Sarychat Ertash State Nature Reserve

The Sarychat-Ertash State Nature Reserve is located in Issyk-Kul Region of Kyrgyzstan. It was established in 1995 with a purpose of conservation of unique nature complexes, rare and threatened species of flora and fauna of syrt area of Issyk-Kul Region, and maintaining regional environmental balance. The reserve currently occupies 134,140 hectares including 72,080 hectares of core area.

The reserve was founded mainly to protect the endangered snow leopard and the argali, a large wild sheep of Central Asia. Other large mammals are Siberian ibex, wild boar, Eurasian lynx, Eurasian wolf and Eurasian brown bear. Smaller and medium-sized mammals, include red fox, pallas cat, stone marten, badger, Tolai hare and gray marmot. The reserve is excluded of any usage, including tourism.