Photo Tour to USTYURT PLATEAU Kazakhstan

«Photo Tour to USTYURT PLATEAU» Kazakhstan

Itinerary: Almaty city – Aktau city – Bozjira - Beket Ata Mosque - Tusbair - Ayrakty Mount – Sherkala Mount – Torych stoun balls Valley - Aktau city – Almaty city

Program

DAY 1. ALMATY.

Fly to AKTAU from Almaty. Transfer to the hotel. Excursion along the shore of Kaspian Sea. Evening photo session.

DAY 2. ALMATY - AKTAU – BOZJIRA. 250 km.

Morning photo session of Aktau city. Drive to Bozjira valley on Ustyurt Plateau (250 km). Camp.

* Bozzira is a side part of Ustyurt Plateau where Mother Nature has freed her imagination creating an unearthly landscape in white. The small valley of Bozzhira is surrounded by an amphitheater of natural oddities on three sides. Everything there is white in colour; canyons, peaks, mountain towers, mountain castles, and mountain yurts. Bozzhira relict mountains, like chameleons, change their appearance as you walk between them. These relicts, like silent guards, peer into the hazy distance guarding the peace of the majestic symbol of Mangystau – the giant stone yurt. The true master of the yurt is the lonely wind mournfully singing the steppe songs to the endless skies.

DAY 3. BOZJIRA.

Morning and evening photo session. Camp.

DAY 4. BOZJIRA – BEKET ATA MOSQUE - TUZBAIR. 170 km.

Drive to Beket Ata Mosque (40km) and further to Tuzbaiyr Valley (130 km). Evening photo session. Camp.

*Tuzbair is a majestic creation of natural elements. Here, the Ustyurt Cliff steeply breaks by a cascade of clay-limestone and chalk steps, at the bottom of which lies a vast salt marsh, called in this region, Sor. Chalk cliffs are scoured and riddled with deep channels forming innumerable ranges of fantastic columns. There is a giant natural semi-arch created by wind at the very bottom of the cliff. During heavy rainfalls or snowmelt, the salt marsh is filled with water turning into a huge salt-mirror that reflects

DAY 5. TUZBAIR.

Morning and evening photo session. Camp.

DAY 6. TUZBAIR –AYRAKTY - VALLEY OF CASTLES.

Morning photo session. Drive to Ayrakty – Shomamay Valley (90km). Evening photo session. Camp.

DAY 7. AYRACTY - SHERKALA VALLEY - TORYSH STOUN BALLS VALLEY.

Morning photo session. Drive to Sherkala Mount and Torysh Stoun Balls Valley (70 km). Evening photo session. Camp.

* Steeped in legends Sherkala Mountain is a natural symbol of Mangystau. From a certain angle, it looks like a giant yurt set up by the mythical giant nomads in fancy folds of the terrain Akmysh. Sherkala Mountain is a big outlier with unusual shapes originating during the formation of the Karatau mountain valleys after the elevation of the land from the sea depths. One of the legends goes that once upon a time brave knights were holding their defense from hordes of enemies on Sherkala Mountain. They fought like tigers. The last defenders of the mountain disappeared into the underground mountain passageways and stayed there forever. Hence the name of this bastion of heroism and independence – Sherkala or Tiger City.

*A local legend has it that swarms of enemies covering the land like grasshoppers came to Mangystau. Locals stretched out their hands to heaven to pray for help and were heard. The heavens opened with storms, thunder and lightning. In a moment, the enemies turned into stones. The endless fields of unusual rock formations, spherical stone concretions, are still seen today, up to 3-4 meters in diameter. Long lines of stones of different sizes are formed at the underground layers that were destroyed upright. Where the layer was destroyed in the horizontal, the concretions occur in fields forming a bizarre mass of stones with the shapes of balls, eggs, mushrooms, cylinders, nesting dolls and animals

DAY 8. TORYSH STOUN BALLS VALLEY -AKTAU CITY.

Morning photo session. Drive to Aktau city (200 km). Hotel. Transfer to the airport. Evening flight to Almaty.

Tour dates