Aksu-Zhabagyly Nature Reserve

22 may 2012

I had breakfast today in front of an elaborate oil painting

and sculptured rock formation of the Kazakhstan countryside. I hope to be able to get to the real thing later today.

After a mini bus ride with locals and a bike, I got out in the main street of a village on the edge of the moutain range called Zhabagyly and headed towards a sign for Ruslan's homestay. Here I met a great family who let me camp in their garden and use the facilities at their home. I hiked up the mountain at the back of their home from where you could see right across the valley to the hill range on the opposite side. The countryside here is wonderful; open spaces, green and full of flowers. There are snow capped mountains in the distance.

Up on the mountain side, I was joined by a local man holding a kitchen knife. Visions of cut throats and beheading did momentarily pass through my mind, but he showed me the contents of his rucksack; 5kg of the most fresh and tasty looking mushrooms which he had been collecting on the mountain side. We walked back the village together collecting his cow on the way.