, with the 7,509 m ice dome of Muztagh Ata rising straight out of the far shore. The drive up from Kashgar through the Ghez canyon is as good as the destination, and Kyrgyz families run yurt stays by the water.
The story
What makes this place special
Karakul, the Black Lake in Kyrgyz, lies in Akto County in the Kizilsu Kyrgyz Autonomous Prefecture at about 3,600m, with a surface of roughly 10 square kilometres, reached along the China-Pakistan Highway about 190km from Kashgar. Its name is explained by the darkness of the deep water. It sits at the foot of Muztagh Ata, given in Chinese sources as about 7,546m and known as the father of the glaciers, with Kongur Tagh, around 7,649m, across the water, so both peaks can appear reflected in the lake. Kyrgyz herders keep pastures and yurts on the shore. The main season is April to October.
What you’ll discover
A dark, still lake in a high basin of bare brown and grey slopes, with two 7,000m glaciated peaks rising directly above it and reflecting in the water when it is calm. The shore has boardwalks and viewing platforms, Kyrgyz yurts, camels and horses for hire, and in places sand dunes running down to the water. The scale is the point: almost nothing grows, and the mountains are much closer than the eye expects.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- This is a high-altitude day out from a low city. Kashgar is around 1,300m and the lake is near 3,600m, a gain of over 2,000m in four hours of driving, and headaches at the shore are common. Walk slowly, drink water, and do not plan a strenuous hike on the day you arrive.
- The road is the China-Pakistan Highway and the drive is the experience as much as the lake, through the Ghez river gorge and up onto the Pamir plateau. Allow four hours each way and stop.
- Border-area controls apply on this road. You need your passport, there are checkpoints where documents are inspected and vehicles and occupants may be registered, and foreign visitors are generally required to travel with a licensed guide and permit arrangements for the Tashkurgan direction. Do not photograph checkpoints, border installations or personnel.
- Go early and stay for the light. The water is calmest and the reflections best in the morning; mid-afternoon wind usually destroys them.
- Agree the price for camels, horses, yurt visits and photographs before anything happens. Charging per photograph at the shore is normal practice.
- A night in a yurt or guesthouse at the lake gets you the stars and the dawn, which is what makes the trip worth more than a photo stop, but it means sleeping at 3,600m, which is a decision to make deliberately.
When to come
June to September for open roads and warm days; April, May and October are colder and the pass conditions less reliable. Morning for still water and reflections. Winter visits are possible when the road is clear but the shore is bitterly exposed.
Getting around
Unexpectedly workable. Vehicles park within metres of the shore and there are level boardwalks and platforms along part of the lakeside, so a wheelchair user can get to the view, which is the whole point of the place. The ground off the boardwalk is loose sand and gravel. Yurts have high thresholds. The real obstacles are the eight-hour round drive and the altitude, not the terrain.
Worth knowing before you go
At 3,600 m altitude the lake is a real jump from Kashgar's 1,300 m - do not plan a hike on the day you arrive. Confirm the permit requirement with your operator shortly before travelling, because this rule has changed repeatedly.
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