Kazakhstan photo tour

Day 1

Arrival at Aktau Airport (Kazakhstan). Transfer to a hotel on the Caspian Sea coast. We have some time to rest after the long flight. Towards the end of the day, we will head to Aktau’s promenade. Here, the sun sets over the sea, and we may capture some great sunset shots with interesting rock formations in the foreground.

After sunset, we’ll head to a local restaurant for a welcome dinner. After dinner, we return to our hotel to rest. Our adventure begins tomorrow!

Day 2

After breakfast, we check out of our hotel and load our equipment into the cars. We travel in comfortable Toyota Land Cruiser Prado vehicles, with three people plus the driver per car.

Today’s journey will be long. Most of the time, the landscape will be made up of steppe and plains. This increases the element of surprise when the wonders of Mangistau suddenly appear before our eyes, with no prior warning.

The first place we will visit is the Ybykty-Sai Canyon (yes, get used to the local names, they all sound like this). This is a narrow gorge with intricate formations. We will have about 1.5 hours to explore this location. Then, we continue to the town of Zhanaozen. Here, we’ll briefly have lunch at a local café, then head to our first campsite. Our first location is the striped hills of Kyzyl-Kup. Stunning hills with vibrant colors. We will set up camp here and continue exploring this amazing area. This is a great spot to fly a drone and take photos of the colorful patterns. There are also excellent places for sunset shots with the camera from the ground.

After sunset, we return to our camp (which is about 5 minutes from the shooting location) for dinner and rest.

Day 3

Sunrise shots in Kyzyl-Kup. After sunrise and breakfast, we pack up our camp and continue our journey. Our next stop is Karyn-Zharyk. This is a vast depression literally in the middle of nowhere. The drive takes about 6 hours, but the view is worth it. We will see this vast depression, and in the center, there are striped hills – as if UFOs landed on a huge spaceport!
We will set up camp here and wait for the sunset, and if the weather cooperates, we will also try night photography.
Dinner and overnight in the camp.

Day 4

After the sunrise shoot and breakfast, we pack up and head back to civilization to refill water supplies. Of course, we will have lunch on the way.

Our next stop is one of the main attractions of Mangistau – Bos’Zhira. Here, we will see another so-called «chink» – a local term for steep cliffs shaped by wind and rain. The Bos’Zhira cliff looks like a huge ocean cruiser stuck in the endless plains of Kazakhstan.

We will camp here to photograph the sunset.
Dinner and overnight in the camp.

Day 5

Today, we move to another location on Bos’Zhira – the a middle viewpoint. From here, we can see another feature of the area – the so-called «Fangs of Bos’Zhira.» Two needle-like rocks protruding into the sky! For this shot, we will need to walk for about 15-20 minutes to the viewpoint.

We will spend the night here to capture the sunset.
Dinner and overnight in the camp.

Day 6

After the morning shoot and breakfast, we will move to another location – the lower viewpoint on Bos’Zhira. From here, we can see the Fangs, but from below. They appear especially large from here. Our camp is located at the bottom of an ancient sea, and we will wander around looking for fossils of prehistoric sea urchins. If we’re lucky, we may even find fossilized shark teeth!

We will stay here for the sunset and the night.
Dinner and overnight in the camp.

Day 7

After the sunrise shots and breakfast, we continue our journey. Our next destination is the Tuzbair saline. Another vast, saltwater-filled depression. It resembles the famous Salar de Uyuni with its salt-covered mud and hexagonal structures and cracks. But Tuzbair has something unique to offer. The walls of this depression are made of limestone and have amazing shapes! It’s truly impossible to describe how they look – much easier to see them for yourself and try to imagine them.

We will stay here for one night to watch the sunset and maybe even take night shots.
Dinner and overnight in the camp.

Day 8

Today, we head to our final location – the Ayrakty Valley of Castles. It looks as though an evil fantasy overlord decided to build his castles around blissful meadows. There are so many filming locations here that one day would not be enough to see and photograph them all. So, we will stay two nights here and explore the area in search of the best spots.
Sunset in the Ayrakty Valley of Castles.
Dinner and overnight in the camp.

Day 9

We will spend the whole day in Ayrakty without moving our camp. It is a place full of things to see. Locations that can be captured with both the drone and hand cameras.

Day 10

It’s time to say goodbye to the Valley and Castles of Ayrakty. We will photograph the sunrise and then move on to our final shooting location.

On the way, we will visit several places. The first is Mount Sherkala. From a distance, it looks like a cake. But when we send our drones up, it transforms into a giant jellyfish! Additionally, on the backside of the mountain, there are several caves. Historians say that prehistoric humans used them as shelter.

Another interesting location is the Valley of the Spherical Rocks of Torysh. Here, there are hundreds of almost perfectly round stones. Some of them have a diameter of 4 meters! Huge! It’s believed these rocks formed when the entire area was an ancient seabed. Debris, small shells, and even pieces of wood were rolled by the waves and covered layer by layer with clay. That’s how these massive spheres were created.

At the end of the day, we will reach the Caspian Sea coast. Here, we will experience one final sunset with interesting limestone formations.

After sunset, we drive the full distance back to Aktau – about an hour and a half. We check into our hotel, shower, and meet for a farewell dinner. Here, we will reflect on the journey one last time.

Day 11

Check-out from the hotel and transfer to Aktau Airport. Our journey comes to an end.

Looking forward to an incredible journey!