Kazakhstan’s Lake Kaindy Looks Like a Ghost Forest

If you travel to the Tian Shan mountains in Kazakhstan, you will find a lake that looks like it is full of wooden spears.

This is Lake Kaindy. Bright blue water fills a deep mountain gorge. But sticking straight out of the surface are hundreds of pale, dead tree trunks. It looks like a ghost forest. And it is entirely the result of a sudden natural disaster.

Blocked By An Earthquake

To understand why there is a forest underwater, you have to go back to the year 1911. A massive earthquake hit the region. The shaking was so violent that it caused a huge limestone landslide. Millions of tons of rock slid down the mountain and completely blocked the gorge.

This massive rock pile acted like a giant natural dam. The gorge had no way to drain anymore. Over time, heavy rain and mountain runoff slowly filled the valley with water. But there was a thick forest of spruce trees already growing at the bottom of that valley. The water just rose right over them. It drowned the entire forest in place.

Preserved In Freezing Water

Normally, when trees end up underwater, they rot and fall apart pretty fast. But Lake Kaindy sits almost 6,500 feet above sea level. The water here is freezing cold all year round. Even in the middle of the summer, the water temperature rarely gets above 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

This freezing water acts like a giant natural refrigerator. It preserved the wood instead of destroying it. The parts of the trees that stick out above the water are completely bleached by the sun and wind. They are stripped bare and look like wooden poles. But underneath the surface, it is a completely different story.

A Forest Below The Surface

If you look under the water, the trees still have all their branches. Over the last century, thick green algae grew all over the submerged wood. So underwater, it actually looks like a lush, living pine forest.

People actually bring scuba gear up the mountain just to swim down through the branches. It is one of the only places on earth where you can float right through a dense forest canopy. The lake is a tough place to reach, requiring a bumpy drive on dirt roads. But it gives you a perfect look at what happens when a natural disaster suddenly hits pause on a landscape.