Kazaksthan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are renowned for their mountains and lakes. It is challenging to travel in the mountain regions without your own transport. It is possible to rent a car, but you would have to be a confident driver and know your way around the mechanics of your vehicle. I recently saw a post on Facebook where some tourists from the UK were begging for a lift after their vehicle broke down.

Tours are another option, but longer ones tend to be expensive (possibly best suited to a two or three week holiday). I managed to find a reasonable one night, two day tour from Almaty to see a few of the most famous natural sights nearby – the Charyn Canyon and Kolsai lakes.

We were picked up from a location in central Almaty at 7:30am. A couple of our fellow tourists were waiting at the same location – a Canadian woman from Newfoundland and a Spanish couple. It takes a long time to get anywhere in Kazakhstan as it’s a massive country. The description of sights ‘near’ Almaty is relative. We travelled for about three hours to get to Charyn canyon with a stop off at a garage for toilets and to buy snacks on the way.

On arrival at the canyon we faced a hot but exciting walk through awe inspiring natural scenery to a fast flowing river. The rock formations were ever changing. It felt like we had been dumped in a Sergio Leone film.

We spent about two hours walking down to the river and back in total. There were plenty of other tourists around but that didn’t distract too much from the beauty of the scenery. We noticed a few people camping down by the river, which would have been a lovely thing to do. I spotted a tourist cycling through the canyon – I’m not sure where he was coming from but he must have been fit to cycle here in the heat. Tim got chatting to an Australian man who was in our group.

After visiting the canyon we were driven to a local village for a traditional Kazakh meal. The table was loaded down with different types of breads, sweets, cakes, salads, dried fruits, jams and cookies. Kazakhs certainly have a sweet tooth! The main offering was ‘plov’ – a rice and meat dish that is ubiquitous in Kazaksthan.

Our tour group consisted of around 30 people of approximately 12 different nationalities. As well as Spanish, Canadian and Australian, there were Indian and Philippine nationals living in Dubai, a couple from Singapore and a couple from Mumbai among others. There was one other English couple who were teachers.

After lunch it was another hour or so in the coach to reach the first of the Kolsai lakes. Our guide explained that the lakes had been formed by an earthquake that had occurred relatively recently. Kazaksthan is very prone to earthquakes and it is possible that the forces that created the natural spectacle of Kolsai lakes will also destroy it. They are fed by glacier water so are very cold. Partly due to the risk of landfalls and partly to protect the environment the areas from which the lakes can be viewed is limited, but that didn’t take away from their amazing natural beauty.

As we headed up into the mountains and away from Charyn canyon the landscape completely changed. Within a couple of hours we travelled from an arid dessert to alpine scenery. The temperature cooled significantly and we experienced a few drops of rain.

We headed for our base for the night, a yurt guesthouse encampment in a nearby village. I was sleeping in a yurt with four of the women from our group and Tim was in the men’s yurt. After another enormous Kazakh meal our guide organised a campfire for us and we played a number game around it. Tim and I were definitely among the worst players!

It got quite chilly during the night but plenty of blankets were provided.

We set off early the next day to the second lake. To get there we had to navigate a very rough road, crossing a couple of rivers along the way. Tim was thrilled that we were travelling in a UAZ-452 ‘loaf’ van. Apparently it is the oldest vehicle still in production. I was not so happy, especially as we stalled about five times and the van started to roll backwards before we actually got going! During the journey the driver blasted Kazakh pop music. We eventually arrived at the start of the trail head to the lake.

We had the option of walking or riding to the lake. My feelings about horses are the same as my feelings about camels. I tolerate them as long as I don’t have to get too near them or ride on them. I am still traumatised by an event as a child when a horse called ‘gay boy’ attempted to eat the tent that I was sleeping in, to the hilarity of my siblings. We were staying somewhere in Wales or Dorset (all my family holidays as a child took place in either Wales or Dorset and it usually rained a lot). My sister Liz and my daughter Skye are the animal lovers in the family.

There were beautiful views of the mountains and trees on the walk down to the lake, which I wouldn’t have appreciated from the back of a horse, especially as at one point the path became extremely precipitous. However the horses seemed in very good health, unlike those that are often sadly used for these sorts of tourist activities. If you love riding and animals the ‘Stans are a wonderful place to visit. You can spend weeks in the saddle if you want, visiting remote nomadic encampments.

This second lake was even more beautiful than the one we visited the day before. Drowned trees stuck up mysteriously from the aquamarine water and fir clad mountains surrounded us. If we had had a bit more time it would have been possible to go for a longer trek from this lake to a third lake which is at 3,200 metres, but after spending about an hour wandering around we had to head back to the coach.

Moon Canyon

We stopped off at the same place we had visited the day before for lunch. This time the main dish was chicken with potatoes. Then we began our journey back to Almaty, visiting Black Canyon and Moon Canyon on the way. Technically these form part of Charyn Canyon, the length of which is exceeded in total only by the Grand Canyon in the US.

At Moon Canyon a local family were selling horse milk, which nobody in our group tried, but which was being enthusiastically purchased by some Kazakh visitors. On a hill nearby was a massive statue of a horse, underlining the national importance of horses, especially to the nomadic people of the area.

We arrived back at our hotel after 8pm. It had been an exhausting trip, but well worth it to see some of the amazing natural beauty of Kazaksthan.