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

The tradition of hunting with tame hawks and falcons appeared very long ago. Today it is preserved only in a few countries including Kazakhstan. February 12, near the village of Nura (Almaty oblast), the 4th hunting tournament of the Republic of Kazakhstan was held.

There were competitions in several disciplines, starting with grades for the appearance and quality of equipment of a hunter, checking out how well the bird was trained, and finally the main event – hunting for hares and foxes. The winner was determined by the results of this last contest. Photos by Svyatoslav Antonov.

(more…)

Tags: Almaty oblast · falcons · hawks · hunt

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

(more…)

Tags: Almaty city · bird's eye views

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).

(more…)

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