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🏔️ Western Tien-Shan: Karatau State Nature Reserve

Parks, Squares, Hills, & Mountains Kazakhstan Asia

🏔️ Western Tien-Shan: Karatau State Nature Reserve
UNESCO-protected mountain reserve in southern Kazakhstan


🕐 2 min read · Updated 2 Apr 2026 at 09:30

UNESCOUNESCO World Heritage Site

📋 Fast Facts
  • UNESCO World Heritage Site inscribed 2016 as part of Western Tien-Shan serial property
  • Located in Karatau Mountains, southern Kazakhstan, spanning into Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan
  • Elevations range from semi-desert foothills to peaks exceeding 2,000 meters
  • Designated for exceptional biodiversity and endemic plant species found nowhere else on Earth

The Karatau State Nature Reserve occupies a portion of the Karatau Mountains, a limestone-dominated branch of the Western ...

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