Balkhash

Fishing cutters in the harbor of Kuigan on the delta of the Ili River, the biggest inflowing river of Lake Balkhash

Fishermen are bringing fish to the coldstore of a cooperative in Kuigan's harbor.

Kazakh fisherman.

Fishing boats in one of the many arms of the Ili.
The delta is a haven for fish and birds that can hide well in the reeds.

Oleg Shumacher is one of the fishermen living from Lake Balkhash.

Lake Balkhash. “We call it ‘the ocean’", say the fishermen.

In Lepsy, another village on the south shore of Lake Balkhash, a woman fetches water at a public pump.

Evening at Balkhash. For many men here the fishing is anything but romantic - it is the only source of income.

There is still enough water and fish. Two fishermen sailing out for fishing in the evening.

Creeping sands have already reached the outskirts of Bakbarty, a settlement 150 kilometers from Kuigan.
Only 70 meters now separate the dunes from the first houses,
but the villages continue to raise rice in the surrounding land ....

.... and rice, of course, requires artificial irrigation.

Water for irrigating both the rice fields and the crops the collective raises is diverted from the main channel of the Ili River two kilometers away. For much of their course the walls of the open irrigation ditches are not concreted, however, so a significant portion of water simply seeps into the ground before it reaches the fields.

South of Lake Balkhash - desert and irrigated fields are really close together

The Ili River, which accounts for up to 80 percent of the water flowing into Lake Balkhash, begins on the border with China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.

Dunes between the river arms in the Ili delta. Due to the dry climate there is a high evaporation. The ecosystem around Lake Balkhash reacts sensitively to every slight change in environmental conditions.