"Bride's Veil" or a trip to Chukuraksu Falls, Uzbekistan

Hello! Today I would like to share photos taken during my trip to Chukuraksu Falls.

As usual, I went on this trip with the team of "Mysterious Uzbekistan". The organizers promised an easy and pleasant walk and they did not deceive me. The walk was really pleasant and beautiful. I do like to go to the mountains in the summer. The heat reigns in Tashkent, but here is cool and a pleasant breeze blows. I read on the Internet that Chukuraksu Falls is also called the "Bride's Veil". Well, romantic and intriguing name. Of course, I was simply obliged to visit this place :).

As usual, in the early morning the group gathered, we plunged into minibuses and set off. By the way, as usual I want to thank Hive account@cesspit for editing my some photos.

It was a bit cloudy and dawn beautifully painted the clouds pink.

The early departure was due to the fact that we had to have time to slip through the foothills before the traffic jams. As I already said in one of the my previous posts, the foothills of Chimgan are very popular among residents of Tashkent and various hotels, restaurants, cafes grow here like mushrooms after rain. In summer, at the height of the “chillya” season, when in the city the temperature in the shade exceeds 40 degrees Celcius, and in open areas it’s generally over 50 degrees, Tashkent residents rush to the cool foothills. The standard of living of the population is slowly but growing, the local automaker is stamping cars almost around the clock, so here on the weekend there is just a pandemonium. But traffic revives by 10 a.m., and in the early morning the roads are still clear.

We managed to slip through the busiest section before the traffic began and began to climb up. From there, a wonderful view of the valley opens.

Soon we arrived at the starting point of our trip. We passed the check at the border post (the border with Kyrgyzstan is 5 km from here) and hit the road. Oncoming clouds from time to time hid the sun and it was very comfortable to go. The main part of the path ran along a rolled gravel road and the slope was small, so it was very easy to go.

The waterfall is located on the territory of Ugam-Chatkal State Natural National Park, not far from the Charvak reservoir. Chukuraksu is a tributary of the Chatkal River, which in turn feeds the Charvak reservoir. Our path ran along the Chatkal river bed. Quite a torrential riverr with many rapids and a strong flow.

Although closer to the foothills, it spreads and the course calms down. On the way back we saw guys riding here on jet skis.

Having walked along Chatkal river for several kilometers, we stopped for a small halt. From here began our way up to the "Bride's Veil " along the Chukuraksu River. Frankly speaking, this is not even a river, but a mountain stream. Certainly torrential in the spring, but in summer there is little water. But the vegetation has grown rapidly, forming just impassable jungle.

Well, we are already experienced tourists and the jungle is not an obstacle for us, so after about 30 or 40 minutes we got to the waterfall and settled down for rest. I don’t know why he was dubbed the “Bride's Veil”. This waterfall is just usual waterfal - beautiful, 20 meters high.

Water falls on a pillow of gravel and small droplets scatter several meters around. It was cool and fresh. We took pictures and had a snack. Someone undressed and climbed into the baths under the waterfall. I fell apart on the rocks and dozed off. However, after about an hour the weather worsened. Dark clouds came in and began to drizzle.

We decided not to wait for the rain and to be honest it becames a little bit boring. Therefore we gathered and went on the return trip. Since we still had time, our guides decided to show us a dilapidated bridge and photograph the daredevils who ventured to climb on it.

While the group was taking pictures, I went to look around and found an interesting hut - I don’t even know how to call this building. Here shepherds and border guards are hiding from the weather.

The rain stopped drizzling. In general, it was interesting to watch the movement of the clouds. On the photo below it seems that formidable clouds covered the sky and now a terrible rain will pour, but if you turn 180 degrees around its axis, you can see the blue sky.

In general, the weather was gorgeous. The clouds from time to time though covered the sun, but it peered through them, which made it possible to take beautiful photographs on the way back.