Kanas

Kanas

Kanas is a national AAAAA-level tourist attraction.

The Kanas Nature Reserve is located in the northwestern part of Burqin, deep within the dense forests at the northwestern tip of China’s Altai Mountains. It stands out as one of the finest scenic tourism resources in Altay and is hailed as the “Pearl of Altay Tourism.” This scenic area is a forest-type comprehensive nature reserve and represents China’s only enclave of the Eurasian–Siberian taiga.

The Kanas River is the main river in the reserve, running from northeast to southwest through the entire area and flowing into the Burqin River. Due to intense glacial erosion, the high-mountain rivers have widened and deepened to form Akkul Lake and Kanas Lake. Like two giant mirrors, they are strung together like pearls in the central part of the Kanas Nature Reserve. These are alpine freshwater lakes.

Kanas Lake is shaped like a crescent moon, stretching 24 kilometers from north to south and 1.6 to 2.9 kilometers from east to west, covering an area of 44.78 square kilometers—ten times the size of the famous Bosten Lake. With a maximum depth of 188.5 meters, it is the deepest inland lake in China, second only to Tianchi Lake on the China–North Korea border (which reaches a depth of 312.7 meters).

Surrounded by mountains and peaks, Kanas Lake is crowned with snow, blanketed in dense forests, lush grasslands, and verdant slopes. Its shimmering waters reflect the surrounding peaks, blending the blue sky, white clouds, snow-covered ridges, green hills, and clear lake into one breathtaking scene. The vertical zonation is distinct: the mountaintops glimmer with snow, modern glaciers display majestic beauty, and the glaciers here account for 74.46% of the total glacier area and 70.08% of glacier volume in the Altai Mountains. The mid-mountain and foothill zones feature pristine Siberian taiga forests, lush grass, and blooming wildflowers.

The color of Kanas Lake changes constantly with the seasons and weather: sometimes deep blue, sometimes emerald green, slate green, or grayish-white… Occasionally, multiple hues appear blended together, making it a renowned "color-changing lake." Driven by strong valley winds, driftwood that falls into the lake floats upstream and accumulates into a kilometer-long log jam in the upper lake bays—a spectacular sight unique to Kanas Lake.

Kanas lies in a cold temperate alpine region with long winters, no real summers, and springs and autumns that blend together. The average July temperature is 15.9°C, with a frost-free period of 80–108 days and an average annual precipitation of 1065.4 millimeters. The cool climate is ideal for the growth of cold temperate vegetation. This area has the richest diversity of cold temperate plant species in China, with majestic larches, pagoda-shaped spruces, hardy five-needle pines, elegant firs, and graceful European mountain ashes and goat willows forming the main vegetation. The forest coverage rate across the region is 19.4%, and within forestry land, forests make up as much as 82%. Surveys have identified 798 plant species belonging to 298 genera and 83 families in Kanas. Species such as the Xinjiang five-needle pine, Xinjiang fir, shrub willow, Siberian mountain ash, elderberry, deer root, dwarf birch, and Altai rhubarb and jack-in-the-pulpit have their only distribution areas in China here. Thirty-nine mammal species are known to inhabit Kanas, along with 224 insect species from 22 orders and 63 genera—including various butterflies that are highly attractive to tourists.

Kanas is not only rich in natural resources and biodiversity but also boasts a distinctive tourism environment and cultural heritage. The name “Kanas” in Mongolian means “beautiful, fertile, and mysterious.” During the Yuan Dynasty, the scholar Yelü Chucai passed through and wrote: “Who knew that the Western Regions held such wondrous sights? I now believe the Spring God’s grace is truly unparalleled—three hundred round pools and square ponds, with crystal-clear spring waters lying flat and still.” The blue skies, white clouds, icy peaks, snow-covered ridges, forests, meadows, rivers, and Kanas Lake itself create a harmonious blend of landscape, embodying the grandeur of northern scenery and the delicate charm of southern vistas. Moreover, the area features spectacular wonders such as the “sea of clouds and Buddha’s halo,” the “color-changing lake,” the “log jam,” and the legendary “lake monster”!