Iskandarkul is a mountain lake in Tajikistan on the Northern slopes of the Hissar range in the fan mountains.
The name of the lake Iskandarkul comes from “Iskandar” – so in the East called Alexander the great, and “Kul” – which in Turkic languages means lake. That is, it is the lake of Alexander the great.
According to legend, during his conquests, Alexander the great stopped for a halt on the shore of the lake, and his favorite horse Bucephalus caught a cold after drinking the icy water of Iskanderkul. When he recovered, he climbed a high rock, and threw himself into the water. Alexander waited a few days, and leaving at the lake grooms, took his army. And since then, at the full moon on Iskanderkul you can see a snow-white horse that comes out of the water to graze on the picturesque shore.
If you look at Iskandarkul from a scientific point of view, it is a lake of blockage type, which was formed after the collapse of the rock. It is located at an altitude of 2195 meters above the level, reaches a depth of 72 meters, and has an area of 3.4 km2. It is possible to swim in it, and many tourists relax on rocky beaches in the summer, but already 10 meters from the shore the water temperature drops sharply to about + 10° C.
In addition, in addition to the lake Iskanderkul, there are several other attractions: Snake lake, which due to the higher water temperature is inhabited by many snakes; 43-meter waterfall “Fann Niagara”, located on the river flowing from Iskanderkul; and the rock with the inscription “Ruskiee, 1870”, left by the expedition of the famous scientist and traveler Alexei Fedchenko.
