Narat Grassland

Narat Grassland is located in Yili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture on the western edge of Tianshan Mountain. It is a river bed grassland and one of the four in the world. It is 180 km long from east to west. The famous Ili river flows through Ili Valley. June and September every year, various wild flowers blooming on the hill. They are red, yellow, purple, blue colorful.

There is a legent about Narat Grassland, in ancient times, when Mongol soldiers crossing the Tianshan mountain, some of them were dying of cold weather. They stumbled to this beautiful valley and cried loud in excitement “Narat, Narat”, that was how the grassland was named. Meaning of Narat is the “ the first place to see the sun” in Mongol language.

Ethnic group in Narat Grassland is Kazakhs who raise their herds in the grassland. Yurts put up where people made it their home. It is one of the best places to see and experience the local Kazakh lifestyle.