Kourgaldzhin and Tengiz Lakes

Tengiz-Korgalzhyn Lake System. 11/10/76; Akmola Oblast; 353,341 ha; 50°25'N 069°15'E. Nature Reserve. Korgalzhyn and Tengiz Lakes are representative examples of a shallow lake system with a mix of fresh, salty and brackish water bodies characteristic for the north of Kazakhstan, situated in a steppe landscape with little relief and grass oceans covering the land to the horizon. Reed beds scattered on islands by the heavy ice load of the winter leave channels and lakes open. The Tengiz-Korgalzhyn lakes have been a strict nature reserve since 1968, but the adjacent lake systems of the Tengiz lake basin are not strictly protected and will be added as clusters to this nomination at a later stage. An enormous number of birds stop over in the region - on the mud islands on lake Tengiz the northernmost colony of Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber, the symbol of the Korgalzhyn Nature Reserve) reaches up to 14,000 breeding pairs. The Korgalzhyn Lakes harbor big colonies of the Dalmatian Pelican (Pelicanus crispus) with over 500 breeding pairs nesting in the vast reed beds (10% of the world population). The White-headed Duck (Oxyura leucocephala) is breeding and resting at the fresh and brackish lakes; in autumn it can be observed in numbers of up to 4,000 birds (30-40% of the world population) in the protected area. A management plan is under development under a GEF/UNDP project. There is an associated nature museum and visitors' centre which attracts groups from the new capital, Astana, but only scientific tourism and research is permitted and tourism within the Reserve itself, as opposed to in the buffer zone, is not expected to increase. Ramsar site no. 107 (originally designated by the former Soviet Union). Most recent RIS information: 2006.

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