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CENTRAL KAZAKHSTAN :
Central Kazakhstan has
one of the largest lakes in the world. The unique Lake Balkhash
is one-half saline, one-half fresh water. Some archaeological and
ethnographic sites have been preserved in central Kazakhstan. There
are Bronze Age and Early Iron Age sites and New Stone Age and Bronze
Age settlements in the Karkarala Oasis. The Bayan-Aul
National Park has rock drawings, stone sculptures, clean,
sparkling lakes and pines clinging to the rocks. The Baikonur
Cosmodrome, located 5km (3 miles) from the garrison city of
Leninsk and 230km (143 miles) from Kzil-Orda, is the
Central Asian answer to Cape Canaveral - tours are
available, during which visitors can witness space launches. It was
from here, on 12 April 1961, that Yuri Gagarin, the world’s first
cosmonaut, took off and it is still a point of departure for space
launches.
THE WEST :
West Kazakhstan marks the southern convergence
of Europe and Asia in the basin of the Caspian Sea. The region’s
Karagie Depression, 132m (433ft) below sea level, is the lowest
point in the world after the Dead Sea in Sinai. There are many
architectural heritage sites in this region, including the
subterranean cross-shaped Shakpak-Ata Mosque (12th-14th
century) which is hewn out of rock.
THE NORTH :
Astana was made Kazakhstan’s new capital
in 1997, as its location was thought to be more accessible to Russia
and less earthquake-prone than Almaty (the former capital), where
foreign embassies and consulates are still based. Although a small and
friendly town and an important centre for the production of grain, it
has little else to recommend it. The nature reserve of Kurgaldjino
in the north of Kazakhstan houses the most northerly settlement of
pink flamingoes in the world, while another nature reserve, Naurzum,
offers a rich landscape of geographical contrasts - salt lakes ringed
by forests, the remains of ancient pines strewn amongst sand dunes,
pine forests growing out of salt-marsh beds, vast meadows, and rare
animals such as hisser swans and grave eagles.
THE EAST :
East Kazakhstan offers a
colourful landscape of snow-capped mountain peaks, plunging forested
canyons and picturesque cedar forests. Lake Marakol rivals
Baikal in beauty. It is 35km (22 miles) long and 19km (12 miles) wide
and lies 1449m (4754ft) above sea level. The city of Semipalatinsk,
30km (19 miles) from Siberia, was a Russian place of exile;
Dostoyevsky was exiled here from 1857-1859 and his house is preserved
as a museum - exhibits include notes for Crime and Punishment and The
Idiot. Other museums in the city include the Abai Kununbaev Museum,
commemorating the Kazakh poet, and the History Museum. Nuclear
tests were carried out southwest of Semipalatinsk until
1990, although today background radiation is easily within reach of
internationally accepted levels. The town of Ust-Kamenogorsk is
a mining and smelting town and is the gateway to the Altai
Mountains. Occupying the central point of the continent, these
gentle mountains are covered with meadows and woods and stretch for a
1000km (620 miles) into Mongolia. Rakhmanovski in the Altai
Mountains offers a turbaza (see Accommodation section)
and is renowned for its cross-country skiing. |
