Shaitankol (Auliekol), a natural landscape
It is located 5 km from Karkaraly, on Mount Bugyly, at an altitude of 1200 m above sea level (Karagandy region). The length of the lake is 60 m, width - 40 m, average depth - 2 m. Water is transparent, the bottom is stone. The lake is filled with melt and rain water, surrounded by multi-layer granite rocks. The height of the rocks surrounding the coast from the south, west and north is over 10 m. In rainy seasons, the amount of precipitation exceeds the abundance of water and flows through a canal-like opening from the southern side. The lake does not dry out. Pine, birch, poplar, raspberry, saxifrage, tavolga and other plant species surrounding the lake save it from evaporation. The origin of the lake is a natural mystery, as no watercourse flows into and out of it.
People have a lot of legends and tales about the lake. The locals believe that its original name is Auliekol. People considered the lake sacred, came here to be cured of diseases, sacrificed pets (sheep, horses), read the Koran, tied shreds of cloth on a tree near the sacred lake. Women came here to ask the Holy Spirit for children.
In the Russian versions of the legends the lake has the same name as in the Kazakh language - Auliekol, the Holy Lake. According to the newspaper "Semipalatinsk sheet", in 1905 a resident of Karkaraly A. Tysyatskiy told the history of the lake to the writer M.M. Prishvin. Two people went on foot to Mount Buguly (Bugyly, Deer Mountain). When they approached the foothills, the dogs saw a deer nearby and chased him. Some time later, the hunters found themselves at an unknown mountain lake. Here they freshened up the carcass of the animal, salted the meat and, having left it, decided to come back for it on horses. However, when they returned, they wandered for a long time and could not find the lake. The very annoyed hunters exclaimed, "Where the hell is this lake? As if the second name appeared - "Damn Lake". At the same time, the real name of the lake was not forgotten and it had a walk among the people. It is as the "Holy Lake near Karkaraly" that it is recorded in the archival photographs of the pre-revolutionary era.
Writer Sabit Mukanov in his poem "Sulushash" described the legend of a beautiful girl who with her beloved man named Altai hid in the mountains from the chase. People looking for them set fire to trees and a tiger came out of the forest. Girl Sulushash, fleeing from the tiger's claws, rushed into the lake. The legend was written down by the writer from the local Kazakhs. It is possible that the tiger was a Turanian tiger, which was found in the reeds of the Northern Balkhash region.
According to local historians and many local residents, Lake Auliekol turned into the "Devil's Lake" quite late, at the end of the XIX-beginning of the XX century, when numerous settlers from Russia lived in the town of Karkaraly and its surroundings. Apparently, the basis for this was the unusual location of the lake - high in the mountains, surrounded by rocks and trees growing on stones. It was "on the outskirts", in an uninhabited, mysterious place. People who saw the lake in the mountains called it "Damn", adhering to the rule: "everything that is not clear is from the devil".
In the Soviet era, the real name of the lake, as well as old beliefs associated with it, did not spread. Numerous mass media materials and books always contained a new name - Shaytankol/ Devil's Lake. A. Tysyatsky's story about hunters who had been wandering in search of the lake for a long time was constantly supported, including up to the present day, by people's reports according to which, as if the lake sometimes disappears and you shouldn't look for it at such moments - it will appear the next day.
The area is currently visited by many pilgrims and tourists. The lake is also of scientific importance. Every year, especially in summer, tourists and researchers from all over the world come from Kazakhstan and neighboring countries. The territory of Auliekol-Shaytankol is a part of the Mountain Forestry Zone of the Karkaraly State National Park.