Zhualy-Karashat sanctuary

The Zhualy-Karashat sanctuary is a state nature reserve of local significance covering about 148,300 hectares in Zhambyl region, protecting another section of the northern Kyrgyz Range foothills along Kazakhstan's border with Kyrgyzstan. Its terrain combines open foothill plains with rising mountain slopes, forming part of the same chain of protected foothill habitat as the neighboring Korday-Zhaysan and Merke sanctuaries. The reserve was set up to keep this stretch of mountain-front landscape, which supports steppe and mountain vegetation transitional between the Kazakh steppe and the higher Tian Shan ranges, free from unregulated grazing and development. It has no developed tourist infrastructure, and its interest lies chiefly in the mountain-and-plain scenery of the Kyrgyz Range foothills, part of a broader protected corridor running along this section of Kazakhstan's southern border.