Sparse woodland steppe and lakes

Sparse woodland steppe and lakes

Saryarka – The sparse woodland steppe and lakes of northern Kazakhstan cover an area of 450,344 hectares and consist of two nature reserves: Naurzum State Nature Reserve and Korgalzhyn State Nature Reserve. Saryarka features wetlands of vital importance to migratory waterbirds, including globally endangered species such as the highly rare Siberian white crane, Dalmatian pelican, and Pallas’s fish eagle.

These wetlands serve as crucial stopover sites and junctions in Central Asia for birds migrating from Africa, Europe, and South Asia to their breeding grounds in western and eastern Siberia. Saryarka includes a 200,000-hectare tract of Central Asian sparse woodland steppe, home to over half of the region’s steppe flora species, numerous endangered bird species, and the critically endangered saiga antelope—once abundant but now drastically reduced in number due to poaching. The area also contains multiple freshwater and saltwater lakes situated along the watershed between rivers flowing north toward the Arctic and those draining south into the Aral–Irtysh river basin.

Saryarka – Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan Why go: Kazakhstan’s most important wetlands