Arslanbob

Arslanbob is a small village in the southern part of Kyrgyzstan, belonging to Jalal Abad region. It is also the largest world’s walnut forest with 600, 000 hectares of walnut and fruit trees.

Each year local people harvest 1,500 tons of walnut, and 5,000 tons of apples, pistachios, and cherry plums. According to the legend, it says that Alexander the great was took his troops to the far east and took some samples of nuts to Greece. And this is how the Greek nuts started to grow in Greece. The Arslanbob walnut forest is protected by government. 

The Arslanbob village is also an exotic place to visit, located at the banks of river inside of the valley with a population of 15,000 people. Inside of the village there is a small waterfall of 23 meters with a sacred cave opposite to it. It is called Forty Angels and used to be occupied by holy woman who helped the locals. There is also a larger waterfall further away and it reaches 80 meters height. If you rent a car to travel here, you can leave it in your guesthouse and make hiking tours to waterfalls, as both of them are in a walking distance inside of village. 

Arslanbob is only 185 km far from Osh city, the southern capital of Kyrgyzstan. So it is good include this place in order to have a better understanding of culture of the south of Kyrgyzstan. The population here is traditional; mostly Uzbek and wearing conservative clothes will be a good idea. Moreover, the place is exceptionally beautiful, and perfect for small hikes and relaxing time in the nature. If you love this kind of travel, you can include Arslanbob in your tour or stop by when travelling with a rent car in Kyrgyzstan.