Голубое Озеро

Goluboye Ozero - Blue Lake - Poselok Goluboye Ozero


Useful Information

Location: Goluboye Ozero, оз. Голубое, Респ, Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia 420099.
10 km from capital Kazan. M7 highway exit Shcherbakovo, on the other end of the village.
(55.906603, 49.155171)
Open: no restrictions.
[2022]
Fee: free.
[2022]
Classification: KarstVauclusian Spring
Light: n/a
Dimension: T=3-7 °C.
Guided tours: self guided
Photography: allowed
Accessibility: no
Bibliography:  
Address: Goluboye Ozero, оз. Голубое, Респ, Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia 420099.
Сапсерфинг inst.supteam.ru, Оз.Голубое, Респ, Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia 420099, Tel: +7-937-772-06-22.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1829 first description by Karl Fuchs, the rector of KSU.
1994 declared a Protected Area.

Description

Голубое Озеро (Goluboye Ozero, Blue Lake) is a spectacular karst spring. The vauclusian spring is located at the foot of a karstified hill and is the drain from this karst area. There are two huge pots, which are the main springs, and are 18 m deep. They can easily be seen on Google Earth, because of the deep blue colour. The spring water has a constant temperature, but the huge lake is influenced by the outdside. The water in the lake does not rise above 7 °C in summer and does not fall below 3 °C in winter, in other words it never freezes. The water flows down its own short river, but after only 600 m it flows into Reka Kazanka river, which actually flows almost parallel to its tributary. This "river" is officially called Большое Голубое озеро (Big Blue Lake) and seen as lake, with a Водопад (vodopad, waterfall) at the end.

The connection between Reka Kazanka river and its tributary is noteworthy. The spring is located at the foot of the hills in the plain, which was formed by the meandering river. Before the appearance of humans the river changed its bed frequently, typically after each flood event. If the river moved closer to the spring the tributary became shorter, if it moved away the tributary had to create a new bed through the loose gravels of the last flood. Sometimes the river may have reached the spring, so the spring water was actually flowing directly into Reka Kazanka river. But when the humans finally arrived, they prevented further floods by damming the river, and prevented further relocations of the river. Also, they were not interested in losing the fresh drinking water to the river, so they dammed the tributary. At the far end of the tributary, right before it flows into Reka Kazanka river, there is a dam until now, and once there was a water mill using the power of the water. How much of this dam was naturally there and how much is human intervention is hard to say.

The owner of the lake is Дзыдзлан (Dzydzlan) who lives in the deepest part of the forest. The girl has beautiful brown hair which is long enough to reach her toes. But her heels are in front and the feet are in the back, as a result nobody can put the beauty on her back. She also has a magic mirror, with it, she is able to observe everything that happens in the world. Sometimes she lures handsome men to her, but soon releases them.

There was a shepherd who was lazy and ugly. One day when he was herding sheep on Mount Mamdzishkha he found out that there was a Дзыдзлан (Dzydzlan) living in the brook. He wanted to make her fall in love with him, as he thought he was stunningly handsome. He often went to the place where the brook ran and rested there for a long time, dreaming that the owner of the lake would come to him in his sleep. Dzydzlan noticed this and wanted to have a look, but when she saw that he was ugly, she became angry, grabbed him, and threw him against the ground. As a result the caves collapsed and filled with water, forming the Blue Lake.

Not far from where the lake now lies, there lived a girl who suffered from unrequited love. She fell in love with the Khan's son, but he was indifferent. One day he was killed in a battle, and she was mourning for a long time, sitting for hours in the middle of nowhere. One day she was gone forever, but at the place where she often stayed a blue lake had formed. The people said that this were all the tears she had cried.

While this are only legends about Dryads and water, one thing is actually quite likely. The current situation with the two huge blue pots is most likely a result of a collapse of the cave below some two centuries ago. The first description by Karl Fuchs, the rector of KSU, in 1829, was probably not very long after it formed. Gypsum karst is developing fast because the gypsum is easily dissolved by water. However, the underground drainage and the submerged cave behind needed much longer to develop and are much older. So there was some kind of spring before this event.

The blue lake is a popular spot for bathing and swimming and for supsurfing (paddling while standing on a surf board?). There is even a company named supteam.ru, who rent out boards. Check their Instagram "homepage" for great pictures of the spring. The lake is also used by divers and apnoe divers. Due to the low water temperature a special, extra warm neoprene suit is required. Due to the low temperature of the water there are very few who actually swim in the water.