Tag: steppe

Through Russia in the crazy hot steppe of Kazakhstan and someone got stuck (June 2024)

One of my favorite photos from Kazakhstan. But before:
From Georgia, we entered Russia with our transit visa we got in Armenia. The crossing went well, but very bureaucratic: the language barrier made the process of filling the customs papers for our car more difficult and so we needed three trials until everything was fine. Some travelers got pretty crazy in this process.
After the border we went to a rock climbing area right next to the main road. The approach to the climbing routes was crazy steep and the routes themselves were super difficult.
I was not very happy in that area because I did not feel very good about being in Russia.
We took the direct route to Kazakhstan and visited some Buddhist temples. But all of them were closed.
The military checkpoints in Russia were very friendly and we made a lot of jokes about mainly football and German beer. Only one Russian soldier was grumpy but not more than the ordinary Georgian 😁
But still I did not feel so good about being in Russia because of the relationship between the German  and Russian government and the war in Ukraine.
In the end it was like so often: regardless of the governments, the people are super friendly and helpful.
But I still thought that I would not like to meet a Russian soldier who’s friend or family member got killed in Ukraine and now had to deal with us,  German tourists.
This was a  floating bridge which was constantly pushed to the side by the river. On one end of it they installed a couple of outboard motors to keep it in place.
We crossed the border to Kazakhstan and entered the steppe!
The temperature rose to more than 40 degrees Celsius and sometimes we liked to continue driving just to have the comfort of Rosinante’s air conditioning.
Driving through the steppe was a crazy experience. Sometimes there was no turn, bend or corner for hundreds of kilometers.
Driving became pretty boring because the distances were huge. My favorite thing to watch were the camels.
One day we witnessed the funeral of my grandfather who had died in Germany when we were still in Armenia. Although participating online was better than not participating at all, it was weird.
After so much heat in the steppe we wanted to have a swim and went to Aktau, a coastal coty at the Caspian Sea.
There we went to an old amusement park and took a ride in a carousel. These carousels and attractions! I guess some would use them as a test of courage.
After having dinner we met a group of Kazakh celebrating a birthday and had a great time with them dancing to all kinds of music.
The stone formations in the Ustyurt National Preserve area were amazing!
They look like the back of Godzilla sleeping in the steppe.
There were some plants. But only very little ones.
And these rabbits.
Normally we do a lot of hiking, climbing and physical activities but in the heat of the steppe there was not much to do. So we decided to just take a walk around and run back.
While running, we scared a little gerbil-like animal which immediately run to a hole in the ground to take cover.
Unfortunately his ass was a bit to big and he got stuck in the hole 🥳
He tried hard to push himself in but did not succeed. He tried to go reverse but had no chance.
So we helped him a bit and gave him a push.
The vastness of our first offroad track in the steppe.
Sometimes it was like a video game in which you have to pick the best track.
A lot, lot, lot of dust! I loved it and it always reminds me on Mad Max.
Bit the dust could get pretty nasty on and inside of Rosinante.
The first version of our automatic washing machine.

Vashlovani National Park (November 2023)

We got the necessary permission and entered the Vashlovani National Park.

What a place! It’s super beautiful!

We drove up a hill and had a beautiful view. In the permission office a lady recommended a specific track to drive down to the main camp.

This track got crazy off-roady. And it got smaller and smaller. So small that at some point Rosinante did not fit anymore on the track. I’d say this track would only maybe be possible with a cross bike.

So we turned around and took the main route to a beautiful camp at a river.

When we continued the next day, we saw very beautiful landscapes, did a hike in a cove and saw some gazelle running through the steppe.