Saryarka – Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan

Half the year the lakes of Saryarka ring with wings: pelicans, flamingos and the vanishingly rare Siberian white crane rest and breed on wetlands straddling the Central Asian flyway between Africa, South Asia and Siberia. The inscription joins the Naurzum and Korgalzhyn reserves — 450,344 hectares of steppe and fresh and salt lakes in northern Kazakhstan — which also shelter the critically endangered saiga antelope. UNESCO listed Saryarka as natural World Heritage in 2008.