Bakanas

The Bakanas flows across the dry uplands north of Lake Balkhash. Its tributaries include the Dagandeli and Koksala, and in exceptionally wet years its waters reach the Ayaguz, which flows towards the lake. More often the river loses itself before that junction. The valleys of the Bakanas and its neighbours cut through the open steppe of the northern Balkhash basin, where the amount of flowing water varies greatly with the seasons.