«Altynemel» State National Natural Park / Aktau mountains

Geological museum under the sky, lime Aktau mountains are an extension of the eastern slopes of Katutau mountains. Mountains are one of the most visited tourist sites in "Altynеmel" State National Nature Park.

Millions of years ago a huge lake splashed in these places. Frequent rains and mudslides washed away a land of the surrounding mountains in it. Here it was deposited at the bottom of the red, white, yellow clays. Over time, the lake dried up, young mountains grew up, sediment was washed away by rain, blown by the winds. But in some places the deposits are preserved, as the thickness of lake sediments exceeded 1800 meters, the water washed them in the troughs and canyons, and the wind has helped transform the landscape of water.

Lacustrine deposits are distributed over a wide area. They can be seen in Sharyn canyon and Boguty mountains, Katutau mountains and Kalkans. Most sediments are preserved in a place called Aktau mountains. In the Kazakh language, this means the White Mountains. But the White Mountains seem only from afar. Coming closer, Mountain hit with enchanting variety of colors. Variegation in combination with the layered sedimentary rocks and broken topography creates exotic forms created by nature visionary. Domes, towers alternate with dry canyons, filled with crystals of the mineral calcite. You can see the red colored mountains in the gorges and white ridges and peaks tower behind them, as if they were covered with snow. And near blue clay intersperses with green, orange or brown rocks. Landscapes are constantly changing – bastions, towers, towns, impregnable castles and canyons, there is no end to them. If the western slopes of the hills are bare dull yellow, then the southern slopes are red ramparts, rolling into snow-white locks.

Wild and unusual mountain. Special, different from everything else world is here.

The surface of the mountains is almost devoid of vegetation, only solitary shrubs of saxaul, contrasting its greenery with red slopes of the mountains, stand on rare pebbles. They are located along the southern foothills of the White Mountains. According to the British, such lands are called "bedlend" – bad land. This is true; there is no fertile land here, only sand, pebbles and compressed clay. But even here you find vegetation.

Plains are overgrown with saxaul. It grows on a completely white chalk offsets of gypsum rocks from the slopes. There are no any signs of water in these areas. But the flora is quite diverse. These are tamarisk and desert shrub calligonum, adraspan bloom and ziziphora plant parasite "Zarazikha". This is pristine and wild piece of desert.

Being in the mountains, you unwittingly fall out of modern times and contact with eternity. These landscapes were thousands of years ago, so they were seen by our earliest ancestors, so we see them now.