Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A bus to Kyzylorda (1200T, nine hours)
leaves the train station at 10pm from about
June to September only. No public transport
runs along the good 600km road to Aktobe.
Aral Tenizi can provide taxis to or from
Kyzylorda for 35,000T to 40,000T (six to
seven hours).
centrate for military purposes. Uranium
mining, nuclear power and associated
industries were wound down in the 1990s,
but Aktau has since gained a new lease of
life as a centre for oil and gas operations,
both onshore and offshore.
The only significant street with a name
is Kazakhstan Respublikasy Preziden-
tininy dangyly (you can understand why
many people still call it Lenina). Aktau ad-
dresses are based on
mikrorayon
(micro-
district) building numbers: 4-17-29 means
Microdistrict 4, Building 17, Apartment 29.
1
¨Sights¨&¨Activities
From the
MiG¨fighter¨plane¨memorial
you
can descend steps to the breezy
seafront
, a
mixture of low cliffs, rocks and thin sandy
strips, with assorted cafes and bars that are
lively in summer (when some of them dou-
ble as open-air discos). A narrow street fol-
lowed by a pedestrian promenade parallel
the coast for 1km south from here. The wid-
er, more popular
Dostar¨Beach
(admission
100T) is about 4km further southeast.
Regional¨Museum¨
mUSEUm
(Dom 23A, mikrorayon 9; foreigner/Kazakhstani
400/200T;
h
9am-1pm & 2-6pm Tue-Fri, 10am-
5pm Sat & Sun)
Recently renovated, the Re-
gional Museum has moderately interesting
exhibits ranging from Caspian fish to the
early Mangistau oil industry.
Briz-Aktau¨
SAILINg
(
%
701-913 4077, 52 30 50; www.marin.kz; Dom
1, mikrorayon 5; per hr 25,000-40,000T;
h
office
9am-6pm mon-Fri)
Take a sail on the blue Cas-
pian waters in a beautiful 12m French-built
sail/motor catamaran. Briz's professionally
skippered boats, for up to 10 passengers,
can go for any period from an hour upward
(including overnight). All boats have four
two-person cabins, plus a galley area.
It is conveniently berthed at
Yakht-Klub¨
Briz
(mikrorayon 1)
. You can contact the firm
by phone outside office hours.
4
¨Sleeping
Hotel¨Keremet¨
HOTEL $
(
%
50 15 69; Dom 20, mikrorayon 3; dm 1500T,
s/d 2000/3500T, r half lux/lux 4000/5000T;
a
)
Rooms at this budget option are worn and
mosquito-prone, and the cheapest have
shared bathrooms, but all have air-con.
There's a cafe adjoining and staff cheer up
if you can manage some words of Russian
for them.
WESTERN KAZAKHSTAN
Western Kazakhstan - so far west that the
part beyond the Ural River is in Europe - is
a gateway to Central Asia from the Caucasus
and the Volga and Ural regions of Russia.
Kazakhstan's biggest oil and gas fields - Ten-
giz (oil), Karachaganak (gas) and the off-
shore oil of Kashagan beneath the Caspian
Sea - and a glut of other mineral resources
have brought boom times to the west's main
cities, but elsewhere the human population
is sparse and the landscape is chiefly desert
and steppe.
For those with a taste for adventurous
exploring, the deserts outside the Caspian-
side city of Aktau, dotted with underground
mosques, ancient necropolises, wandering
camels and spectacular rock formations, are
just the ticket. The other main cities - Atyrau,
Aktobe and Uralsk - have limited interest for
travellers except as overland transit points.
The region is one hour behind Astana time
(which is used by the rest of the country), but
train timetables often still use Astana time.
Aktau
АКТАУ
%
7292 / POP 180,000
An entry point into Central Asia by air from
the Caucasus and İstanbul, and by an ir-
regular ferry from Baku (Azerbaijan), Ak-
tau perches on Kazakhstan's Caspian shore.
With some sandy beaches, low-key summer
tourism and a temperate climate (several de-
grees above zero in January), it's a pleasant
enough town for a day or two - but the area's
main interest, other than transport connec-
tions, is the natural and man-made wonders
of the surrounding region, Mangistau.
Local uranium and oil finds were
the reason Soviet architects began to
lay out a model town of wide, straight
streets in this remote location in 1958.
The uranium, from an open-cast mine
30km northeast, fed Aktau's nuclear fast
breeder reactor, which generated the
town's electricity, powered its desalina-
tion plant and produced uranium con-
