Pavlodar is a city located in the northeastern part of Kazakhstan, 450 km northeast from Astana and 405 km southeast from Omsk (Russia). The climate of the region is sharply continental, the winters are very cold and the summers are hot.

The following beautiful photos of the city were taken by Legostin Vyacheslav this month when the weather was really cold (about minus 40 degrees Celsius).

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Tags: frost · Pavlodar city

Beautiful views of Almaty, the mountains located nearby and Balkhash Lake.

Tags: Southern Kazakhstan · time-lapse

The New Year 2012 was marked with fireworks in Pavlodar like in other cities of Kazakhstan and all over the world.

Tags: fireworks · New Year · Pavlodar city · salute

We wish you happiness and luck in the coming year of 2012!

Tags: 2012 · Happy New Year

December 16, Zhanauzen (Mangystau oblast) became the place of serious riots that began during the rally of oilmen. The city is a center of oil industry workers strike that has been lasting for 7 months.

The workers gathered at the day of 20th anniversary of independence of Kazakhstan to require the resumption of the negotiations and demanded the release of their leaders who were arrested and convicted. The action involved more than five thousand people.

As a result the buildings of city administration and oil company as well as a police bus were burned. According to first information about 20 people were killed and a lot of wounded. Local websites, online newspapers, Twitter were shut down in the whole region. The internal troops were moved to the city to suppress the riots.

Tags: Mangystau oblast · riots · Zhanauzen

In the city of Almaty on Thursday, December 1, the first branch of the subway was opened. The opening ceremony was attended by Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

The city authorities suggest that the subway will significantly improve the ecological situation in Almaty reducing the traffic on the streets. The first branch of Almaty subway has a length of eight and a half kilometers with seven stations.

The construction began in 1988. The main problems were the lack of funding and difficult geological situation. Almaty subway is the first in Kazakhstan and second in Central Asia. Photos by Vyacheslav Legostin.

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Tags: Almaty city · metro · subway

Several landscape zones (forest-steppe, steppe, semi-desert, and desert) can be found on the territory of over 1,800 kilometers separating the southern and the northern borders of Kazakhstan.

In the west, the territory of Kazakhstan is bordered by the Caspian Sea, in the east – by the taiga of Altai, in the south – by the highest peaks of Tien Shan Mountains. The western part of Kazakhstan is almost entirely flat, and the eastern – mostly mountainous.

More than six thousand species of plants grow on the territory of Kazakhstan. About 500 species of birds, 178 species of mammals, 49 species of reptiles, 12 species of amphibians, 107 species of fish are living on the vast territory of the country.

Tags: landscapes

Almaty (Russian spelling Alma-Ata), formerly (1855-1921) Verny, the ex-capital of Kazakhstan, is situated in the southeastern part of Kazakhstan (Almaty oblast) at the foot of Zailiski Ala-Tau mountain system at an elevation of 2,300-3,000 feet (700-900 m). Almaty is called a garden city having 80 sq.m. of green plantations for each of its million-odd residents.

The following photos of the city were taken from the seventeenth floor of one of the tallest buildings of Almaty by Ispanec.

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Tags: Almaty city

The total area of Almaty Zoo is about 21 hectares. Abundant and varied wildlife of Kazakhstan is presented by a lot of species, in particular, such as Siberian stag, argali, wolf, golden eagle and others.

Animals from almost all continents of the Earth found their home in Almaty Zoo. White and Himalayan bears, tigers, jaguars, Persian and Far East leopards; elephants, zebras, yaks, deer; American condors, vultures; snakes and crocodiles – 509 species in total – are living there. The zoo is especially proud of a pair of white lions.

Address: Almaty, Esenberlina Str., 166. Opening hours: Daily, 10:00-17:00 in winter, 9:00-19:00 in summer.

Tags: Almaty city · Zoo

Not so long ago Kazakhstan commemorated the 20th anniversary of closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site. It is located on the border of East Kazakhstan, Pavlodar and Karaganda oblasts, about 130 km northwest of Semey city.

The main attraction of the area is “atomic” lake, which is located at the test site “Balapan”. It was formed in the explosion of a thermonuclear warhead of 140 kilotons of power in 1965.

The diameter of the lake is 500 meters; depth from the surface to the bottom is about 80 meters. In a similar way the Soviet strategists planned to build water reservoirs in arid regions of the Soviet Union. Photos by Grigory Bedenko for voxpopuli.kz

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Tags: East Kazakhstan oblast · Karaganda oblast · Pavlodar oblast · Semipalatinsk nuclear test site