Important: Wikitravel is exploring a license upgrade to CC by-sa 3.0, please give your consent or refusal here.

We will be down for scheduled maintenance Wednesday 11 November @ 6AM UTC for approximately 4 hours. We thank you for your patience.

From Wikitravel

The Kazakh Desert is the southernmost region of in Kazakhstan, spanning across the nation's sections of the vast Qyzylqum and Aral Karakum deserts. It is comprised of the Kyzylorda, South Kazakhstan, and Zhambyl provinces. This area is home to the lion's share of Kazakhstan's historical monuments, as well as the car-wreck-fascinating ecological disaster of the Aral Sea. You will also find here the main border crossings into nearby Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

[edit] Regions

[edit] Cities

• Aral — a benighted city, with a fishing economy that was dependant on a now disappearing sea
• Kentau — a medium sized mining city, formerly a destination for Soviet exiles
• Kyzylorda — a major stop on the Silk Road, with plenty to see and do
• Sayram — a 3,000-year-old city, with Kazakhstan's oldest mosque and a very strong sense of Central Asian culture—there is a lot to see here
• Shu — a relatively small town, and administrative center of Zhambyl Province
• Shymkent — Kazakhstan's second largest city, an old market town located near Tashkent and some beautiful mountains; now booming with oil exploration
• Taras — a 2,000-year-old city, rich in archaeological finds
• Turkestan — another ancient city, long a border town between the Persian culture to the south and the Turkic nomadic culture to the north, now majority Uzbek and home to several important cultural-historical monuments

Aralsk, Qazaly Shardara, Jetisu, Saryag'ash and Lenger

[edit] Other destinations

• Aral Sea
• Baikonur
• Barsa-Kelmes Nature Reserve — wildlife preserve located on an island in the Aral Sea
• Otrar — a desert oasis surrounded by the ruins of the various castles and towns that once occupied this spot

[edit] Understand

[edit] Talk

[edit] Get in

[edit] Get around

[edit][add listing] See

[edit] Itineraries

[edit][add listing] Do

[edit][add listing] Eat

[edit][add listing] Drink

[edit] Stay safe