There are more than 80 lakes surrounded by rocky cliffs and pine forests in this region, and Lake Burabay is the largest.

Legend states that once upon a time, long ago, a king owned a huge (male) camel, so big it was like a mountain. This camel could smell the king’s enemies and tell him where they were. Whenever the king rode on his camel, his enemies would run away. One day, the king’s enemies sent their spies to kill the camel so they could invade the kingdom. The spies succeeded, stabbing the beast to death. However, just before it died, the camel laid down in front of the invaders to stop them from entering the kingdom. Since then, this spot has become known as Burabay Mountain (a bura is a male camel) and a lake on the valley is called Lake Burabay. In recent years, many resorts have been opened here to take advantage of the area’s outstanding natural beauty and clean mountain air.

Zhumbaktas (“Sphinx”), a rocky mushroom-shaped island, rises 20 meters above the lake’s surface in Burabay National Park.