Kyrgyzstan
Kyzyl-Oi
A village of red clay houses inside a red-rock gorge, settled before the Soviets rearranged Kyrgyzstan.
Red canyon walls crowd in overhead as the road drops to the Kökömeren, and the village appears in a hollow of the gorge, its clay houses the same colour as the cliffs. The air carries dust and juniper. A rooster crows from a timber roof, and the sound has the gorge to itself.
Kyzyl-Oi sits in a narrow gorge of the Kökömeren River at 1,800 metres, ringed by the red mountains that named it: kyzyl means 'red' in Kyrgyz. The village existed before the revolution, rare in a country where nomadism was the norm and settled villages the exception, and its reddish clay houses keep that older Central Asian character. Community tourism runs deep here. Family guesthouses take travellers in, hiking and horse routes climb from the gorge to the summer pastures, rafters run the Kökömeren, and in winter the hay still comes down to the village by horse and sledge, with guests welcome to lend a hand. The road from Bishkek crosses the 3,600-metre Töö-Ashuu pass and the wide Suusamyr valley to get here, and arriving feels like being let in on something.
Solo
Homestays are intimate and unhurried: days walking the canyon walls, evenings at a family table in a valley the hosts have farmed for generations. The kind of immersion that works best alone.
Couple
The red canyon at golden hour turns the colour of embers, and the evenings belong to the garden yurt and the sound of the river.
- The village existed before the revolution, and its reddish clay houses keep the old Central Asian character.
- The gorge hollow is ringed by red mountains that named the place: kyzyl means 'red' in Kyrgyz.
- Guesthouses, hiking and horse routes, jailoo visits and Kökömeren rafting all run from the village.
- In winter, families still bring hay down by horse and sledge, and visitors can help.
Nazgul's guesthouse feeds walkers in its garden yurt, and tea comes out the moment you arrive.
For days out along the Kökömeren gorge, carry a picnic.
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