Singing Dunes

The majority of Kazakhstan is Steppe. As flat and boring as it might sound, it is worth a look. May Day weekend here was 4 days. We booked up with a local tour agent to get out in the wilderness for a night and see some history- ancient history.  The Land of Seven Rivers is a huge plain north of Almaty, north of Kapchaguy resort to the Balqash Lake. It is home to numerous ancient landmarks, burial tombs and battle grounds of Genghis Khan. Our trip took us to the Altyn National Park to see, amongst other things, the Singing Dunes.

These dunes are large, maybe 50 metres high and created by a constant wind which gathers the sand of the steppe into one corner and shapes it to a towering crest. They are supposed to sing if its hot and windy, which it was. You will have seen this dune if you watched the Long Way Round. The documentary made no mention of the special feature of the dunes as Ewan and Charley walked the crest in the still and calm of their day. Possibly because their weather was wrong. Or maybe the dunes were out of tune... We were suitably prepared with lowered expectations that the dunes may not be as their name suggests, which is a sensible strategy in many aspects of life in Kazakhstan. As you slide down the lea side of the dune, the sand around you moves and resonates in a deep grinding moan as the particles of sand vibrate in just such a way as to sound like a quiet sustained belch. Not quite what we imagined, but fascinating nonetheless.

The accommodation was a 'lodge' on the edge of the Park. Now lodge conjures up images of log cabins or open fires but with (again) a suitably flexible expectation we arrived at the small council estate style house (light sand bricks, tarpaulin roof accessories, suspect dividing walls, wild horse in the garden) to find that 15 people can fit into 2 bedrooms, a cupboard and a dining room. There are precious few alternatives in the Kazakh outback, something which underlined as another group of tourists arrived 20 minutes later to find they had been double booked by the tour company and we already had the beds. We were in the right, we had booked and paid the week before, but that would have made little difference if the latecomers had made it to the lodge first.

Suitably reminded of our good fortune we settled down to some local cuisine, a few sips of beer and a rather demonstrative loud game of cards before an unexpectedly good night's sleep.

Next morning, after an early start we headed to some empty river beds to see the millennia of sand deposits which made up the hills and river beds of that corner of the park. It was searing hot, not a cloud in the sky. I had no hat so made use of my Kuwaiti scarf and turned it into a head dress which I was dismayed to see in the photographs made me look a total muppet. Better that than sun stroke. The lizards seemed to be enjoying the sun even if I wasn't.

A 6 hour long drive home took us back to civilization, the contrast of the facets of our life here again hitting home.  

I am looking forward to seeing more. Hopefully next time on a motorcycle... which might not be so far from possible. Watch this space...