Travel deep dive
The Walnut Forests and Lakes of the South-West
The south-west of Kyrgyzstan, in the mountains above the Fergana Valley, is the gentlest corner of the country, green with forests of wild walnut, fruit trees and spruce. Arslanbob, a large village under a wall of cliffs, lives with and from its walnut forest, and to the west the lake of Sary-Chelek lies deep in the forested valleys of a nature reserve. Both are journeys from the south, by way of Jalal-Abad.
Updated 2026-10-08
Arslanbob and the walnut forest
Arslanbob spreads up a valley under the cliffs of the Babash-Ata range, its houses and gardens surrounded by a great forest of wild walnut trees, mixed with wild apple, plum and pistachio. Most of its people are Uzbek, and family guesthouses, cooking the plov of the south, take in visitors for walks through the forest, to a viewpoint above the village and to its two waterfalls, a large one falling from the cliffs and a smaller one in a gorge.
The walnut harvest
In autumn, from about September into October, the village moves into the forest for the walnut harvest: families camp among the trees for weeks, shaking the branches and gathering and drying the nuts. Visitors who come then see the forest at its busiest, and guesthouses can arrange a day with a harvesting family.
Sary-Chelek
West of Arslanbob, the Sary-Chelek reserve protects a deep, blue mountain lake between steep slopes of spruce, fir and walnut, with smaller lakes in the valleys around it. The reserve is part of the Western Tien-Shan World Heritage site, and its forests are home to brown bears, lynx and Menzbier's marmot, found only in these mountains. Walks follow the shore and the ridges, and the village at the reserve's gate has guesthouses.
Getting there and the season
Both are reached from the south: Arslanbob by road from Jalal-Abad, a few hours from Osh, and Sary-Chelek by a long drive on rough roads, best with a driver. The forests are at their best from late May to early October, with the harvest in the autumn; in winter the high roads are hard going and the guesthouses quiet.