Kazakhstan Waterfall

Big Shymbulak falls

A 20 m drop.

When to go

Nikolay Sizonenko · CC BY 3.0

In numbers.

20m

Height

OpenStreetMap

0.11m³/s

Average flow

estimate

Mar–Jun

Best months

22kW

Water power

estimate

The water at Big Shymbulak falls, month by month

It roars from April to May.

The fullest months: from April to May, with the snowmelt. The thinnest: from August to December. Below −4 °C on average (January): the falls can partly freeze.

0.1 m³/sJan
0.1 m³/sFeb
0.2 m³/sMar
0.4 m³/sApr
0.4 m³/sMay
0.3 m³/sJun
0.1 m³/sJul
0.0 m³/sAug
0.0 m³/sSep
0.0 m³/sOct
0.0 m³/sNov
0.1 m³/sDec

high water best months to go may freeze

From about 0.01 m³/s in the lowest month to 0.44 m³/s in the highest. Best months to go, with plenty of water and pleasant days: from March to June.

Estimate: the timing comes from rain, snowmelt and evaporation (NASA POWER, 1991–2020); the amounts from the river model of HydroATLAS (WaterGAP, 1971–2000). Dams upstream can change the real flow.

Kazakhstani waterfall

Big Shymbulak falls is a waterfall in Kazakhstan. The water falls 20 m.

Getting there.

Uzunagachnearest town · 17 km in a straight line
Parking 250 m awaynearest car park in OpenStreetMap, straight line
Almaty International Airport (ALA)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 59 km in a straight lineCar hire at ALA airport (Almaty)Discover Cars · Affiliate link
From March to Junebest months to go (estimate)

Plan your visit

Stay, explore and get there

Car hire at ALA airport (Almaty)Discover CarsSee

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

How big is it?

How big it really is.

Height of the drop as mapped in OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors). Buildings and the person are drawn at the same scale.

22 kW

About 0.11 m³/s falling 20 m: the power of the water as it drops.

enough to power about 6 homes, if it were all turned into electricity

Power of falling water = density × gravity × flow × height. Average flow and height as shown above; an estimate.

Seen from the sky.

8 × 8 km of cloud-free satellite image, with what OpenStreetMap knows around the falls.

Big Shymbulak falls seen from above (Sentinel-2)

N 2 km

ParkingOther fallsCampsites

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 8 × 8 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

The Большой Шымбулак through the falls

The line follows the river as mapped in OpenStreetMap; heights from the 30 m Copernicus model, which smooths narrow drops — the published height of the falls is the one above.

The valley below the falls

Around the falls the river drops 207 m in 2.3 km. Here the river runs about 85 m below the lower rim of its valley.

What is around.

—viewpoints
1waymarked walking routesВодопад Большой Шымбулак
1car parks
—swimming spots
—picnic sites
—toilets
—information boards and visitor centres
—bus stops within 1 km
—other named waterfalls within 4 km
—caves
1campsites
—hotels, B&Bs and huts within 6 km
—restaurants and cafés within 3 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, up to 2 km around the falls (unless noted). A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

Towns nearby

Uzunagach17 km in a straight line

Weather

The weather, month by month.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Afternoon °C	0	3	10	15	20	24	27	27	22	14	7	1
Night °C	-11	-9	-2	3	7	12	14	13	8	2	-3	-9
Rain & snow (mm)	21	27	44	72	61	44	30	23	20	37	37	27
Wet days	6	6	8	10	10	9	7	5	4	6	7	7
Sun h/day	5.5	6.6	6.4	7.5	9.8	10.1	10.3	10.4	9.2	6.7	4.2	4.2
Snow on the ground (cm)	17	17	14	10	3	0	0	0	1	9	16	17

Long-term averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, with temperatures carried to the height of the falls (1,436 m) at −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Not a forecast.

Photos

Through visitors' eyes.

Рядом со вторым водопадом в горах п. Фабричный (Каргалы) - panoramio — Nikolay Sizonenko · CC BY 3.0

Ridpath's history of the world; being an account of the ethnic origin, primitive estate, early migrations, social conditions and present promise of the principal families of men (1897) (14760613796) — Dieudonné Lancelot · No restrictions

Recent years

Wet years and dry years

Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A wet season above 100 % usually means a fuller waterfall.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
2020	55%	153%	60%	126%	103%	57%	91%	167%	58%	17%	42%	37%
2021	48%	122%	150%	64%	61%	43%	57%	92%	15%	119%	80%	49%
2022	64%	76%	219%	45%	151%	59%	70%	58%	11%	86%	238%	36%
2023	116%	64%	58%	188%	42%	49%	85%	141%	164%	93%	87%	133%
2024	119%	92%	122%	72%	493%	48%	178%	127%	138%	108%	63%	68%
2025	73%	14%	62%	31%	61%	54%	44%	77%	136%	29%	29%	91%

130% wetter than usual 70% drier than usual

Compare with the waterfalls nearby.

Big Shymbulak falls

Kazakhstan

20 mHeight
0.11 m³/sAverage flow
Mar–JunBest months

Bear falls

Kazakhstan

30 mHeight
—Average flow
Mar–JunBest months

See the guide

Kairak falls

Kazakhstan

55 mHeight
0.12 m³/sAverage flow
Apr–JulBest months

See the guide

Barskoon waterfall

Kyrgyzstan

—Height
—Average flow
Jul–AugBest months

See the guide

About these numbers

Names, height, width, river	Wikidata (Q86663673) · CC0
Height of the drop	© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
River flow and catchment	HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0
Climate	NASA POWER, 1991–2020
Relief, river profile, 3D model	Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Paths, viewpoints, parking	© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Images	EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons