A trip from Almaty to Bektau Ata -
Sacred places of Karaganda region – Bektau Ata -
Bektau Ata means "mountain of the holy father Bek" in Kazakh. According to one of the legends, Bektau Ata, a holy man and a mystic, lived in this place in ancient times. When the Kazakh clan was at war with the Dzungars, the Dzhugars surrounded the place where Bektau Ata was hiding and besieged, there was no water in the cave and Bektau Ata began to pray, the Almighty heard his prayers and a spring appeared in the cave in its very depths, the water of which is considered sacred and has a beneficial effect on people.
Legends
Bektau Ata was a magician and a very strong man. When the enemy attacked the village where Bektau Ata lived, he saved all the people from the village. When people from the village were running away from the enemies, a full-flowing raging river appeared in front of them, Bektau Ata stopped the flow of water and people moved to the other side.
The area across the river became a new home for the villagers, and Bektau Ata went to live in a cave that is located very close by. After that, people went to Bektau Ata's cave and listened to his instructions and lessons. Bektau Ata also had the gift of healing people with the touch of his palm, people knew this and simply went to Bektau Ata to improve their health and cure diseases.
Bektau Ata and the ancient giants
Another legend says that in the Bektau Ata area in ancient times there lived giants with a height of more than 20 meters, they piled up the mountains and lived here, they also drilled a well and opened an underground water source of incredible purity that still pleases travelers.
There are also footprints of these giants, the size of such footprints is more than two meters, they do not resemble a human foot, but people say that they are very ancient and their shape has worn off over time.
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How to get there and visit -
Bektau Ata is located in the Aktogay district of the Karaganda region, 60 km north of the city of Balkhash, on a small hilly plain. The maximum altitude of this area is 1213 m above sea level, which is quite high for this region. Kubyltayozek Valley and Sarykulzha Mountain, which is 1,082 meters above sea level, are also located here.
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Information for the traveler
The Bektau Ata area is very beautiful and unusual, scientists say that it is an ancient volcano that has never erupted, mystics claim that this place is a place of power where energies that have not yet been studied by man but have a beneficial effect on it come to the surface from the earth.
Here you will find unusual rocks of bizarre shapes, small beautiful lakes on top of these rocks and very rare plant species listed in the Red Book. One of the very rare plants that grows here is Kessler's Astragalus or Chinese ginseng, which has a number of healing qualities.
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