Almaty to Turkestan

Our first two destinations in Kazakhstan – one a lively, modern & thriving city, one a bonkers Central Asian statement piece…..

The Ala-Kul trek

The Ala-Kul trek is a 53km hike in the Karakol National Park with around 2,200m of ascent in some pretty challenging terrain. It takes in the Aka-Kul Lake – a beautiful, bright turquoise glacial tarn, stretching nearly 3km end to end, and includes a traverse of the Ala-Kul Pass at a breathtaking 3,900m.

Kyzyl Oi to Issyk Kul

Following what proved to be a pretty bruising few days on horseback (reference Helen’s hips, thighs and backside, plus the significant mental trauma of fighting with our horses and probably losing the hotel’s dog), we thought a day out at a festival might be a useful distraction.

The Pamir Gallery

There were far too many photos to include in our Pamir Highway posts, so if you’re interested, here’s a further selection of sights along the road…..

The Fann Mountains

The Fann Mountains are a truly wonderful place. If they were in Europe they’d be overrun. As it was, we were the only people at our wild camps, and we saw very few other tourists….

The Buddhas of Bamiyan

The city of Bamiyan is a beautiful, mountainous place sited at the Western edge of the Hindu Kush and at 3,000m was a blessed relief from the stifling temperatures of Ghazni and Kandahar.

Helmand through to Kandahar & Ghazni

There are few places in our recent military history as evocative as Helmand province, the principal base for British troops fighting the Taliban insurgency from 2006 to 2014. The fighting here was intense at times, particularly in the late 2000s where it seemed the death of a soldier was an almost daily occurrence.