Overall length of our route was about 8500 kilometers.
Introduction
Please do not consider the route to be too strange. First of all, we decided to see some new parts of Kazakhstan (Kostanay, Zheskazgan, Almaty). Secondly, we wanted to ride across steppes.
And more additional task – to check our Patrick’s capabilities. It was built for long expeditions which include off-road routes. It already did a long trip from Novosibirsk to Turkey (20000 kilometers), but to say the truth, that trip didn’t have much off-road.
Customs
Border control in Kazakhstan can be VERY LAZY. There were no cars on Russian side, but the queue on Kazakh side happened to be LONG.
First picture was made after an hour of standing in a queue. Second picture was made hour later. So we spent about 4-5 hours at the Border Control… Can you imagine? 🙂
Please note that no one speaks English at that place. So be patient and do not be afraid to seem stupid.
No one knows the border crossing rules for sure (they are changing from day to day and from one border control post to another).
Usually the algorithm is following:
- Reach a barrier at the Border Control.
- Take your passport, passports of all your passengers and the vehicle registration certificate and show to the guy sitting (or standing) near the barrier. He will either give you a piece of paper that you should keep until the exit, or ask you to wait/move forward (try to guess :-D).
- After entering the Border Control territory, you’ll have to stop (either near a special sign or special person) and show your car from the inside (give the paper that you received on the entrance to an officer – he will stamp it).
- Then you will be sent to the Passport Control (put entry/exit stamps to all passports, put one more stamp in the entry paper).
- Proceed to an exit barrier. Return the entry paper with two/three stamps to the a guy standing near the barrier.
- You’re done!
You’ll have to repeat this twice – once on Russian side (exit stamp), once on Kazakh side (entry stamp).
Please remember that depending on your motherland, you may need a visa in order to get in Kazakhstan or Russia.
Also please remember that in order to drive in Kazakhstan and Russia, you will need to buy two separate insurance certificates – one for Russia and one for Kazakhstan (Green Card Insurance doesn’t work).
Roads of Kazakhstan
Roads of Kazakhstan are very different. Sometimes you’re driving on autobahn (Kokshetau – Astana road), sometimes roads are quite usable (like Astana – Karagandy – Almaty road), sometimes there are no roads at all (Kostanay – Arkalyk – Zhezkazgan, Almaty – Taraz).
Please note that I am Russian and my understanding of the “good road” term is significantly different from European understanding. “Good road” in our case is something that can be used for driving without breaking a car 🙂 No signs – ok. No road marking – ok. Holes in asphalt are also acceptable if tyres won’t blow when you ride across those holes.
So, we chose going without roads 🙂
Usually people drive trough Karagandy in order to get to Zhezkazgan. But we decided to go straight ahead. Moreover, map assured us that there were roads in that part of world… At least 50 years ago 😀
Everything around tried to persuade us to go back. At first we reached abandoned parts of Arkalyk town:
There were no nuclear tests there 😀 The town died after the mining industry went bankrupt. People left the town.
Roads around Arkalyk look like this:
Or like this:
We were really confused with the sign above… It marks the beginning of “uneven road”… But what should we expect after this sign, if even before the sign road was awful?! 😀
The nature around us was really beautiful and wild.
What does “Warning” road sign mean in your country? It can mean everything in Kazakhstan, even the ditch across the road. Try to avoid driving at night 🙂
We decided to ask about the “new way” in a small village located in the neighbourhood. No, we were not scared by the ditch… We could easily go off-road… But there was no way forward at all! Road was crossed and blocked by newly-built railroad!
Locals advised us to use another way to Zhezkazgan (much farther and longer). But finally we could find the railroad crossing:
Some parts of road were really damaged by spring rivers…
It is quite scary when there is nothing around you for 200 kilometers forward and backward.
While forcing this road, we damaged our car significantly:
– Front left shock absorber was broken first.
– Front right shock absorber next.
– Steering knuckle was bent after a long jump.
– Spare tire carrier was destroyed.
It is quite easy to find a welder if you speak Russian. Welder helped us with repairing shock absorbers, knuckles were left as is, spare tire was thrown inside boot.
It was quite disappointing to have all these things damaged. But it is better to find off-road SUV building faults in populated area. So now we know which parts of car should be strengthened.
Anyway it was fair price for seeing all that beauty around:
Road to Almaty introduced strange signs and tyre plants to us 🙂 As we were reaching the city, we could see bushes, trees and river channels. We will show you Almaty outskirts in one of the next posts. Stay with us 🙂
Flights to Almaty:
Hotel prices in Almaty:
