Zhamankul

Zhamankul is the upper course of the Tokrau, a river rising in the hills north of Lake Balkhash. Its streams gather in a wide upland valley, where the Egizkoytas burial ground preserves traces of earlier inhabitants. Spring snowmelt brings the strongest flow; farther south the Tokrau crosses the steppe and loses most of its water in sandy ground before it can reach the lake.