27/11/2024
🌊 Lake Balkhash: Nature’s Unique Masterpiece 🌊
• Lake Balkhash, is one of the most extraordinary natural wonders in Kazakhstan. What makes this 600 km-long lake truly unique is its split personality: one half is freshwater, the other is saline, separated by a narrow strait! 🌿💧
• The waters of the lake do not mix at all and are even visually distinct: the water in the western part is yellowish-gray, while in the eastern part it is blue or azure.. 🌍✨
• The word "Balkhash" (Kazakh: "Balqash") translates as "hummocks on a swamp."
• There is a beautiful Kazakh legend about how the sorcerer Balkhash sought a wealthy and noble suitor for his daughter, Ili. However, the girl loved a simple shepherd, Karatal. The couple, deeply in love, fled from the tyrannical father. Enraged, Balkhash turned Ili and Karatal into rivers. Their waters rushed toward one another, but to separate the lovers, the sorcerer lay between them as a vast lake.