At 1,439 km, the Ili is the longest river in Zhetysu. Its source is in the Almaty region; on its way back from China it forms the Kapchagai reservoir, eventually flowing into Lake Balkhash. Long ago the Ili was busy with traffic to and from western China. Today it's a popular destination for adventure holidays, especially rafting to Balkhash.
    The dam and electric power station that formed the Kapchagai reservoir (70 km from Almaty) were constructed near the town of Kapchagai in 1965-80. Several burial mounds were found at the site, and to this day the waves of Kapchagai wash up ceramic and bronze fragments on the shore.
    Some call Kapchagai a sea: it is 22 km at its widest point and 45 m deep and covers an area of 1,847 sq. km. Along its shores are health spas, guest- houses, beaches and fishing boats. Kapchagai's waters teem with pike-perch, bream, wild carp, chub and sheat-fish. There is a small aquapark in the town. The Altyn-Emel National Park is on the eastern shore of the reservoir.
    Just a short journey from Kapchagai, on the bank of the Ili, is a place that will transport you far back in time. In the early Middle Ages there was a ford across the Ili at its narrowest point - the Kapchagai Gorge, at Tamgaly-Tas. For centuries, an image of Buddha has gazed into the sky from an enormous rock on the right bank. This is Tamgaly-Tas, 20 km downstream from the reservoir and 120 km from Almaty. The sun-blackened cliff-faces have preserved manypetroglyphs (rock paintings), images of mysterious deities and late Buddhist inscriptions whose meaning has vet to be unravelled. There are about a thousand different rock drawings ranging from deer-hunters to the Buddha. The Sanskrit text under the drawings reads "Om mane padme hum", meaning "A snow-white pearl in the lotus flower" or, in another translation, "Blessed be the one born from the lotus". These inscriptions and drawings date back to the 12th century. Nearby is another rock with writings in an ancient Turkic runic script dating back to the 8-9th centuries. These were presumably left by Kypchak tribes, although scholars have yet to prove this. The Tamgaly-Tas altar is not the only relic of Kazakhstan's Buddhist past: Buddhism was widespread throughout southern Kazakhstan in medieval times. Tamgaly-Tas is also very popular with Almaty's rock-climbers, who gather here in spring and autumn. Despite its desert and semi-desert landscape, the Ili river valley is one of the most pictur esque places in the Almaty region. You can step into a different world by visiting the Ili tugais, Altyn-Emel's very own "jungle" - dense thickets of weeping