Southeast of Aktau

Mangystau Region

Kazakhstan

October 16, 2018

Hello,

What a day!  What a beginning for my journey in Mangystau!

My driver Vladimir picks me up at my hotel and off we go, out of town.  We detour for a bit of shopping at the “last stop” before the desert.

Always the desert!

But what a desert!

The Karagiye Depression reaching 132m (433 ft) below sea level at its deepest point is the lowest place in Central Asia and the fifth lowest place in the world.  It occupies a large area, with a length of 40km (25 mi).

We wander along the rim.

Then onward through the desert, mountains in the distance.

We make camp above the enormous salt-encrusted valley that Vladimir affectionately calls the “Valley of the Three Brothers.”

The official name is Karyn-Ustyurt chink of the Karyn-Zhark hollow.

Have a look!

Jan 

Mangystau

Kazakhstan

October 17, 2018

My driver Vladimir must have a GPS embedded in his skull. 

We drive across the desert floor. 

No road signs.

No markers assist us along the multitude of dirt tracks that veer off in all directions.

Yet we find our way through the mountains and to Vladimir’s “secret locations.”I have no idea where we are. 

Vlad’s secrets are safe with me.

I’ll share the scenes, the outcrops and the colors.

But not the coordinates.

Yurt Camp

Ethnoaul Kogez

Shetpe Village

Mangystau Region

Kazakhstan

October 18, 2018

In the Mangystau Region, 25% larger than France, the desert appears desolate and empty.  

But life abounds.

Three pilgrimage sites built by the Eighteenth Century Sufi mystic, Beket-Ata..

An oasis appears.  Lovely flowers and plants grow alongside a salty stream.  Too salty for fish.

A Yurt Camp provides warm, comfortable bedding and hearty meals. 

Livestock everywhere. 

Camels of course. 

A herd of sheep.

A lone horse grazing on the stunted shrubbery.

Desolate.  Not empty.

Paratethys

Mangystau

West Kazakhstan

October 20, 2018

Hello,

I am standing on the rim that overlooks the ancient seabed and salt basin of the Paratethys Sea.

Even this rim on the edge of the plateau was likely covered by antediluvian waters.

Thirty-five million years ago Paratethys extended as far west as the modern Atlantic Ocean.  The seas covered the land masses east through the areas of the Mediterranean and the Black Seas, across the Caspian Sea and west to the Aral Sea.   Eventually Paratethys flowed into the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

The “mountain” scenery is “oceanic” and striated with millions of years of colorful deposits.

The convoluted geologic formations are sensational, splendid, stunning – take your pick.

Paratethys - for me, a new word, a new location, a new concept. 

Para = near or next to.

Tethys of Greek Mythology

Tuzbair Cliffs

The Peninsula of Mangystau

Kazakhstan

October 20, 2018

Hello from the Valley of Castles,

Here are excerpts for an official Mangystau publication:

The system of small remnant mountains is known among the local population under the name of Airakty-Shomanay.

In 1851, the great Ukrainian poet and artist T.G. Shevchenko was in exile here. These mountains so impressed him that he made a series of drawings under the poetic name "Valley of Castles."

The Airakty mountains really look like fairy-tale castles with spires, towers, colonnades and fortress walls.

A wild winding path, punched by semi-wild horses, leads to a small observation deck on one of the mountains, from which a panoramic view of the distant Aktau mountains and all the Airakty castles opens.

The valley is covered with small but gently fragrant Sogdian tulips in wet spring. If you are lucky, then you will see a couple of cautious mouflons - mountain sheep.

On the top of the large table mountain Airakty - Razdvoennaya on the south side is a small trail. One local shepherd told that in the mountain there is a deep cave, in which he is afraid to go.

Despite its visual attractiveness, "Valley of Castles" is waterless and practically devoid of any tree-like vegetation.

As they say about the peninsula of Mangyshlak (Mangystau),

“The Earth is exposed here to the bones!