The Region
Korgalzhyn & the lakes of Saryarka
A UNESCO World Heritage wetlands where dry steppe, salt lakes and freshwater marsh meet.
World Heritage
Part of Saryarka — Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan
The Korgalzhyn region is part of Saryarka — inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2008 for its outstanding importance to migratory waterbirds. It is also a Ramsar wetland of international importance.
Here the Central Asian and African-Eurasian flyways overlap, funnelling millions of birds across a mosaic of more than three hundred lakes. It is one of the most significant stopover sites on Earth for cranes, geese, ducks and waders.
Lakes
A salt lakes on the steppe
These are vast, shallow, brackish lakes whose mineral-rich waters bloom with the tiny brine shrimp and algae that flamingos feed on. It is the northernmost place on the planet where Greater Flamingos breed in numbers.
Surrounded by vast reed beds, the region’s saline and freshwater lakes form a single living, breathing ecosystem. Water levels rise and fall with the seasons, and the movements of birds follow this natural rhythm, arriving and departing throughout the year.
Ecosystem
From feather-grass to open water
The region preserves a rare, intact slice of the Eurasian steppe: silver feather-grass plains, salt marshes, reed-fringed lakes and the wide skies above them.
This patchwork supports an extraordinary cast — from breeding colonies of pelicans and gulls to herds of saiga antelope crossing the grassland at dusk.
At a glance
- Protected area
- ~543,000 ha
- UNESCO listed
- 2008
- Ramsar wetland
- since 1976
- From Astana
- ~130 km
Korgalzhyn region · Akmola Oblast · Kazakhstan