Hidden Kazakhstan

Almaty

The largest city in Kazakhstan, Almaty is a relatively new place having been founded only in 1854 by Russian soldiers, as a frontier post for their forays into the region. Awash with oil wealth, it is Central Asia’s richest and most cosmopolitan city, and retains much more of a Russian flavour than others in the region. It is no longer the capital though – this was moved to the smaller city of Astana in 1997.

With wide leafy streets and modern multi-storey buildings, it doesn’t particularly feel like part of the Silk Road and is quite different in character to somewhere like Samarkand, and its sights are from a more recent era. In Panfilov Park sits the impressive Zenkov Cathedral, one of the few buildings to date back to the time of Tsarist Russia and reputedly constructed without any nails. There are also several museums, including one for musical instruments and another dedicated to the repression faced by the Kazakh people under Stalin’s rule.

Charyn Canyon

Charyn Canyon is an 80 km canyon on the Charyn River, 200 kilometres east of Almaty, close to the Chinese border. It is part of the Charyn National Park, which was established 23 February 2004 and located within the territory of the Uyghur and Kegen Districts of Almaty Province. It stretches 154 kilometres along the Charyn River in the northern Tien Shan mountain range. In parts, it attains a depth of 150 to 300 metres. One part of it is known as the Valley of Castles for its unusual rock formations.

Tamgaly

Set around the lush Tamgaly Gorge, amidst the vast, arid Chu-Ili mountains, is a remarkable concentration of some 5,000 petroglyphs (rock carvings) dating from the second half of the second millennium BC to the beginning of the 20th century. Distributed among 48 complexes with associated settlements and burial grounds, they are testimonies to the husbandry, social organization and rituals of pastoral peoples. A huge number of ancient tombs are also to be found including stone enclosures (middle and late Bronze Age), and mounds (kurgans) of stone and earth (early Iron Age to the present). The central canyon contains the densest concentration of engravings and what are believed to be altars, suggesting that these places were used for sacrificial offerings.

Aksu-Dzhabagly Nature Reserve

Located in the northwestern part of the Tien Shan mountain range in southern Kazakhstan, the Aksu-Dzhabagly Nature Reserve was established in 1926, and is the oldest nature reserve in Central Asia. Its count of species is impressive – 239 bird, 52 mammal and over 1200 different plant species. The most famous animal in the reserve is without a doubt the snow leopard but the chances that you will ever spot one here are very low. The same goes for the Eurasian lynx, which hasn’t been seen in the reserve for many years. It should be less difficult to observe the Menzbier’s marmot, the Tolai hare, the Tien Shan bear, the Tien Shan argali or the Siberian ibex. For those interested, in an almost inaccessible part of the reserve, ancient rock carvings can be found from the Kaskabulak people.

Turkestan

With a history dating back to the 4th century, Turkestan rose to prominence after the demise of nearby Otrar and became an important centre of Islamic learning for the peoples of the Kazakh steppe due to it being the home of the revered Islamic scholar Khodja Akhmad Yassawi, a Sufi teacher. His mausoleum complex now dominates the town and is comprised of a bathhouse, museum and a 15th-century mausoleum for the wife of an Uzbek leader – sadly now just a replica as the original was demolished by the Russians at the end of the 19th-century.

Mangistau

A vast region in western Kazakhstan, Mangistau is almost off the map as far as tourism is concerned yet is one of the most incredible parts of the country. Isolated by its remote location, this is a land of superlative landscapes, vast deserts, imposing mountains and ancient pilgrimage sites still frequented today. Access is by 4wd only – there are no real roads throughout the region – and the going can be tough at times, but this is more than compensated for by the sheer sense of true exploration. Some of the more unusual sights of the area include Torysh, a vast field of spherical rocks that resemble giant cannonballs, and the salt marshes of Tuzbair, shimmering in the relentless sun.

Shakpak Ata

According to legend, in the north of the Tyub-Karagan peninsula lived an extraordinary healer – the greybeard Shakpak-Ata, and according to rumour, there were no illnesses that he could not cure. Centuries have passed but people still come here for healing. According to archaeologists, the mosque was built in the 9th to 10th centuries and was named in honour of Sufi Shakpak-Ata, who lived here with his disciples during enemy raids. In the last years of his life, he was a recluse and no longer left his underground abode.

Torysh

Another site connected with local legends – hordes of enemies once came to Mangistau and local people turned to prayer for help. Torrential streams, thunder and lightning came down from heaven, turning all the invaders into stones – this is how these ‘globular concretions’ appeared. Their actual size reaches 3-4 metres in diameter, some are larger.