Archive for November 2011
21
The views from one of Almaty’s tallest buildings
2 Comments · Posted by Sergei Rzhevsky in Cities, Photos
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.
Tags: Almaty city
14
The tour of Almaty Zoo
No comments · Posted by Alex Smirnov in Entertainment, Nature, Video
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
7
Semipalatinsk nuclear test site – 20 years after the closure
1 Comment · Posted by Alex Smirnov in History, Nature, Photos, Video
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
Tags: East Kazakhstan oblast · Karaganda oblast · Pavlodar oblast · Semipalatinsk nuclear test site
A couple of nice time-lapse videos of Kazakhstan new capital city Astana located in the steppe region of the country and former capital, largest city of Kazakhstan Almaty surrounded by the mountains.
Tags: Almaty city · Astana city · time-lapse
