Kyrgyzstan: Shaar Waterfall (At-Bashi)
Hike up to Central Asia’s longest waterfall on this easy dayhike near Naryn oblast’s At Bashi.
Total km: 17 km
Elevation gain/loss: 822m+/822m-
Start/End point: Bash-Kaindy Yurt Camp
GPS Files
Visible from the faraway At-Bashi highway, Central Asia’s largest waterfall makes for a great dayhike as a trip from Naryn city or en route to other popular destinations such as Tash Rabat or Kel-Suu lake.
Start from the end of the dirt road that leads up the valley from Bash Kaindy village. The easiest spot to park is the small yurt camp, though the road does continue a rough kilometer and change past that very nearly to the small pedestrian bridge across the river. Crossing the bridge, the trail begins to climb slowly but unrelentingly all the way up to the base of the waterfall, around 730m of elevation gained over the 7km that follows.
From the bridge crossing, the first 4km ascend an obvious trail up the rocky hillside as it slowly transitions to a greener landscape while it rises. Around 5.5km in from the bridge, near the first stream crossing on the ascent, you’ll start to get your first close glimpses of the Shaar Waterfall through the trees as you climb. Even from afar, it’s a magnificent steep drop made even more majestic by the rugged cliffs that surround it.
From that first full sighting, it’s less than 2km onwards to the top. After one more minor stream crossing, you’ll have reached the bowl proper and the base of the waterfall is straight ahead. There are a handful of fairly decent camping sites here, or barring that a picnic if you’re only up for the day, and from everywhere the sight and sound of the Shaar waterfall dominates the scene. Locals claim that a path exists up the sheer face of the cliffs to the right (west) of the flow, but to the naked eye and a cheeky drone scount nothing seemed very obvious – a shame, as the valley above looks desolate and beautiful and we’d love to explore it. Once you’ve had your fill of the falls, head back down to the trailhead by the same path you ascended.
Good To Know
If you haven’t already, consider pairing Shaar Waterfall with the exquisite Kol-Tor lake further up the At Bashi river valley. Even more than Shaar this will require your own transport, either car hire or a driver, but both are excellent and (for now) not terribly well-known destinations.
Getting to the Shaar Waterfall
Public transport runs from Naryn to At-Bashi and (with a transfer) to Bash-Kaindy, but from there it’s another 5km or so to the yurt camp at the trailhead proper. Many will prefer to hire a taxi directly from Naryn or At Bashi, dropped at the yurts or before the pedestrian bridge at the actual end of the road. At times it can be possible to hire horses from the yurt camp for the ride up to Shaar, but not always – if you need to guarantee this, it’s better to get in contact with CBT Naryn or Kubat Tour in order to arrange it in advance.
Where to Stay and Eat
Don’t discount the possibility of staying overnight below the falls – the setting sun lights the surrounding hillsides up in a beautiful warm glow, and on a moonlit night the waterfalls glistens in the reflection. Of course, this is also very possible as a daytrip from Naryn (you’ll probably want to arrange the transport home in advance though) or en route to or from Tash Rabat and Kel-Suu, both of which are also popular overnight options for Kyrgyzstan’s more typical tourists.
