Kazakhstan

The biggest Post-Soviet Republic left us surprised – great nature and interesting architecture were you wouldn’t expect it and a capital that is a „masterpiece“ by one person.

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Altyn Emel National Park (18.05.)

It’s 4.30 am. A very bad Yandex driver picks us up and brings us to the meeting point. Today we drive to Altyn Emel National Park, a desert landscape in the North of Almaty region. The streets are in a very lousy condition and are covered with potholes. We arrive in a good mood nonetheless and our first stop are the Singing Dunes.

The dunes got their name as it sounds like a deep roaring sound when people slide down. The sound is hard to describe but it sounds like a deep motor that is trying to start with problems.

The National Park is quite divers and besides the dunes one can find vast steppes, snow and colorful mountains.

The Alatau mountains are colorful but all white when seen from above. They get their name from this colour – it means white from above. They mostly look like a lonesome moon landscape.

Even Dshingis Khan crossed the area of Altyn Emel. His army took rest underneath a willow tree which is still alive today and therefore older than 700 years!

Later we head back to Almaty. We have one day time before heading to Kyrgyzstan.

Saty and Kaindy Lake (15.05.)

Half of us stays in bed in the morning and the other half goes for a sunrise hike. When Lucas got up at 4.30 am he’s not alone though but in company of our hosts dog. When he reaches the top the sun starts rising behind the hills already.

Later that day we take a 4×4 to Kaindy Lake. Due to a landslide a natural damn was formed. The speciality is that a forest sunk because of that. Nowadays the strunks and roots are still visible.

On our way back to Almaty we stop at Black Canyon who got it’s name because of the dark granit rocks that it is made of.

Charyn Canyon and Kolsai Lake One (14.05.)

After we spend a few calm days in Almaty we start early towards Charyn Canyon with an old Audi A6. Why do we emphasize the car so much?

After 1.5 hours of driving along a spectacular panoramic mountain view and having the classic taxi talks we are capable fo having in Russian (about Germany’s size, the temperature, the beauty of Kazakhstan, soccer, and so on) a loud bang indicates that our rear wheel exploded.

Our driver seems to be experienced and 10 minutes later we are sitting in a driving car again. At our next planned stop the motor fumes but nobody seems to worry about that. 10 minutes later 1 or 2 warning lights are flashing frantically and a huge load of dark smoke is filling the inside of the car. Of course we stop immediately and leave the car. Our driver starts repairing and cutting and doing stuff and we continue to drive. Our Audi doesn’t want to do that anymore and we have to stop 11 km before reaching the canyon. We hitch a ride in a touristic bus to get to Charyn and are surrounded by Latvian Rotary members of best age.

We arrive at the canyon and are happy that we have a little more time than expected – our driver is organising another car at the same time. We can gaze upon the beautiful landscape and see the border mountains between Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and China.

Kazakhstan’s biggest canyon can easily be seen by foot. On the lowest point there’s an eco lodge and yurts that can be comfortably reached by Буханка. We finally see the river that is responsible for the structure of the canyon landscape.

The canyon is quite fascinating and we want to share some impressions with you:

Later we continue our ride to the Southwest. We drive through Saty a small village where we will spend the night and even further to the famous Kolsai Lake One. The mountain lake is close to the Kyrgyz border and we arrive on time for the sunset.

Nur-Sultan (29.04.-03.05.)

As to not start any confusion – we arrived in Astana. The city has recently been renamed after the first president of Kazakhstan and the leader of the nation Nursultan Nazarbajew.

Since 1997 Nur-Sultan is the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In 1998 the name was changed from Akmola to Astana. In 2003 (according to the Kazakh census) the city was populated by 0.5 million people – this number doubled until 2019. The city is dynamic and planned. There are construction sites at every corner and the city’s size is constantly increasing. Since it became the capital the famous Bajterek tower is the city’s landmark and it symbloizes a tree of life with a bird’s egg on top.

A curiosity about the tower is that on the top level a hand print of the first president Nazarbajew can be found – many people visit it and put their hand in it and wish for something. The wish only becomes reality if a thought was send to the president first though.

Nur-Sultan is not any less impressive than other mega cities such as Dubai. In the center is a path between important buildings. It stretches from the presidential residence and Bajterek tower up to the popular shopping mall Khan Shatyr – another building that is special because of its architecture.

Especially a British architect was able to plan many buildings in the Kazakhstani capital – Sir Norman Forster. Another evidence for his work and the presence of the first president can be found underneath:

As we arrived by train from Барнаул in the middle of the night we had to learn that we were not in Russia anymore and of course not even close to Europe. After we waited for a taxi for a long time we realized that reservations are sometimes fragile and at 3 am we had to ask ourself where we want to spend the night. At the same time we learned that Kazakhstani people are very helpful – especially if you got to know them before. Our helper was called Сергей and he helped us find a place to sleep at. After completing this mission successfully we lay exhausted in bed at 4 am. Nonetheless we were already excited for the next couple of days in the capital.

In Nur-Sultan there’s a strong difference between the old part of town and the new center. When the old part is addressed quarters from the Soviet period are meant – Plattenbauten. Our first accommodation was situated in the old part of town – in this area there was another strong difference between the Soviet and pre-Soviet buildings.

If you try to get to the center of the town which is only possible by bus or car the overcrowded traffic is imminent. The underground is sandy – a metro can’t be constructed like that. Since Nur-Sultan hosted the EXPO in 2017 many parts of public life were improved and meanwhile an aboveground monorail is built. This project will need some time though.

When visiting the National Museum of Kazakhstan some elements are strongly emphasized. In the entrance hall a golden statue of Nazarbajew will greet you on the ground level and a golden egale will do the same from above. The Kazakh ancestors with yurts got a special place in the exhibition – on the other side the Soviet time was not thematized to much.

When walking through the city a certain colour and specific symbols are apparent – blue (it symbloizes the sky above the Kazakh steppe) and golden ornaments. Both are important parts of nation building and identification in Kazakhstan. After the collapse of the Soviet Union politicians were eager to create a national base for identification.

Another perspective of city was gained from the new train stations. The size and change in the city can be observed from this point. The train station itself feels like an airport.

Of course we had a great couchsurfing host who showed us culinary specialities of Kazakhstan (horse lovers shouldn’t read any further!): besides horse meat, horse milk is drunk and Бешбармак is the national dish of the country. Of course meat is used to prepare it (along potatoes, onions and noodles). It is eaten by hand and the name means five fingers.

After almost one week we left Nur-Sultan for Almaty. It is the former capital of Kazakhstan and lies 1.200 km South of Nursultan.