Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
About 100km further west past Ma-
linovka is the Unesco World Heritage-listed
Korgalzhyn¨ Nature¨ Reserve . With over
200 steppe lakes in and around the reserve,
the area is a vital stop on major bird migra-
tion routes from Africa, the Middle East
and India to summer breeding grounds in
Siberia. From June to September salty Lake
Tengiz supports the world's most northerly
flamingo colony, several thousand strong.
Some 4000 of the world's 10,000 critically
endangered sociable lapwings spend their
summers in the area too. Bird watchers from
around the world flock in during May and
June for the northward migration.
A good visitors¨centre ( % 71637-2 10 13;
madin Rakhimzhan 20, Korgalzhyn; admission 300T;
h 10am-1pm & 2-5pm Wed-Sat) in Korgalzhyn
village near the reserve, has exhibits on
birds, migration and the local area, and
houses the reserve¨office ( % director 71637-2
16 50; madin Rakhimzhan 20, Korgalzhyn; h mon-
Fri) . The village has several simple but clean
guesthouses (gostevye doma; per person incl
3 meals 6000T) whose owners will organise
trips into the reserve and to other nearer,
also bird-rich, lakes outside the reserve. A
day-trip to Lake Tengiz, requiring a 4WD ve-
hicle, costs around 10,000T for around four
people plus 3000T for an official reserve
guide; a car day-trip to Lake Birtaban, 11km
from the village, is only around 3000T.
The guesthouse of Bibinur¨ &¨ Marat¨¨
Alimzhanov ( % 71637-2 18 00, 702-453 6128;
pana-07@inbox.ru; Abay 10/2, Korgalzhyn; pWc )
is particularly recommended. They have a
nice four-room wooden house specially for
guests, make excellent food, have vehicles
for excursions and Astana transfers (8000T
one-way per car), and can organise folk
dance/music events for guests (Marat leads
a local group). Other options include Gos-
tevoy¨Dom¨U¨Nadezhdy ( % 71637-21159, 702-
923 9248; Chokan Ualikhanov 12/2, Korgalzhyn) ,
run by the friendly Shabarshovs, and the
house of Timur¨Iskakov ( % 71637-2 10 64,
701-622 4800; timur_iskak@mail.ru; gorky 9, Kor-
galzhyn; W ) , who speaks a little English.
Astana-based Akmolaturist ( % 7172-33 02
04, 7172-33 02 07; www.akmolatourist.kz; Office 22,
Hotel Abay, Respublika dangyly 33, Astana; h 10am-
6pm mon-Fri) has two cabins (Karazhar; d/q
cabin 3000/4000T; h may-Sep; p ) beside
Sultankeldy Lake inside the reserve, and will
be able to sort out permits and guides.
Minibuses to Malinovka (350T, one hour)
and Korgalzhyn (1400T, three hours) leave
Astana bus station eight times daily. Shared
taxis to Korgalzhyn (1500T, two hours)
go from outside the bus station. The first
minibus, at 10am, is often full so you should
buy your ticket at least an hour ahead; the
next one is at 11.50am. Coming back from
Malinovka you can get a shared taxi (300T)
behind the blue Sauda Uyi building 600m
along the street from the museum entrance.
Lake Burabay
ОЗЕРО
БУРАБАЙ
% 71630
Lake Burabay (formerly Borovoe), 240km
north of Astana, is the focus of Burabay
National Nature Park (www.gnpp.kz), a pic-
turesque 835-sq-km area of lakes, hills, pine
forests and strange rock formations that has
given birth to several Kazakh legends. Accom-
modation and other facilities here are con-
tinually improving, but schemes for a massive
lakeside resort have not yet come to fruition.
The small town of Burabay stretches
about 2.5km along the lake's northeast shore.
On the main road here, the park's Visi-
tor¨Centre¨&¨Nature¨Museum (Vizit-Tsentr
& Tabigat murazhayy; Kenesary; admission 500T;
h 10am-7pm Tue-Sun) contains a diverse dis-
play of stuffed wildlife from Kazakhstan's na-
tional parks, two ATMs, and souvenir shops
selling a park map for 300T. Included in the
museum ticket is an adjoining outdoor zoo
with two Przewalski's horses, several deer
(including three maral) and various eagles,
bears, wolves, argali sheep and yaks in small
enclosures.
A well-made walking¨ path parallels
the road for 9km from the lake's southeast
to northwest corners via Burabay town.
Heading west from the town it's 4km to
picturesque Goluboy¨ Zaliv (Blue Bay).
The most celebrated Burabay legend links
Zhumbaktas , the Sphinx-like rock sticking
out of the lake here, with Okzhetpes , the
striking 380m-tall rock pile rising on the
shore behind it. While Abylay Khan's army
was fighting the Zhungars back in the 18th
century, the story goes, a beautiful prin-
cess was captured and brought to Burabay,
where many Kazakh warriors wanted her
as a wife. The princess agreed to marry the
first warrior who could shoot an arrow to
the top of Okzhetpes. All failed, hence the
name Okzhetpes, which means 'Unreacha-
ble by Arrows'. The distraught princess then
drowned herself in the lake, thus creating
Zhumbaktas (Mysterious Stone).
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