The Aktau (“White”) Mountains, located in the Altyn Emel National Park in the south-east of Kazakhstan in Almaty Oblast, arose on the territory where the waters of an ancient ocean used to splash in the era when dinosaurs inhabited the Earth. They are about 400 million years old.

These colorful chalky hills, formed from bluish-gray sandstone and red clay, interspersed with yellow and pink cornelian, jasper and white quartz, reminiscent of a layer cake. These lifeless slopes, made of fragile rocks, intricately cut by erosion, are so unusual that it is impossible to take your eyes off them. Photos by: Sergey Terekhov.

amazing mountains

Tags: Almaty oblast