In a picturesque place on the shore of Markakol Lake at the east of Kazakhstan (Kurchum district of East Kazakhstan region) there is a small village Urunhayka.

It is not so easy to get to this distant village. The only way is to drive on the mountain Old-Austrian road built by prisoners a hundred years ago. This is one of the most interesting and picturesque parts of Kazakhstan Altai. Photos by voxpopuli.kz

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Tags: East Kazakhstan oblast

Picturesque Ushkonyr plateau is located about 45 km west of Almaty. The average height above sea level is about 2000 meters. Ushkonyr is one of the main hang-gliding places near Almaty.

There is a gravel road leading to the plateau. Soon it will become paved. The entrance to Ushkonyr is not free (the fee is 2000 tenge or about 15 USD per each car), because the land is privately owned. And here is the map location of Ushkonyr plateau. Photos by Aidar Ayazbayev

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Tags: Almaty oblast · landscapes

In late August, large wildfire occurred in the Ile-Alatau National Park located near Almaty in the close proximity to the “Medeo” sports complex. The flames swept over twenty hectares of mountain slopes.

Large wildfire in the natural park was predicted a year ago – then the environmentalists, the rescuers and the authorities were deciding what to do with the trees felled by storm.

Recently, the works to dispose dead trees were carried out in these places but unfortunately not all the fallen trees were removed. Photos by Grigoriy Bedenko.

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Tags: Almaty oblast · fire

Taban-Karagai is an area of summer pastures, located south of the Assy plateau in Almaty region of Kazakhstan.

This area has majestic nature with almost no traces of human presence. The pastures are at altitude over 2,000 meters above sea level. Due to the fact that it rains here almost every day, the meadows are covered with succulent grasses. Photos by Constantine Kikvidze

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Tags: Almaty oblast · horses · landscapes

Southern Kazakhstan is an economic-geographical region in the Republic of Kazakhstan, the most populated region of the country (about 6 million people on the territory of 711,500 sq. km.). The major cities of Kazakhstan – Almaty and Shymkent – are located here.

Landscapes of the southern region of the country are a combination of dry, rather cold in winter and hot in summer sparsely populated steppes and deserts, high snow-capped mountains. Special natural areas appeared along the banks of rivers and large lakes: Lake Balkhash and the Aral Sea. Photos by Gregory Bedenko

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Tags: landscapes · Southern Kazakhstan

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

The southern part of the region includes the northern slopes of Kyrgyz and Karatau mountains and, in their foothills, a narrow strip of fertile irrigated land. The center of the oblast is the sandy Muyun-Kum Desert, which is separated by Chu River from the clay desert of Betpak-Dala in the northern part of the region.

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Tags: landscapes · Zhambyl oblast

At the present time in Kazakhstan, more and more standard bus stops of the same type appear along the highways crossing the endless steppes. These new bus stops do not differ from each other.

The situation was different when Kazakhstan was the part of the Soviet Union. Bus stops were often built with a personal touch to their appearance, local artists helped to create designs of the stops. Here you can see several of these art objects as long as they do not disappear. Photos by Timur Zhansultanov for voxpopuli.kz

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Tags: steppes

During Soviet times the volume of production of salt in Kyzylorda oblast of Kazakhstan reached 600,000 tons annually, ensuring the needs of all 15 republics of the USSR.

Today the region produces about 250,000 tons of salt that is used only for the needs of domestic market. Salt reserves in this area are about 11 million tons, enough to continue production for the next 40-50 years. Photos by voxpopuli.kz

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Tags: Aralsk city · Kzyl-Orda oblast · salt

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

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