Unique Places in Kazakhstan

The arid Sugaty Valley lies east of Almaty. Most travelers will have no reason to visit the Sugaty Valley unless passing through on their way to Charyn Red Canyon. Birdwatchers, however, come here to look for raptors, sandgrouse, larks, wheatears, and other birds of arid country. The prize here is the Pallas's sandgrouse, a rare bird that is difficult to find outside of Kazakhstan.

Although the Sugaty Valley is relatively arid, it is not part of a true desert. It is one of the numerous areas within the rain shadow of the Tien Shan Mountains that receive little rainfall and are characterized by dry, desert-like terrain. However, more than two-thirds of Kazakhstan's surface area is comprised of desert, including two major deserts, the Qyzylqum and Betpak-Dala, which are located in the southwest part of the country.

Located high in the Tien Shan Mountains south of Almaty, Big Almaty Lake is the main attraction of Alatau-Eliy National Park. The alpine lake sits at an altitude of 8,238 feet (2,511 meters), and is fed by the Almaty River, which rises in nearby mountains that are much higher. Because Big Almaty Lake is at such a high elevation, its waters are frigid, and do not get warmer than 46 degrees Farenheit (eight degrees Celcius), even in July.

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Tamgaly Tas is a deep ravine with the walls covered in petroglyphs dating back thousands of years through to the Bhuddistic 16th century CE. Amazing scenes of mammoths,cattle, deer, horses, mountain sheep, men hunting and, in the "Sanctuary" a group of sun-headed gods and worshippers, all in an empty landscape that is so quiet and still the agelessness of the place is palpable. This is a UNESCO World Heritage site

Self-driving isn't really an option in Kazakhstan, so getting to Tamgaly Tas will involve some sort of organization -either a day tour organized through a tourist agency, or a car and driver for the day.

Most of Almaty was razed to the ground by the earthquake of 1911. Subsequently the city became a Soviet satellite, full of massive buildings and vast blocks of flats, but a small pocket of of the old-style Almaty can be found in the Tartar district in the streets behind the zoo. Small wooden houses; often unpaved streets; lots of trees and vegetable gardens; lethal (overhead!) gas piping and a little mosque with its new madrassa, which we were shown with great pride, where classes are held for women and girls as well as men and boys as the community tries to regain their Muslim heritage.

Posted by leyle

An extremely insane place by the Caspian Sea where only one of the citys streets actually have a name (the rest are just just numbered 'microrayons')...Must be nice during summer when you can have a drink by the sea as you're watching the oiltankers glide by...The train ride here from Aktöbe offers some of the most depressing sights you'll ever sea (except from the area around Aralsk)...

Stroll down the dusty streets towards the river and spend half an hour by the polygon memorial, if you're lucky you might stumble across a wedding group going there to get their pictures taken (mostly on fridays)...

Cold War tensions existed not only between the Soviet Union and the West, but also between the Soviet Union and China. The Soviet Union had an almost schizophrenic fear that the Chinese would invade. The area near Charyn Red Canyon is very close to the Chinese border, and during the Soviet era, it was one of the most heavily fortified borders in the world. Nowadays, Cold War relics remain, and are testimony to the Soviet fear of a Chinese invasion. Many of the hillsides along Charyn Red Canyon contain broken-down machine-gun pillboxes such as the one seen here.

Located in Tamgaly Gorge in the Chu-Ili Mountains northwest of Almaty, the Tamgaly Archaeological Complex features ancient settlements, burial mounds, and around 5,000 petroglyphs. The largest concentration of petroglyphs is within Tamgaly Canyon, which contains about 2,000 of the rock carvings. Most depict deer and hunting scenes, but there are also many solar images and scenes from the daily lives of the people who carved the petroglyphs. Although there are carvings from as late as the early twentieth century, most date from the Bronze Age and are about 4,000 to 5,000 years old.

The Tamgaly Archaeological Complex has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.