Archaeology handicrafts and science and technology sites to visit Kazakhstan

You'll probably have seen it dozens of times in a poster before you see it in person. This supposedly sphinx-shaped rock, set in the middle of the water in a small cove, is a hiking target for many Bourabay tourists. The mountain above this cove is also an object of curiosity and local pride: the summit takes the shape of a reclining elephant, so detailed that you can even see its eyes! There are, of course, many local legends associated with these convoluted and photogenic shapes.

Fifty kilometers from Aktau, in the western part of the Mangyshlak peninsula, lies the Karagiye depression, one of the lowest points on the planet, 132 meters below sea level. The high salt content of the soil has accelerated the process of rock erosion, creating a vast depression some 40 kilometers long, above which a strange natural phenomenon occurs: the formation of rain clouds when the depression is devoid of the slightest drop of water. Not an uncommon sight to observe.

A hundred kilometers northeast of the small sea lies the Zhamanshin crater, created a million years ago by the impact of a gigantic meteorite, making it one of the most recent and violent on the planet. The crater is almost 15 km long and 300 m deep. The energy released was equivalent to several dozen Hiroshima bombs, and the impact caused fires and smoke that wiped out all plant and animal species within a radius of several hundred kilometers.

The Ustyurt Plateau is a barren strip of land, hostile to the Siberian winds, stretching between the Aral Sea and the Caspian Sea, and covering part of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. It's a completely uninhabited area, with only a few villages surviving, once supplied by Moscow, and now surviving, populated by the last inhabitants who didn't have the opportunity to move elsewhere. The heat is overwhelming in summer and the cold is bitter in winter, especially when the wind blows. In short, it's not exactly a welcoming land, but it does offer some breathtaking scenery, particularly around the shores of the ancient Aral Sea. To explore the Ustyurt plateau, you'll need to hire a 4x4 vehicle. The best starting point is from Aktau, where a number of agencies and hotels can organize excursions. Make sure the driver knows the area well, as there are no roads, only tracks. Ask to push on to Bozjira, one of the country's most remote sites, far from any human activity. For several hundred kilometers, the snow-white chalky stones have taken on hallucinatory shapes, carved by rain and wind, and have become one of the Kazakh mouflon's most prized shelters. You may even be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of one. A true immersion in one of the most ghostly and lunar landscapes imaginable.