Begazy Necropolis Tour

Breakfast. Transfer to the airport, departure to Karaganda, arrival. Meeting at the airport, transfer to the hotel, accommodation. A tour of Karaganda. Visit to the Karaganda Regional Museum of Local Lore.
The museum is the largest museum in the region. The museum was opened in November 1932 as the Polytechnic Museum. In 1936, the museum's funds were replenished with a collection of archaeological finds sent by the expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences.
Visit to the regional mosque in Karaganda – a cultural and scientific center located in the ethnographic park named after the 10th anniversary of Independence. Visit to the Karaganda Palace of Culture of Miners, located on Bukhar-Zhyrau Avenue.
The construction of this majestic palace began in 1940. On the pediment of this building there are six sculptures: a miner, a builder, a shepherd with a lamb, a collective farmer with a sheaf of wheat, an akyn with a dombra and a warrior. There is also a visit to the monument of Miner's Glory.
Visiting the Ecological Museum in Karaganda, this is the only museum of its kind, its opening was in 1995. A visit to the cathedral in the name of the Introduction to the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos, the construction of this temple was started in 1991, ended in 2000.
Visit to the Karaganda Museum of Fine Arts, in the museum you can see the paintings of Karaganda, decorative and applied arts.
Visit to the Museum of Archeology at Karaganda University. Transfer to the hotel, overnight.

Breakfast. Moving: Karaganda - the village of Aktas - the village of Dubovka - the village of Dolinka (37 km). Arrival in the village of Dolinka, visit to the museum of memory of victims of political repression. The KARLAG Museum in Dolinka is represented by 17 exhibition halls in which the
entrance group with the composition "Broken Shanyrak" is presented.
Hall No. 1 "Hunger in Kazakhstan".
Hall No. 2 "The history of the creation of Karlag".
Hall No. 3 "Economic activity of Karlag".
Hall No. 4 "Women and children".
Hall No. 5 "Research activities of Karlag prisoners".
"Installation of a pre-trial detention center" and others.
Visit to the "Mama's cemetery" in the village of Dolinka.
Transfer: Dolinka village - Dubovka village - Kurminskoye village - Zhumabek village - Spassky Memorial (77 km). Arrival at the Spassky Memorial. A walk through the memorial. The Spassky Memorial or the Spassky Memorial Cemetery of Camp No. 99 is located in the south of Karaganda, 34 kilometers away in the Abaysky district of the Karaganda region.
Political prisoners and internees were held here, and since 1941, prisoners of war. According to official data, more than five thousand prisoners are buried here in mass graves. The system of Karaganda camps included many camps and special purpose zones.
Transfer: Spassky Memorial - Kashkarbai village - Aksu-Ayuli village (93 km). Arrival in the village of Aksu-Ayuli, lunch at a local cafe.
Transfer: Aksu-Ayuli village - Shabanbai bi Mausoleum (18 km). On the way, visit the mausoleum of Shabanbai bi, which is located on the right side of the small river Sherabainura and 1 kilometer west of the highway. Here is the burial place of the famous Kazakh biya - Shabanbai Kalkamanuly.
Moving: Shabanbai bi Mausoleum - Nura village - Zhalanash village - Usharala village - Aktogay village (105 km). The village of Aktogay is the administrative center of the Aktogay district of the Karaganda region.
Visit to the archaeological and Ethnographic Museum. The museum has 2,435 exhibits, including collections of archeology, ethnography and objects of decorative and applied art. Numerous monuments of archeology and cultural heritage on the territory of the Aktogay district contributed to the creation of the museum.
Ancient monuments, starting from the Stone Age and the Bronze Age, ending with the epochs of the Saks, Huns, Turks, Kipchaks. Models of mounds with "moustaches" and balbals of the Turkic and Kipchak periods are installed in front of the museum building.
Transfer: Aktogay village - Shabanbai bi village (41 km). Arrival in the village of Shabanbai bi, accommodation in a guest house, a walk in the vicinity of the village, dinner, overnight.

Breakfast. Transfer: Shabanbai bi village - Torkora tract (10 km). A walk in the vicinity of the tract. The Kyzylarai mountain range consists of several separate independent mountains. So, this time our walk in the vicinity of the highest peak of the Kyzylarai Mountains will take place in the Myrzakozha mountains.
We will visit the small waterfall of Myrzakozha, beautiful weathering of granite against the background of pine trees in these mountains. The Myrzakozha Mountains are elongated in the latitudinal direction and are located to the east of the village of Shabanbai bi. I hope we will be lucky and we will be able to meet marals and argali very rare in Kazakhstan in these mountains.
Further moving: Torkora tract - Aksoran tract (7 km). Walking in the vicinity of the Aksoran tract. The Kyzylarai Mountains are mainly composed of sedimentary and igneous rocks, among which granite, porphyry, quartzite, sandstone and shale predominate. Intermountain valleys and slopes are covered with dense pine forests, and flat areas are occupied by birch groves.
Moving: Aksoran tract - Shaban tract (21 km). A walk in the vicinity of the tract. One of the natural attractions of the Kyzylarai mountain range is its pine forests, which grow on granite rocks, this is the southernmost place of pine distribution in the Central Kazakhstan ecosystem, bordering on desert expanses. In the Kyzylarai mountains there is the Aulie tract, which fascinates with its magnificent view and colorful landscape.
Moving: Shaban tract - Shabanbai bi village (32 km). Arrival in the village of Shabanbai bi, rest, dinner, overnight.

Breakfast. Transfer: Shabanbai bi village - Arai tract (3 km). A walk in the vicinity of the Arai tract.
Transfer: Arai tract - Aulie mountains (8 km). A walk in the surrounding mountains, Shadyrbai peaks and Aulie peak with a height of 1274 meters above sea level are located here. Climbing the ridge of Mount Aulie, visiting a small lake in the rocks among the granites.
From the top of the ridge to the south, a panorama of the entire Kyzylarai mountain range opens. Descent from the ridge and visit the Aulie cave.
Transfer: Aulie Mountains - Shabanbai bi village (7 km). Arrival in the village, rest, dinner, overnight.

Breakfast. Transfer: the village of Shabanbai bi balbal in the Karashoky tract (12 km). Our journey begins from the village of Shabanbai bi along a country road on the right bank of the Karatal River. We will pass the Ayulyozek Mountains, which will be located to the west of our path. In the Karashoky tract there is a unique example of ancient sculpture – a stone statue of balbal, an inspection of balbal.
Moving: Karashoky tract - Begazy necropolis (7 km). Arrival at the Begaza necropolis. Sightseeing and walking in the vicinity of the ancient burial. The total area occupied by the Begaza necropolis is about 10 hectares.
The largest and earliest mausoleums are located in the northern part of the complex, at the very foot of Mount Begazy, very close to the Andronovo group, on its northeastern side. The rock tombs of Begaza, having a common structural similarity – the entrance corridor, the upper bypass gallery, the support pillars that secure the joints of the facing plates, at the same time differ from each other in size, a special arrangement of the walls, and sometimes a two-chamber division.
All mausoleums are built in a square plan, often with a double wall and oriented to the cardinal directions. The entrance is always facing east. A short excursion to the Begazy mountains.
Transfer: Begazy necropolis - Zhetymshoky settlement - Sary-Terek settlement - small village of Aktumsyk - rock paintings of Zheltau (53 km).
We pass the necropolis and the Begazy Mountains, and soon an array of the Ayyrtas Mountains with a dominant peak 872 meters above sea level will appear in the southeast. We pass the village of Zhetymshoky and head along the asphalt highway to the southeast to the small village of Aktumsyk.
After the village of Aktumsyk, we pass the bed of the Tokrau River and along a beautiful country road we move east to the mountains. Kishi-Zeltau. Arrival at the Zheltau petroglyphs, inspection of drawings, walks in the vicinity. The petroglyphs of Zheltau are among the oldest.
Fifteen argali are depicted on the plates around a symbolic image resembling a spreading acacia, similar to the one growing near the rocky exit in this gorge at the present time. Anthropomorphic characters are represented by horsemen on horseback and in one case on a two-humped camel.
The scene of hunting mountain sheep, roe deer and deer stand out, in which the main character - a horse archer - is depicted very realistically: a man is shown to the waist and turned back, armed with a large complex bow and arrow.
Another multi-figure composition shows a man with a chicken, which connects with horses located vertically on this plane, unlike other animals transferred in a horizontal plane.
Schematic anthropomorphic images are of interest, which can be considered as "sun-headed" characters: a "halo" is shown above the head of a person drawn in full face with several large dots.
Moving: rock paintings of Zheltau - the village of Aktumsyk - the village of Aktogay - the village of Aksu-Ayuli - Karaganda (307 km). Arrival in Karaganda, transfer to a hotel, overnight.

Breakfast. Transfer: Karaganda - Temirtau (31 km). A sightseeing tour of Temirtau, a panorama with pipes of the Temirtau Metallurgical Combine plants, an inspection of the old building of the Metallurgists' House of Culture on Republic Avenue, the main attraction of the city is the monument to Metallurgists. The monument to Metallurgists is made of stainless steel and bronze, opened in 2001.
Transfer: Temirtau - Osakarovka village - Astana (183 km). Arrival in Astana. Transfer to the National Museum of the History of Kazakhstan. Excursion to the National Museum of the History of Kazakhstan. Visiting the archaeological, ethnographic, historical and cultural halls of the National Museum of Kazakhstan, visiting the exposition in the halls of ancient and medieval history, modern history.
Visiting the halls of gold, ethnography, Independent Kazakhstan, Astana, contemporary art. Transfer to a hotel, accommodation, overnight.

Breakfast. Tour of Astana. Visit to the Hazret Sultan Mosque. The mosque is located on the right bank of the Ishim River, not far from the American Embassy, next to the Kazak Eli monument and adjacent to the Palace of Peace and Harmony. The main mosque of Astana is built of white marble.
The second largest mosque in Central Asia after the mosque in Turkmenistan "Turkmenbashi Spirituality". The construction of the cathedral mosque "Hazret Sultan" began in Astana in June 2009. The building was built in the classical Islamic style with the use of traditional Kazakh ornaments.
The Hazret Sultan Mosque can accommodate 5,000 worshippers, on holidays - up to 10,000 people. The Hazret Sultan Mosque has the largest dome in Kazakhstan with a height of 51 meters and a diameter of 28.1 meters at the base of the dome.
The mosque also has eight small domes with diameters of 10.45 and 7.6 meters, and peaks of 33.46 and 25.25 meters. In the corners of the mosque there are 4 minarets with a height of 77 meters. After the end of the tour to the mosque, transfer to the shopping and entertainment complex - "Khan Shatyr".
Our tour of Nurly Zhol Boulevard will begin from here. So, behind us is the Khan Shatyr complex, designed by the English architect Norman Foster. Further, through the park "Hashyktar", through the arch of the popular administrative building with gilded glass to Nurly Zhol Boulevard, the residential complex "Vodno-Zeleny Boulevard", the buildings of the company "Kazakhstan Temir Zholy" (nickname "Lighter"), the business center "Emerald Quarter", the residential complex "Northern Lights", the monument "Astana-Baiterek".
The height of "Astana-Baiterek" is 105 meters, the diameter of the ball is 22 meters. Inside the ball there is a bar and a panoramic hall. The House of Ministries, the Government Building of Kazakhstan, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan are far away. The boulevard ends with the residence of the president "Ak Orda".

The end of the tour. Departure from Astana.