Lake Borovoye

There are many stories about Lake Borovoye, but the one that sticks with Kazakhstan is the creation of the world. They believed when God created the world, one nation received lust forests, while another had fertile fields with large rivers. The last received tall mountains and bright blue lakes. Kazakhstan received feather grass steppes, which offended the country. He asked God to give him land with natural beauty. And so, God took the mountains, rocks, pine trees, deciduous forests, pure blue lakes, emerald grass fields, and flowers, and spread these breathtaking natural treasures among the steppes of Kazakhstan.

Lake Borovoye became one of the most beautiful places of Kazakhstan, known for its beauty and harmonious mountains, forests, lakes, and unique flora and fauna. Because of this, it received the name 'the Pearl of Kazakhstan.'

Lake Balkhash

Lake Balkhash is another legend about one of Kazakhstan's lakes. Its story speaks about a magician known as Balkhash and his beautiful daughter, Ole, who was well known throughout the steppes of Kazakhstan. One day, Ile fell in love with Karatal, who was brave and smart, but a poor dzhigit (translator note: horseman). Although Karatal won all contests and overcame all obstacles set by Balkhash, the father did not want a poor son-in-law. And so, the lovers fled to be together. Balkhash ran and turned into a big lake, later called Lake Balkhash. And then, he turned Ile and Karatal into rivers, which flow into the lake from two different locations.

Lake Shaitankol

Tleuberda Bai, known for his wealth and arrogance, owned most of the steppes of Kazakhstan. However, more than the treasures, he admired the beauty of Sulushash, another citizen's sixteen-year-old daughter. She attracted the eyes of many men due to her otherworldly beauty. Despite this, she only loved one person, Altai. Altai was a herd-maker from her village. They decide to flee their village to escape Tleuberda.

They wandered the steppes for many days, until they found refuge in the Karkaraly mountains. On one autumn day, they reached Lake Shaitankol. Altai left Sulushash in a cave to go hunt. While pursuing argali (translator note: wild sheep), Altai's friend, Kayser, fell off a cliff and died. During this time, Tleuberdi had set fire to the forest to get revenge on Altai and Sulushash, leaving Sulushash suffocating from the smoke. To flee from the fire, she ran out of the cave, encountering a tiger. She outwitted the tiger, running towards the lake to avoid the angry animal. She bid words of farewell to Altai as her lifeless body floated along the lake's currents.

Altai, unable to overcome the grief of his lover's death, he took a dagger to his heart to accompany her in the next life.