Published: 22.08.2025
The Altyn Emel National Park is located about 300 km northeast of Almaty. Even before the trip, I decided to go there – a photo of the landscape immediately captivated me. So Philipp and I rented a car and drove five hours to the park.
On the way, we had a bizarre encounter with the police: Apparently, our car lacked insurance, and Philipp had to get out. After a brief conversation by the roadside, a policeman took him to the patrol car and made him blow into a tube. The device actually showed 0.2 permille, even though the only alcohol we had consumed was a beer four days before. Although Philipp doesn't handle alcohol well, that little shouldn't affect him! After Philipp insisted he hadn’t drunk anything, the officer finally relented and let him go without imposing a fine. For me, it was my first experience with police corruption – unpleasant, but fortunately, this encounter was the only one that went that way.
The rest of the drive was relaxed. At the park entrance, we bought tickets and drove 70 km along a dusty washboard road to our destination: the Aktau Mountains. These bizarrely shaped hills formed in the ancient Tethys Sea. Their colorful stripes were created through millions of years of sedimentation. From a distance, the mountains appear hard and smooth, but up close, one can see that their surface consists of a fragile mix of clay and dirt – a single step can easily break a piece off. All the more astonishing is that the mountains have withstood tides, tourism, and even plans to quarry their limestone.
Hiking among the rock formations felt like a scene from Indiana Jones – all that was missing was a treasure chest in the dry riverbed. Despite the dryness and heat, we even saw a few residents of the region: lizards, desert gerbils, songbirds and raptors, and bats.
We stayed on the rocks until sunset, then pitched our tent, ate some cold canned food, looked at the stars, and wrapped up the day.
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The Altyn Emel Nature Reserve is located about 300 km from the city of Almaty. It features unusual mountains formed from ocean floor sediment as it receded millions of years ago, leaving behind layers of sedimentary rock made of different minerals.
You can only reach it by car, preferably by an SUV, as there are no roads in the park. The cost of a two-day tour is approximately the same as renting a car for that time, so without much thought, we decided to rent a Toyota Prado and go by ourselves with a tent.
On the way, we had our first funny incident with local police: right as we left the city, we were stopped under the pretext of lacking insurance. After resolving that issue, the officer realized we were foreigners and asked us to go to another police officer. There, I was asked to blow into a tube, which showed 0.2 permille, even though we had not consumed any alcoholic beverages before the trip. It was clear that the device was fake, and the officer wanted a bribe. After I firmly denied the possibility of having consumed alcohol, kvass, etc., the day before the trip in Russian several times, I was let go.
The rest of the drive went smoothly, and we entered the reserve after lunch. We traveled about another 100 km through the steppe on sandy roads to the Aktau mountain range. There, we walked along the dry riverbed in the semi-desert and climbed to the top, where, according to legend, Genghis Khan once stood surveying the territory he had just conquered. After descending, we pitched our tent and enjoyed the sky, as the park is far from civilization, making it easy to see many stars and the Milky Way.
