Out of TownOut of TownPhoto: Marina Nugman, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
The journey to Karkaraly is noticeably longer than to Burabay—you must travel through Karaganda—but for this very reason, it is considerably quieter and less crowded with tourists. Hidden among pine forests and granite cliffs lies Lake Shaitankol ('Devil's Lake') in the crater of an extinct volcano—fed by no stream whatsoever, yet maintaining a water level that remains unchanged through droughts and floods alike, and surrounded by numerous legends of young women who sought refuge in its waters to escape unwanted marriages or predators. Rising highest of all is the peak of Zhirensaka (1403 m) crowned with three stone 'towers' at its summit.
The park was established by government decree on December 1, 1998, with an area of 90,323 hectares, and following its expansion in 2009—112,120 hectares. Beyond its natural features, the park preserves historical monuments: the Kent settlement of the Begazy-Dandybai culture from the Bronze Age and the ruins of Kyzylkent Palace—a seventeenth-century Buddhist monastery, a rarity for this part of Kazakhstan.