We contacted one of the guesthouse and tour companies in Aksu Zhabagyly to find out about hiking in the Nature Reserve but did not get any responses. Luckily Valeriy had a contact in Zhabagyly with a guest house and at a much more reasonable rate than the places we had tried. The bus station was not far from the hostel and Nina was teary when we said our goodbyes.
The 15 seater Mercedes Benz van took about an hour to fill up with passengers. It reminded us of our long days waiting in Africa for the vehicles to fill up. At least here, no one was expecting that we should pay for extra seats so we could leave earlier. The hot stuffy van headed off and picked up an extra person on the highway. She had to sit on a hard small padded stool in the aisle.
The fields were yellow with wheat and other cereals. Huge herds of beautiful horses grazed under the sleepy eyes of their young male herders. They are beautiful looking horses but are still wild and most have never been ridden. the horses are an investment.
Our room
Low table
Just as we wondering where we would find Galina's Guesthouse, the van pulled up and the driver signalled that we had arrived. Galina and her 24 year old daughter Tansholpan were at the gate to greet us. In no time at all lunch was on the long table set out for 10 people. Hot soup, bread, noodles with beef, a salad of tomatoes and cucumbers. After washing it down with a pot of black tea we headed off with Sholpan to the Nature Reserve museum.
The Reserve headquarters are huge and employ a lot of people in the very small village, of 3,500. A guide with a name something like Eyesol talked us through all the exhibits of birds, mammals, insects, and plants. It was a comprehensive display of what could be found in the reserve. Sholpan translated for us as Eyesol did not speak English but could understand some of the things we said. He suggested a walk to the Aksu Canyon the next day.
Galina did not speak English and left Sholpan to communicate with us. Sholpan had just completed a Master of Political Science at the university in Almaty where she lived in a student flat, and was home for her break which was lucky for us. She will graduate on July 1st. When she was young she lived with her grandmother in another city and went to a city school. As a teen she went to a Turkish Boarding School. Her English was excellent and she said it was because an elderly Scottish man came to the village when she was 7 and taught all the children English for two years. Luckily she doesn't have the hint of a Scottish accent! She says her Turkish is better than her English.
Galina and her husband own a shop in the village and work everyday. Galina was a Russian language and literature teacher. Their son is a detective living at home but working in another village. The youngest daughter is living with the grandmother while she studies for her Baccalaureate exams. She wants to be a lawyer.
Sholpan told us she is engaged to marry in October. Her father has built a new barn and houses his horses there beside the main house. The horses will pay for the wedding as it is customary to invite neighbours, friends and families and there could be up to 500 people attending her wedding. On the wedding day her family will start the celebrations and then at midnight the grooms family will arrive. Her family will give her clothes for four seasons as a gift. She also wants a car as she has been learning to drive. Being the eldest she has to marry first. Her brother also wants to marry and he has to wait for her. His wife will live with Galina and she will help set up a cafe along side the shop and work there. Sholpan will live in Almaty and look for work in January.
The family are fasting for Ramadan and eat at 9.30 at night. They wake at 3.30am and eat breakfast and then return to sleep.
Every car in Zabagyly is a taxi, so we hired Sholpan's dad's Lexus to take us the 25 km drive to the start of the walk down to the 300m deep Aksu Canyon. He slept in the car while we hiked off. Galina gave us a lunch box with potatoes and chicken, tomato and cucumber, and fried bread. It feels so awkward when they do not eat too.
The mountains met the Uzbekistan and Kyrgystan borders. There was a bit of snow on the tops but we were baking hot on the way back with temperatures over 30 DegC. The trail was very narrow and horses had dislodged the round stones so it was a slow ascent.
We walked all the way down!
There were lots of wild flowers and Eyesol pointed out the ones used for medicine and Sholpan explained what they were used for.
We disturbed dozens of kinds of grasshoppers- green, red, brown, yellow. It was only good luck that we never swallowed one.
A huge poisonous spider.
The butterflies were small but also plentiful. An eagle soared above the canyon as we started to leave and the sky darkened and we heard thunder and lightning. When we reached the top huge cold rain drops fell for a few minutes. John laughed at me taking my feather jacket but it protected my hot sweaty back from the cold wind and rain. it took us an hour down to the water and two hours back up the steep trail.
The next day we rested and did some laundry which dried quickly in the 30 Deg+ day. We walked about the village which has some good facilities. There is a new preschool and a school. The hospital looked well maintained and busy. Children were having skipping races in the dusty streets. Every house seemed to have an orchard of apples, walnuts, apricots, peaches, grapes, cherries, raspberries and mulberries.
Haymaking was in full swing on the outskirts of the town and it was being cut and transported by some pretty old but efficient machinery. Sholpan said that many people in the village do different labouring jobs to get money and their shop operates on a debt system. People pay when they get money. She said there are also people who don't want to work and they live off the money that the government gives them for each child they have. There were lots of things about village life here that reminded me of village life in my home town in NZ.
Lena, from Germany arrived also referred by Nina in Shymkent. She joined us to walk to the Kshi Kaindy Cataract. We used Sholpan's uncle's vehicle to get to the start of the walk. It was a good 3 hour walk uphill and a pretty fast 1 1/2 hour walk back. We met a Kazak man and his guide on horses who had stayed overnight in the reserve. We called into the refuge on the way back and filled up our drink bottles with water from the snow melt which was pleasantly cooling.
Rain gauge
On the edge of the park was a lodge for tourists. It stood out with its mown lawns and swimming pool. A yurt nearby was available for hire and a Swiss registered van was parked in the camping area.
A short walk from the lodge was a picnic spot with a covered seating area, charcoal shashlik fire and swimming hole in the river. Sholpan thought it would be a perfect place for a wedding.
We enjoyed chatting with Lena who had quit her job in Berlin after a year. She was visiting places of historical interest and liked to sketch her experiences. Sholpan's dad offered to take us to visit some caves outside the reserve.
We arrived at a hole in the ground in the middle of a field and wondered what we were in for. The first part felt like it was a mine with a concrete floor. Eventually it lead to a huge cave. Sadly people had broken off some of the stalactites and carved names in others. The place was littered with bits of cotton that had been used to make torches. Plastic drink bottles were strewn along the path and it was in a sad state. We disturbed a couple of bats in the Crying Cave and even Sholpan was upset by how the locals had treated the place.
On the drive back we passed lots of trucks carrying ore from the small open cast mines. A poultry factory where Sholpan's dad had once worked was closed and a few other factory buildings were crumbling from neglect.
We had an informative time with the family and learnt about their lives, plans for the future and saw the changes to the house and as they extended and renovated their business.
Next stop Taraz.
The 15 seater Mercedes Benz van took about an hour to fill up with passengers. It reminded us of our long days waiting in Africa for the vehicles to fill up. At least here, no one was expecting that we should pay for extra seats so we could leave earlier. The hot stuffy van headed off and picked up an extra person on the highway. She had to sit on a hard small padded stool in the aisle.
The fields were yellow with wheat and other cereals. Huge herds of beautiful horses grazed under the sleepy eyes of their young male herders. They are beautiful looking horses but are still wild and most have never been ridden. the horses are an investment.
Our room
Low tableJust as we wondering where we would find Galina's Guesthouse, the van pulled up and the driver signalled that we had arrived. Galina and her 24 year old daughter Tansholpan were at the gate to greet us. In no time at all lunch was on the long table set out for 10 people. Hot soup, bread, noodles with beef, a salad of tomatoes and cucumbers. After washing it down with a pot of black tea we headed off with Sholpan to the Nature Reserve museum.
The Reserve headquarters are huge and employ a lot of people in the very small village, of 3,500. A guide with a name something like Eyesol talked us through all the exhibits of birds, mammals, insects, and plants. It was a comprehensive display of what could be found in the reserve. Sholpan translated for us as Eyesol did not speak English but could understand some of the things we said. He suggested a walk to the Aksu Canyon the next day.
Galina did not speak English and left Sholpan to communicate with us. Sholpan had just completed a Master of Political Science at the university in Almaty where she lived in a student flat, and was home for her break which was lucky for us. She will graduate on July 1st. When she was young she lived with her grandmother in another city and went to a city school. As a teen she went to a Turkish Boarding School. Her English was excellent and she said it was because an elderly Scottish man came to the village when she was 7 and taught all the children English for two years. Luckily she doesn't have the hint of a Scottish accent! She says her Turkish is better than her English.
Galina and her husband own a shop in the village and work everyday. Galina was a Russian language and literature teacher. Their son is a detective living at home but working in another village. The youngest daughter is living with the grandmother while she studies for her Baccalaureate exams. She wants to be a lawyer.
Sholpan told us she is engaged to marry in October. Her father has built a new barn and houses his horses there beside the main house. The horses will pay for the wedding as it is customary to invite neighbours, friends and families and there could be up to 500 people attending her wedding. On the wedding day her family will start the celebrations and then at midnight the grooms family will arrive. Her family will give her clothes for four seasons as a gift. She also wants a car as she has been learning to drive. Being the eldest she has to marry first. Her brother also wants to marry and he has to wait for her. His wife will live with Galina and she will help set up a cafe along side the shop and work there. Sholpan will live in Almaty and look for work in January.
The family are fasting for Ramadan and eat at 9.30 at night. They wake at 3.30am and eat breakfast and then return to sleep.
Every car in Zabagyly is a taxi, so we hired Sholpan's dad's Lexus to take us the 25 km drive to the start of the walk down to the 300m deep Aksu Canyon. He slept in the car while we hiked off. Galina gave us a lunch box with potatoes and chicken, tomato and cucumber, and fried bread. It feels so awkward when they do not eat too.
The mountains met the Uzbekistan and Kyrgystan borders. There was a bit of snow on the tops but we were baking hot on the way back with temperatures over 30 DegC. The trail was very narrow and horses had dislodged the round stones so it was a slow ascent.
We walked all the way down!
There were lots of wild flowers and Eyesol pointed out the ones used for medicine and Sholpan explained what they were used for.
We disturbed dozens of kinds of grasshoppers- green, red, brown, yellow. It was only good luck that we never swallowed one.
The butterflies were small but also plentiful. An eagle soared above the canyon as we started to leave and the sky darkened and we heard thunder and lightning. When we reached the top huge cold rain drops fell for a few minutes. John laughed at me taking my feather jacket but it protected my hot sweaty back from the cold wind and rain. it took us an hour down to the water and two hours back up the steep trail.
The next day we rested and did some laundry which dried quickly in the 30 Deg+ day. We walked about the village which has some good facilities. There is a new preschool and a school. The hospital looked well maintained and busy. Children were having skipping races in the dusty streets. Every house seemed to have an orchard of apples, walnuts, apricots, peaches, grapes, cherries, raspberries and mulberries.
Haymaking was in full swing on the outskirts of the town and it was being cut and transported by some pretty old but efficient machinery. Sholpan said that many people in the village do different labouring jobs to get money and their shop operates on a debt system. People pay when they get money. She said there are also people who don't want to work and they live off the money that the government gives them for each child they have. There were lots of things about village life here that reminded me of village life in my home town in NZ.
Lena, from Germany arrived also referred by Nina in Shymkent. She joined us to walk to the Kshi Kaindy Cataract. We used Sholpan's uncle's vehicle to get to the start of the walk. It was a good 3 hour walk uphill and a pretty fast 1 1/2 hour walk back. We met a Kazak man and his guide on horses who had stayed overnight in the reserve. We called into the refuge on the way back and filled up our drink bottles with water from the snow melt which was pleasantly cooling.
Rain gauge
On the edge of the park was a lodge for tourists. It stood out with its mown lawns and swimming pool. A yurt nearby was available for hire and a Swiss registered van was parked in the camping area.
A short walk from the lodge was a picnic spot with a covered seating area, charcoal shashlik fire and swimming hole in the river. Sholpan thought it would be a perfect place for a wedding.
We enjoyed chatting with Lena who had quit her job in Berlin after a year. She was visiting places of historical interest and liked to sketch her experiences. Sholpan's dad offered to take us to visit some caves outside the reserve.
We arrived at a hole in the ground in the middle of a field and wondered what we were in for. The first part felt like it was a mine with a concrete floor. Eventually it lead to a huge cave. Sadly people had broken off some of the stalactites and carved names in others. The place was littered with bits of cotton that had been used to make torches. Plastic drink bottles were strewn along the path and it was in a sad state. We disturbed a couple of bats in the Crying Cave and even Sholpan was upset by how the locals had treated the place.
Crystals and damaged stalactites
We had an informative time with the family and learnt about their lives, plans for the future and saw the changes to the house and as they extended and renovated their business.
Main house to left and guest wing on right protected from the snow
The interesting ceiling in the entry.
Next stop Taraz.
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