State Nature Sanctuary "Karatal Sands" (botanical)

Karatal Sands Sanctuary – a state nature-botanical sanctuary. It was organized in 1978 in the Zaysan district of East Kazakhstan region. Its area is 1.3 thousand ha. The hard sand dunes of the Bozaygyrkum desert are included in the sanctuary area.

Flora

Plants such as sagebrush, wormwood, and spiny shrub clusters grow densely. In the depressions between sand ridges, the main protected plant of the sanctuary – sea buckthorn – grows. The majority of East Kazakhstan’s valuable sea buckthorn is concentrated here. As a result of selection work, pale, large‑fruited and strongly or weakly (soft) thorned varieties are cultivated.

The area where sea buckthorn is cultivated covers 1.2 thousand ha. The annual fruit yield is estimated at 26–24 t, of which the commercial amount is 6.8–14 t. The fruit’s oil content is 4–6%.

In addition to sea buckthorn, there are planted pine, as well as birch, poplar, and aspen forests, and in the lowlands there are reed clusters and swamp meadows.

Plants included in the Red Book: relic species from the Neogene savanna such as various broad‑leaf shrubs or shrubs, silver birch, sand reed, etc.

Fauna

The sanctuary is inhabited by the rarely seen eastern dragon snake in the Zaysan depressions, species entered in Kazakhstan’s Red Book – Zaysan batbat beetle, Central Asian viper, steppe adder, common adder, mammals such as the Roborovski hamster, Central Asian ground squirrel, etc.

The occurrence of fire and the lack of restrictions on livestock grazing pose a great threat to the sanctuary.