KAZAKHSTAN 2nd-14th of May, 2010

Mountains, steppes, horses and horsemen -Kazakhstan!

Left Helsinki in the afternoon of the 1st of May flying with Turkish Airlines (excellent service) via Istanbul and arriving in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the next morning at 6 o’clock (time difference of three hours). Our multi-national Central Asia Birding group, under the leadership of Almaty-based but Dutch-born Machiel Valkenburg, comprised 2 Belgians, 4 Brits and 3 Finns. The team spirit was great throughout the trip, and I believe everybody enjoyed the friendly and good-humoured atmosphere.
Our itinerary followed the average Kazakhstan tour, with a few days spent in the south-eastern highlands, close to the Kirgistan and Chinese borders, followed by another three days on the vast steppes north of Almaty. The southern section was rounded off by a few days in the Ili Alatau National Park mountains above Almaty, where we reached an altitude of 3300 metres above sea level. After the Tienshan mountains we flew north to Astana, for another 4 days in the Tengiz-Korgalzhyn steppes some 120 kms SW of the capitol.
The spring was late and we experienced some chilly and wet weather in the beginning. Later we had sun, but the temps were still low for the season. Many species were late and recorded in below average numbers, but all in all, the diversity was very good and no important birds were missed (one exception: we dipped on White-browed Tit-Warbler in Tienshan; lots of snow still around). On the contrary, we had excellent views of many hard-to-see species and managed to find some rarely encountered birds, like Tengmalm’s Owl and White’s Thrush.
The birds of Kazakhstan are familiar to most people with an interest for Palaearctic birding, but not that many have an idea about the habitats, where the different birds are found. The grandeur of the Kazakh landscape was at least as impressive as the birds themselves, and that’s why I’ve included also some scenic shots with bird related comments.
In case you are interested in experiencing all of this for yourself, why not get in touch with Machiel. He has years of experience in arranging and leading birding tours in his new home country. The tours are competitively priced and professionally lead. There are no four star hotels available along the route, but experiencing the nights and mornings on the steppe near Konchangel in Central Asia Birding’s yurt camp, is something you will remember for the rest of your life.

www.centralasiabirding.com
machiel@centralasiabirding.com