Almaty (also known as Alma-Ata), the ex-capital of Kazakhstan, is located in the southeastern part of Kazakhstan at the foot of Zailiski Ala-Tau mountain system at an elevation of 2,300-3,000 feet (700-900 meters).

Today the city extends about 12.5 miles (20 km) in all directions from its center and is considered one of the most beautiful cities of Kazakhstan, with regular planning, wide, tree-lined streets, numerous parks and orchards, and a backdrop of mountains.

Tags: Almaty city · time-lapse

Tamgaly Tas in Kazakh language means “stones with the signs”. Here on the rocks a large number of petroglyphs are preserved, among which the most famous image is the picture of the three Buddhist deities. Under the figures the sacred text is carved in Sanskrit, dating from the 12th century.

The rocks are located near the Ili River, 120 km north of Almaty. Today this place is popular with tourists, including rock-climbers, who gather here in spring and fall. Arid and semiarid landscape of the valley is one of the most picturesque places in Almaty region.

Tags: Almaty oblast · drawings · rocks · Tamgaly Tas

Kazakhstan is a vast territory, reaching the size of Western Europe, but with a population of sixteen million. This is a land of mountains, fast rivers and waterfalls, glaciers and mountain pastures.

Kazakhstan is a land of boundless steppes, hills and green meadows stretching to the horizon. In winter, temperatures reach minus forty degrees Celsius, and in summer, on the contrary, it is forty-degree heat.

The country occupies an area of historic Great Silk Road, at the junction of East and West, north and south, connecting the air and land routes of Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Tags: mountains · steppes

Zhambyl oblast is located in southern Kazakhstan. The region was named after Kazakh poet Zhambyl Dzhabayev (1846-1945).

Zhambyl oblast has good opportunities for developing tourism both inner and international. The territory of the region was crossed by the Great Silk way along which there are a lot of interesting monuments of history and culture.

The region is rich in great number of landscape and biological territories valuable for eco tourism, for example, Northern region of Western Tyan-Shan. Flora and fauna are unique there.

Tags: Zhambyl oblast

Almaty, the ex-capital of Kazakhstan, is situated in the southeastern part of Kazakhstan at the foot of Zailiski Ala-Tau mountain system at an elevation of 2,300-3,000 feet (700-900 meters).

Almaty is called a garden city. It has about 80 square meters of green plantations for each of its million-odd residents. Photos by Maksim Zolotukhin from voxpopuli.kz

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Tags: Almaty city · bird's eye views

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

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

Dzungarian Alatau is a mountain range located in the eastern part of the country on Kazakhstan-China border between Ili River and Alakol Lake.

The mountain range was named after the nearby desert. The total length of Dzungarian Alatau is about 450 km., width from 50 to 90 km, maximum altitude 4464 m on Mount Besbaskan. Photos by Grigoriy Bedenko.

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Tags: Dzungarian Alatau · Eastern Kazakhstan · mountains

Almaty oblast is one of the most beautiful and fascinating regions of Kazakhstan. Nature here is so amazing and full of contrasts that there are almost no repeating landscapes.

During one day trip you can visit the snow-capped mountains, wander through the pine forests and after a couple of hours journey walk among the dunes and sands of the endless steppes, feel the power and strength of ancient canyons and get lost in a maze of limestone mountains. Photos by Constantin Kikvidze from voxpopuli.kz.

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Tags: Almaty oblast · horses · landscapes · mountains · steppes

Mountains occupy less than 10% of Kazakhstan territory located mainly in the east and south-east of the country. There are, however, the mountain elevations in the central regions, in the far west and even in the northern regions, but all of them are low mountains, not even reaching 1000 meters above the sea level.

The really high mountains are Tian Shan mountains located in the south and south-east and Altai mountains located in the east of Kazakhstan. Tian Shan mountains are known for the variety of landscapes and their ecosystems contain more than half of the biological diversity of Kazakhstan.

Tags: Tian Shan mountains · time-lapse