On my Uzbekistan trip, one of the most pleasant day trips was to the Greater Chimgan mountains and Charvak Lake. The Greater Chimgan mountains of the Chatkal Mountain range is located in the territory of the Ugam-Chatkal National Park, of Tashkent province of Uzbekistan. It is around 100 kms from Tashkent city and take around an hour drive from the city.
The Chimgan mountains are a hub for moutaineers, rock climbers, skiing, gliding and even horse back riding. However, we opted just to sight – see and took the chairlift to one of the peaks. It was scary as well as exhilarating. To say I was shit scared sitting on the chairlift with just one rod between me and huge dense drop of a valley covered in snow below would be an understatement. Anyways, reaching on top of the peak, I felt all of my fear vanishing as I saw the beautiful cerulean sky and the vast landscape of the mountains snaking all around me.
The local guide told us that beyond a point in the mountains on one side, the legal boundary of Tajikistan start, whereas on another side, the Kazakhstan boundaries start. Therefore, the greater Chimgan mountains are in the heartland of central asia’s mountain ranges.
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Post our hair-raising chair lift experience, we decided to visit Charvak Lake. The Charvak Lake is actually a reservoir created by a dam over the Chirchiq river, and is the largest & uppermost of several reservoirs made on the Chirchiq River.
TThe Lake Charvak area is a popular resort in Tashkent region and our local guide told us that many domestic travellers from Uzbekistan as well as from neighbouring countries visit the reservoir. There are many villages on the banks of Charvak such as Yusufhona, Burchmulla, Nanay, Chorvoq, Sidjak, Bogustan, and all of these have developed wide range of hotels and eateries to cater to visitors. In fact, post our sight seeing in Charvak Lake, we headed to one of these villages to have a delicious lunch at a restaurant.
The Charvak Lake and Chimgan mountains day trip was on my last day in Uzbekistan and I felt it was the perfect ending to the exhilarating trip to the Silk Road legacy tour I took in this country.
You may also be interested in my following articles on Uzbekistan:
Visiting the famed city of Bukhara, Uzbekistan
Vegetarian Travellers guide to Uzbekistan
Visiting Samarkand in Uzbekistan
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