Badam

The Badam River flows through the country around Shymkent before joining the Arys, a tributary of the Syr Darya. Its waters descend from the foothills of the western Tian Shan and are joined by streams including the Sayramsu. Along its course the river passes from mountain valleys into the plains of southern Kazakhstan. Settlements and fields share the watered land between the old cities of Sayram and the lower Arys, beyond which stretches the open steppe.