Karagai-Guberninsky gorge

A real mountain gorge with a stormy river, lost in an area alternating between steppes and hills, is an amazing corner of nature. The place is really unusual in that it is not located in the mountains, but in the middle of an ordinary steppe. Here, the oldest rocks on the ground come to the surface. They are shales of the Proterozoic era. For several centuries, these rocks have been ground by wind and water, forming bizarre shapes from them, interesting natural sculptures resembling animals and birds. One of these natural stone sculptures is Turtle Rock.

The gorge stretches along the Gubernia River for a distance of more than 20 km. For the Kuvandyk district, such contrasting landscape changes are generally characteristic. In many places, steppe fields expose rocks. The nature of the Karagai-Guberninsky gorge is also very different from the steppe: pine trees grow here along the riverbed, and relict plants grow between the rocks - ferns, mosses and lichens. Badgers, foxes, and marmots settle among the animals between the rocks. In earlier times, wolves were also found here.

The nearest settlement is the village of Karagy-Pokrovka, located less than one kilometer east of the gorge. The Gubernia River flows through the gorge, which originates 6 km upstream, and there is also a reservoir - Gubernia Pond. The river is fed mainly by groundwater - in this area there are at least 6 springs feeding the river. In the gorge, the river becomes a powerful and turbulent stream, similar to a real mountain river.