Nature · Kitob District
Kitab State Geological Reserve
The petrified pages of a Devonian sea
Nature · Shahrisabz District
Hisor State Nature Reserve
A reserve covering the high Western Hisor range and the main headwaters of the Kashkadarya: juniper forests, snow leopards, brown bears and rare birds of prey.
Photo: Akobirolmasov diplomat · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
About the reserve
The Hisor State Mountain Juniper Reserve lies in the east of Kashkadarya Region, in the western part of the Hisor Range. It was created in 1983 by merging the former Kyzylsu and Miraki reserves, and it protects the entire upper-mountain ecosystem of Western Hisor and the main catchment of the upper Kashkadarya.
Its chief treasure is the juniper (archa) forest on the mountainsides. Protected animals include the snow leopard, Turkestan lynx, white-clawed bear, Central Asian cobra and Eurasian otter, and among the birds the bearded vulture, Himalayan vulture, griffon, cinereous vulture, golden eagle, saker falcon and booted eagle.
The upper tributaries of the Kashkadarya, the Oqsuv, Tankhozdaryo and Yakkabogdaryo, rise in these mountains, which makes the reserve vital to the water supply of the whole oasis. Besides juniper, the slopes carry almond, pistachio, barberry and dog rose.
Visiting
This is a strictly protected area: since 2015 tourists have been barred from the reserve and adjacent land. The 84-metre Suvtushar waterfall on the small Suvtushar river lies inside the reserve and can only be reached with special permission.
To see the Hisor foothills, explore outside the reserve boundary, for example around the village of Miraki in Shahrisabz District. Either way, check the current rules with the reserve administration and the local authorities beforehand.
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