Hello everyone!
After a three-day week in school – an occurrence that we
could definitely get used to – the first weekend of May was upon us. Now that
the snow has melted and temperatures are more than bearable, we want to get
outside and explore Astana and its surrounding areas as much as possible before
the inevitable and harsh winter forces us into retreat once again.
As mentioned previously, Kazakhstan is a rather large
country which possesses an often desolate landscape known as the steppe. Whilst
other cities such as Almaty have beautiful mountains and other appealing day
trips within striking distance, Astana, the capital, sits in the middle of this
barren wasteland. Consequently, there isn’t too much we can see without using a
plane, as we had to do last weekend to get to Aktau.
There are a couple of options available to us. We went to
the ‘Switzerland of Kazakhstan’, Borovoe, in September, and Malinovka is also close
enough to see in a day trip. There is one other location of interest, and this
is where we spent our Sunday.
Korgalzhyn Nature Reserve is a UNESCO World Heritage Site
situated roughly 120km south-west of Astana. It is a protected area of wetlands
that are vital for millions of migratory birds every year. 50million, actually.
Kazakhstan, and this area in particular, is seen as one of the priority areas
for wetland conservation in central Asia.
The ‘Pearl of Central Kazakhstan’ is based in the heart of
the steppe. After a visit to a museum and lunch we had the opportunity to walk
around this most deserted of locations. As you can expect, there isn’t too much
to see. Aside from the occasional mound that housed important people that had
died a long time ago, the landscape was as flat as a pancake.
Lunch was an interesting event in itself. For the first time
since I moved to Kazakhstan, I had proper beshbarmak. Almost. It was beef
instead of horse, but essentially the dish was the same – meat and potatoes on
top of lasagne pasta layers, all in a clear broth. The dish is not made for an
individual – it is comfortably sufficient to feed ten people, and placed as the
centrepiece of the table. Heavy, hearty food, but absolutely delicious.
Kazakh fun fact #1: Beshbarmak
is often served at celebrations such as weddings.
Whilst we were eating our feast we were entertained by some
local music; firstly on the dombra, before a large man started belting out some
popular Kazakh folk songs. We were sat with many of our friends from school who
were born in this wonderful country, and they told us many fascinating stories
about their homeland.
Kazakh fun fact #2:
Stealing of women is, whilst not common, a disturbingly frequent occurrence in
Kazakhstan.
Yes, that’s right. Apparently if you like a girl, you can
kidnap her and take her to a different town. If he has her under lock and key
for long enough, she becomes his. Surely the woman can escape? They could, but
the men allow lots of old women to lie on the floor in front of the door. A young
girl is not allowed to step over an older woman out of respect, thus is stuck. It
can be used for good, however – some poor men ‘steal’ their true love and take
them away. As a result, they can elope together and live happily ever after.
One of the main attractions of Korgalzhyn at this time of
year is the potential to see flamingos in the wild. There are many species of
bird that move north through this region in early May, including eagles and
hawks, but the reason for our attendance was to hopefully see some long-necked,
vividly pink animals gracefully waltzing through the lakes of the nature
reserve.
It was thus unfortunate that we were told in the museum that
there were no flamingos within the grounds of this vast nature reserve, and
that we would be disappointed if we spent our time looking for them. We would
instead have to be content with the paintings of our elegant feathered friend.
Alas, they were wrong. We were trudging along the quiet,
flat steppe towards one of Korgalzhyn’s bigger lakes containing a game of
swans. Someone peered through their binoculars and spotted an animal that was
not particularly white and swan-like. Its long, bendy neck was moving serenely
in and out of the water. We had found the flamingos!
We later found that we were lucky – a group after us had not
been able to locate the birds, and had gone home disappointed. We, on the other
hand, went home more than satisfied with a day out in nature. Korgalzhyn Nature
Reserve was a welcome break from the concrete jungle of the city, and is an
easy enough and enjoyable day trip from Astana.
Love you all
Matt
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