Kazakhstan - Central Asia - page 72

Stena (Marble Wall, 6400m) on the Kazakh-
Chinese border.
Khan Tengri is flanked by two long, west-
running glaciers, the North Inylchek Glacier
on its Kazakh side and the South Inylchek
glacier on its Kyrgyz side.
Mountain-tourism firm Kan Tengri (p68)
offers a variety of exciting one- to three-
week trek trips and full-scale mountain-
eering expeditions in this area in July and
August, using base camps on the Inylchek
glaciers at altitudes of around 4000m. Ac-
cess is often by helicopter, using the Karka-
ra Valley base camp as a staging post.
A typical two-week trekking trip costs
around €2000. Many trips include helicop-
ter flights around the main peaks and gla-
cier hikes to the foot of Khan Tengri and/or
Pik Pobedy on the Kyrgyzstan/China bor-
der. The major peak accessible to trekkers
is Karly Tau (5450m), a three-day expedi-
tion out of the North Inylchek base camp.

you like beautiful desolation and unusual
natural and archaeological attractions. It's
famous for the Singing¨Dune , which hums
like an aircraft engine when the weather
is suitably windy and dry, but archaeol-
ogy fans will be absorbed by the Terekty¨
petroglyphs and the 31 Besshatyr¨bur-
ial¨mounds , which are one of the biggest
groups of Scythian tombs known anywhere.
In spring and early autumn you can hope
to see rare goitred gazelles (zheyran), argali
sheep and wild ass (kulan) .
You need to be in a vehicle to visit the park
and visitors must stick to three linear routes
of between 80km and 160km (one-way) each.
The western route (No 2), accessed through
Shengeldy village, is the easiest reached
from Almaty and includes the Terekty petro-
glyphs and Besshatyr mounds. The central
(No 1) and eastern (No 3) routes are both
accessed through Basshi village inside the
park's northern edge: No 1 reaches the Sing-
ing Dune, while No 3 gets into some of the
park's most remote territory, in the Katutau
and Aktau mountains. It's difficult to cover
more than one route in one day.
The park runs five simple hotels (per
person 2500-5000T, breakfast/lunch/dinner
500/1500/1000T) - best is Hotel¨Altyn-Emel
(Basshi; per person 5000T) ; three others are on
route No 2, and one on route No 1. You can
camp for free at one location on each route.
The park's Almaty¨office ( % 727-250 04
51; [e-mail]; Room 244, Ho-
tel Zhetisu, Abylay Khan 55; h 9am-noon & 2-6pm
mon-Fri, 9am-1pm Sat) provides information,
takes hotel bookings and can issue the nec-
essary permits for all three routes. The head¨
office ( % 705-610 2511; [e-mail];
Askarbeka 73, Basshi) issues permits for routes
1 and 3 only. Obligatory daily fees are 974T
per person for park entry, 200T ecological
charge per vehicle, and 600T per group for
a park guide.
Organising an independent visit can be
complicated and uncertain: overall the best
bet is to arrange everything through an
Almaty agency. Typical prices from Jibek
Joly (p68) for a two-day jaunt range from
50,000T to 100,000T for transport (up to
four people) plus around 10,000T per per-
son for accommodation, food and park fees
(less if you camp). Jibek Joly is also hoping
to introduce fixed-date tours, which would
be cheaper.

Tamgaly Petroglyphs
ПЕТРОГЛИФЫ ТАМГАЛЫ
The World Heritage-listed Tamgaly petro-
glyphs are the most impressive of many
petroglyph groups in southeastern Kaza-
khstan. Set in a lushly vegetated canyon in
an otherwise arid region near Karabastau
village, 170km northwest of Almaty, they
number more than 4000 separate carvings
from the Bronze Age and later, in several
groups. The varied images include sun-
headed idols, women in childbirth, hunting
scenes and a big variety of animals, and are
best seen in the afternoon when most sun-
light reaches them.
The canyon was a ritual site for nomadic
peoples from at least 3000 years ago. Don't
confuse Tamgaly with Tamgaly Tas, which
is a smaller and more recent petroglyph
site on the Ili River. Many Almaty agencies
can organise day trips: 30,000T to 35,000T
per carload is a fair price with an English-
speaking guide.

Altyn-Emel National Park
НАЦИОНАЛЬНЫЙ ПАРК
АЛТЫН - ЭМЕЛЬ
Though expensive to visit, this large,
4600-sq-km national park stretching north-
east from Lake Kapshagay is worth it if