We would like to offer you Spearfishing and fishing tours in the Ili River Delta and surrounding basin of the Lake Balkhash. The lower Ili splits into numerous branches and interconnected lakes. Passing through sands and reeds the water gets purified with a visibility of 3-15 meters and 1-6 meters deep, which is perfect for spear fishing. The underwater flora is also very rich and diverse. One of the basic hunting techniques are searching for a fish along the lakeside reeds and hiding in ambush. A big catfish can be found underneath a tight carpet of reeds and grass. An activity of a particular interest is night hunting equipped with powerful lights. An average temperature of the water varies from 21 to 24 degrees Celsius and 5 mm diving suit is quite enough.
Tours take place from June 1st till September 15th.
Owners of 7-10 mm diving suits can also do hunting in the first half of April (currently there is a legal regulation that prohibits fish hunting in the Ili River Delta from April 16th till May 31st), and also throughout October and November.
We offer 2 types of tours:
- along small lakes and rivers, accommodation in tents
- in piscatorial bases located around Lake Balkhash or major channels, accommodation in hotel rooms.
Either way is 280-400 km away from Almaty, and the last 20-40 km are off-road.
1. Underwater hunting with accommodation in a tent camp.
1.1. Underwater hunting along small lakes and rivers
The size of a like varies from 20x50 to 100x2000 meters. Usually it’s a set of interconnected lakes of different depth, transparency, and flora on the bottom. Most of them are surrounded by wide belt of high reeds, so a 2-3 meters wide path is cut to enter the waters. A camp includes a large tent with a kitchen and individual tents for living. The camp is set near to water, so it only takes to put on your diving suit and make a few steps to start hunting.
The price of such tour is 80-120 USD per day (min 2 days), and includes:
- Return transfer on an off-road vehicle from a hotel in Almaty
- 3 meals a day, nothing fancy, but tasty and filling
- Accommodation in a tent and a sleeping bag
- Fish hunting license
- Lead sinkers.
Additionally, you can buy:
- Alcohol
- Rent of underwater hunting equipment
1.2. Underwater hunting along the rivers of the Ili River Delta.
These rivers are from 5 to 20 meters wide and several kilometers long. The current is quite strong, so rowing up might be exhausting. Underwater hunters begin floating at one of the most fitting entries into the river, while the vehicle moves down along the stream to wait at a place agreed. Floating is quite interesting with landscaping constantly changing and fish suddenly coming close to the surface and disappearing. Hunting large asps and mudfish bring most of the trophies here, other species are less frequent to encounter
Prices are identical to the ones described in section 1.1.
2. Underwater hunting and fishing with accommodation in piscatorial bases
The bases like this are located around Lake Balkhash and surrounding large lakes and channels. You will live in comfortable rooms with cold and hot running water and television. As an exotic alternative you can stay in national Kazakh yurta. Usually there is a billiard table in a hall, a sauna can be ordered for an evening, and meals are served in a café. It takes a moto boat to get to underwater hunting place, which takes around 10-30 minutes for one way. In average you can manage swimming in 3-4 basins.
The price of such tour is 120-200 USD per day (min 2 days),, and includes:
- Return transfer on an off-road vehicle from a hotel in Almaty
- 3 meals a day in a café at the base
- Comfortable accommodation
- Fish hunting license
- Lead sinkers.
Additionally, you can buy:
- Alcohol
- Rent of underwater hunting equipment
- Filming services
Applications are accepted by e-mail info@oikumena.kz or WhatsApp +7-777-2144621
