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

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

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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

The Central Exhibition Hall of Almaty opened puppet fair “Kykli.KZ” (“Puppets.KZ”), which runs until October 31. It brings together artists and craftsmen, studios, clubs, fans having a great interest in the creation of puppets, regardless of age and the presence of arts education. Photos by ankona.

Hours: 10:00-18:00. Address: Kazakhstan, Almaty, Zheltoksan Str., 137.

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Tags: Almaty city · puppet fair

The Kazakhs are ethnicity and nation, indigenous and general population of Kazakhstan. Kazakhs are also living in nearby regions of China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Mongolia.

At present Kazakhstan is experiencing a period of national revival and the revival of national statehood. During the Soviet period Kazakhs’ traditions were proclaimed the relics of the past and were methodically eradicated. The following set of videos introduces you to the traditional games of Kazakhs.

Kazakh people national games – Intro

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Tags: Kazakhs · national games

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

Sary-Shagan is a military testing ground in Kazakhstan. It is located to the northwest and west of Lake Balkhash in the desert Betpak-Dala on the territories of Karaganda and Zhambyl oblasts.

Sary-Shagan is the first and only in Eurasia ground for developing and testing anti-missile weapons. Military units of the Ministry of Defense of Kazakhstan have regular training activities there. Photos by Grigoriy Bedenko.

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Tags: Karaganda oblast · missiles · Sary-Shagan · testing ground · Zhambyl oblast

Interesting video about several traditions of native people of Kazakhstan.

Tags: Kazakh traditions

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