Tours by the nature of Kazakhstan.

“It is untrue that equality is a law of nature. Nature has no equality; its sovereign law is subordination and dependence” 

Luc de Clapiers de Vauvenargues.

Tours from Astana to East Kazakhstan.

From the west to the east the territory of Kazakhstan stretches from the Caspian Sea and the-lower reaches of the Volga RiVer up-to the Altai Moun­tains. The mountain ranges of Tien-Shan and the desert of Kyzylkum separate Kazakhstan from the republies of Central Asia.
From the north­west the country borders on the Vol­ga region and the Urals, in the north it borders on Western Siberia. The surface of Kazakhstan varies greatly: there are high mountains snow covered year round, lowlands, hollows.
The highest point is the peak Khan-Tengri (6 955 m), the lowest is the depression Karagiye on Mangyshlak Peninsula, 132 m below sea level. The geographical area named North Kazakhstan lies between Western Si­beria and Central Kazakhstan, com­prising four administrative regions: Kostanay, Pavlodar, North Kazakh­stan and Akmolinsk regions.
The relief of the described territory is flat and low-mountainous. The forest landscapes in the north are replaced southward by wooded steppes, then steppes, dry steppes, semi-deserts and deserts. The mountains and hills are not very high, no more than 150 - 400 me­tres.
The massifs of insular low mountains (600 - 1 000 metres ab­solute height) rise above the Kaza­khstani hillocks and plains. Such are the Yermentau, Kokshetau, Bayanaul, Zheltau mountains, Zerenda hills, etc. Very beautiful are
the low mountain of Kokshetau and Bayanaul, whore (he rocki de­stroyed by weathering form whimsi­cal sculptures and Isolated knolls resembling ancient constructions. The system of inland waters in North Kazakhstan is poorly devel­oped.
More than half of 845 rivers do not exceed 20 km in length and they are temporary water-currents. Only large rivers - the Irtysh, Ishim and Tobol - flow into the ocean, as. for such major rivers as the Torgay and Nura, they flow into the lakes.
There are about thousand lakes with an area of more than one square km, half of them are fresh-water, the rest are salty. Shallow and small lakes predominate, they are especially numerous in the northern part of the described territory.
The largest lakes are Tengiz (1 590 sq.km), Sarykopa (336 sq.km), Korgaljin (330 sq.km), Kushmurun (210 sq.km).The forest-steppes of North Kazakh­stan are mostly flat. The birch and birch-and-pine woods are located in places with shallow underground water flowing. Farther to the south, there are steppes where the main part of the herbdge is made up of cereals.
The prevailing vegetation in semi- deserts and desert steppes is worm­wood. In the stony soil of the hil­locks such shrubs as karagana (Caragana) and meadow-sweet (Spiraea) and herbs as tyrsik (Stipa capillata) and tipchak (Festuca sulcata) grow abundantly.
Erkek (Agropyr Um sir). The fauna of North Kazakhstan is very rich and various. It is charac­terized by a mixture of northern and southern species. Such sputhern birds, as peganka-duck (Tadorna tadorna), shiloklyuvka-snipe (Recor- virostra avosetta), sea plover are common there, and a northern bird - the black-cropped loon (Gavio arctica) - also nests in North Kaza­khstan.
The lakes of the Kokshetau hills are inhabited by taiga ducks (gogols) and more northern turpans (Melanitta fusca). The forest-steppe zone is home to willow-ptarmigans, there are also heath-cocks (Lyrurus tetrix) and avdotkas (Burhinus oedienemus), sai­gas (Saiga tatarica) and roes (Capre-olus capreolus), this territory is in­habited by teleutka-squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) and the desert species of jerboas (Dipus sagitta).
The main species in the steppe is the baibak-marmot (Marmota bobac), although after the develop­ment of the virgin lands its popula­tion strongly decreased. Some birds - bustard (Otis tarda) and strepet (Otis tetrax) - became very rare.
Unfortunately, in the forests the number of roes also decreased, though in Borovoye forestry where the recommendations for scientific hunting are strictly followed, the po­pulation of roes is quite enough to carry out scheduled shooting.
In the mountains of Bayanaul the mountain goat (arkhar) is still preserved. The elks have appeared lately on the territory of North Kazakhstan, in the north of Kostanay and North Kazakhstan regions these animals are common denizens.
The wild boar lives in the reeds of some lakes. Every year in summer, when the vegetation fades in the southern ar­eas, saiga (Saiga tatarica) antelopes moving north­ward appear in Kostanay and Akmolinsk regions.
In autumn the herds of saiga migrate to the desert of Betpakdala where large groupings of them stay for wintering. Throughout the territory of North Kazakhstan wolves, the number of . which has increased recently, inflict serious damage both on the life- stock farming and on the popula­tions of wild animals.
It is necessary to say a few words about the “pearls" of North Kazakh­stan, known to tourists and nature- lovers far outside the country. First of all, it is Borovoye with its trans­parent lakes, coniferous pine forests, deciduous woods, berry glades and mushroom places.
The largest lakes there are Shchuchye, Bolshoye Chebachyc and Borovoye. In the forests of Borovoye marals and wood-grou­ses have become acclimatized. There are more than 150 species of birds, including heath-cocks.
In Borovoye one can see the highest mountain of this area - Sinjukha (947 m). Directly from the lake the granite block - Sphynx - advances with its whimsical form, the stone hill Okzhctpes - "where an arrow will not reach " - stands high above the coastline, from the Blue Gulf the rock called Sleeping Knight, re­sembling a lying athlete's head in an ancient helmet, is visible.
The Bayanaul national park is inter­esting also. There people can go on a walking tour to “where legends were bom". On the way from the lake Zhasybay to the lake Toruaigyr travellers usual­ly stop near a very unusual rock:
“Kempirias” or ‘‘Stone old woman” - a sculpture created by the nature for million of years. The wonderful sculptures both in Borovoye and in Bayanaul are covered with legends which can be heard from local resi­dents.
The lake Tengiz located on the ter­ritory of the Korgaljin sanctuary can be undoubtedly referred to the “pearls” of this area only for fla­mingoes nesting there. The Lake Tengiz is large (1 590 sq. km), salty, shallow. There are also other places in Kazakhstan where these unique birds periodically arrange their nests - they are the northeastern part of the Caspian Sea, the lakes Zhaman-kol and Shalkar-Tuz, but the per­manent nesting of these birds is the lake Tengiz.
Apparently, the main cause of such constancy is the safe protection of the lake by the reserve personnel. On the described territory there is more reserve - Naurzum. It is remarkable for its pine forest, which is the southernmost pine forest in North Kazakhstan. Many rare birds, registered in the Red Book of Kazakhstan, nest in the Naurzum. reserve.
They are the orlan-belokhvost (Haliaeetus albicilla), strepet (Otis tetrax), bustard (Otis tarda), savka-duck (Oxyura leucocephala), the so called karavaika (Plegadis falcinel- lus), klikun-swans (Cydnus cydnus). Altai is a large highland of Central Asia.
The climate there is sharply-continental, winter is usually snowy, fifty degrees frost is common there. In winter the Altai forests are almost impassable because of high snow­drifts. Summer is generally hot. The rivers in Altai are unruly and full of rapids.
The largest of the rivers arc the Irtysh, Katun, Bukhtarma, Kurchum. There are a lot of lakes. The largest is the lake Markakol (460 sq.km), it is located at the height of in 1976 the Markakol reserve was or­ganized.
The taiga landscapes are mostly typi­cal for the mountainous Altai. On the glades among the coniferous woods there are sites of meadows where the magnificent grassy vegetaition grows: borshchevik (Heracleum Sibiricum), dyagil (Angelica arch- angelica), zhivokost (Delphinium), kiprey (Epilobium), anemone (Anemone), aquilegia, buttercup (Ranunculus) and so on. Grass is abundant and high.
There are glades entirely covered with carpets of co­lours among which it is possible to distinguish the so called kupalnitsa (Trollius asiaticus), peony (Paeonia anomala), iris; Adonis. The foothills are occupied by steppes.
Taiga species including the so called burunduk (Entamias sibiricus), kabarga (Moschus moschiferus), elik (Alces alces), glutton (Gulo gulo), kolinsky (Mustcla sibiricus), Altai squirrel (Scuirius vulgaris), inhabit the Altai taiga.
Bears can be often met there. Let’s return to the lake Markakol. Twenty seven rivers run into the lake, the most significant are the Topolevka and Urunkhaika. Only one rivulet - the Kuljir - has its source in the Jake.
Two species of valuable fish inhabit the lake Markakol: they are uskuch or lenok (Brachymystax lenok) and grayling (Thymallus arcticus). To the southwest from the Altai mountains the wide Zaysan basin with the lake Zaysan (I 800 sq.km) is located.
The lake is navigable and rich in fish, it is a running-water lake, from the southeast the Black Irtysh flows into it from the north-west the Irtysh river flows from the lake. The Zaysan basin separates the Altai range from Saur and Tarbagatay ranges that pass through the Jungar Gates valley into the Jungar Alatau ridge.
The wonderful territory of Scmirc- chye begins here! The nature of Semirechye is rich, interesting and diverse. The highest mountain ranges of Tien-Shan - Jungar and Zailiskiy Alatau - rise in the south, the territory between the riv­ers Ili and Karatal is occupied by huge spaces of the Saryesik-Atyrau desert.
The climate of Semirechye is some­thing intermediate between the cli­mate of Siberia and that of Central Asia. The area summers are hot, . winters are cold, especially in the Balkhash region. The climate in the mountains is very special.
We can judge it by V.N. Shnitnikov emo­tional words: “During my visit to Lepsinsk on May, 14, I found only some grass hardly making its way out, whereas in the lower part of this area and in much higher Kapal, the spring was at its full height and this very day I saw there blossoming apple and pear-trees.”
The main river of Semirechye is the Ili. The name is of Mongolian ori­gin, it means “sparkling, flic Kering. The length of the Ili is 1 380 km. It begins from the confluence of two small mountain the Tekes and Kunges, then it flows within the territory of China, its river-bed stretches for 740 km throughout Kazakhstan, from the Chinese border up to the lake Balkhash.
In the low­er part the river branches into nu­merous channels, each 6f them has its own name: the Zhideli, Topar, Karauzyak, Ir and some others. The old dried up river-beds are called the Bakanas. The next as to its size river is the Karatal (370 km), then there are such rivers as the Lepsy, Tentek, etc.
The wide Ili valley behind the spurs of the ridges goes to the open spaces of the Balkhash - Alakol depression. There is the sea of sand there. In Semirechye different types of desert are represented: sandy, day, stony.
The saline soils and the so called takyrs typically are found among the sand in the hollows between the Barkhans (sand-hills), e In Semirechye there is one of the largest lakes of Kazakhstan - Balkhash (17 300 sq. km).
The water in the lake is semi-fresh, its mineralization grows from the west to the east. The border between fresh and salty halves of the lake is the Peninsula Saryesik. To the east from Balkhash there is a group of large lakes: Alakol, Sasykkol, Uyaly and Zhalanashkol.
Once all these lakes were connected with Balkhash into a big reservoir. All these lakes are rich in fish. Before speaking about the wild in­habitants of the mountains in Semi­rechye, we shall speak shortly about the characteristic features of the landscape zones.
The steppe with its typical vegeta­tion with the preponderance of cere­als lies up to the height of 600 - 700 meters above sea level. In spring the steppe is usually covered with a bright red carpet of poppies. The foothills popularly called “counters” are to be found farther, up to the level of 1200 - 1300 meters.
Higher (1300 - 2000 Meters) there are mountain deciduous forests. The aspen, birch, wild apple and pear trees, mountain ash (Sorbys) and hawthorn (Crataegus) grow there. Of bushes sweetbrier (Rosa), barberries (Berberis Khoneysuckle (Lonicera), sea-buckthorn (Hippophac) can be found there. In autumn, when birch­es and aspens turn into yellow and the fiery crones of wild dried apri­cots blaze above abrupt stony slopes, the deciduous mountainous wood is especially beautiful.
Above the zone of the deciduous forests (up to the height of 3 000 Meters) the belt of coniferous forests runs. The main tree there is the Tien-Shan fir-tree. Above the zones of coniferous woods, about 3 500 meters high, glaciers begin.
There are a lot of rocks and stony taluses. As A.N. Formozov says, the original­ity of ecological conditions in the mountains is in the fact that in this relatively small territory animals can find a wide range of places for habi­tation, suitable for their life during different seasons.
Big migrations of the most of mountain species are not observed there and they take the form of short migrations in vertical zones. That is, in case of abundant snowfalls in the mountains, animal go down lower where they can find more food, when the snow starts to thaw, they go back to their old place.
According to the writer M.D. Zver­ev, the snow leopard is the master of snow peaks. The fur of snow leopards is long, thick and warm, it protects the animal against cold of high mountains. This animal lives not only in the mountains of Semirechye, but also in Tarbagatay, Saur and Altai. Everywhere it is rare.
The second Important species in the mountains is undoubtedly the Tien-Shan brown bear inhabiting the mountain ranges of Kerzhentau, Ketmen, Zaili and Jungar Alatau. Of predatory animals one can name the wolf, lynx, fox, marten, caress, ermine and badger.
The legend of mountains is the red wolf once living on high-mountain­ous plateaus where their packs hunt­ed ungulate animals. In 1930s the red wolves skins could be found in storing places, but lately nobody (even zoologists) has come across these animals.
It is quite possible that they vanished. The grey marmot inhabits the Alpine zone of the mountains. There are a lot of birds in the mountains. One of the most notable is the stone partridge or keklik (Alectoris gracca) inhabiting both low mountains and mountain ranges rising there up to the height of 3 000 meters.
Semirechye is the region whore the areas of different birds from the or­der of gal Unacean, such as pheasants and. black-cocks, are joined. At the big heights, on mountain pla­teaus (syrt) a large bird - ular, or - mountain turkey (Tctraogallus hymalaycnsis), can be found.
These birds usually live in flights, they are rather cautious, and when disturbed they cry with characteristic shout “gurl, gurl” and fly on to the other slope of the mountain. They arrange their nests on the ground under the stones, or in grass, or in cracks among the rocks.
High in the mountain pebbles (up to 4 000 Meters) a very rare bird - serpoklyuv (Ibidorhyncha struthersi) - makes its nests, this bird is the endem­ic of high mountains in Central Asia. Typically high-mountainous birds are the klushitsa (Pyrrhocorax pyr- rhocorax) and the Alpine daw (Pyr­rhocorax graculus).
The klushitsa, called the mountain black crow, is a graceful, beautiful bird with very black plumage and red beak bent, from the top to the bottom. The Alpine daw has a beak, yellow and  short. Both birds live at the big height, above the forest zone, and make their nests in unapproachable rocks.
They fly so wonderfully, that can be judged by the quotation from V.N. Shnitnikov book: “Birds of Semirechye”: “very often, on hear­ing the shouts of klushitsa you look back, thinking .it somewhere beside. You do not see it anywhere on the rocks and then catching the direc­tion of the sound, look upwards and with surprise understand that the voice is from so high, that you hard- - see the bird, a tiny dot flying somewhere in heavenly blue”.
Besides, in the mountains there are many any other birds: tomtits of several kinds, the so called popolsen (Sitta tephronota), klest (Loxia cur-virostra), royal vyurofc (Serinus pu-sillus), goldfinch (Garduelis carduel-is), krapivnik (Trogloditcs troglo­dytes), etc.
There are certainly feathery giants: the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetus), carrion vulture (Neophron percnopterus), bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus), black griffin (Aegypius monachus), white- headed sip (Gyps fulvus), kumai (Gyps himalaensis).
There are leg­ends about all of them. As for reptiles, they are rare in our mountains, however, it is necessary to mention some of them. The first is the ordinary or pallasov shchitomordnik (Agkistrodon halys). This snake is rather poisonous, it is close to the American rattlesnakes.
There is also the steppe adder (Vipcra ursini) that should be distinguished from other snakes by a zigzag dark strip on its body. The figured runner (Elaphe dione) is also common there, it has a round pupil of the eye.
The Alai gologlaz (Ablepharus alaicus). a small ordinary lizard, which can be seen both at the foothills and at the height of 4 000 meters. In summer in the mountains there are many beautiful butterflies, the largest and brightest of them is the apollo (Parnassius Apollo) and machaon (Papilio machaon).
Now well go to South Kazakhstan with its hot summer, rough small rivers and sweet melons. In' the south, in Talas Alatau the Aksu-Jabagly reserve is situated, this old reserve was organized in 1926. The arboreous archa (Junipcrus turkestani- ca), 12 metres high, grows there.
There also tulips. Tulips can be found in other places as well, but the huge Greigi tulip (Tulipa Greigii) growing there is called the king of the tulips by amateurs and floriculturists. There are so many relic and endem­ic plants that it is even difficult to enumerate them, moreover, most of them have only Latin names which sound rather unusual for non-spe­cialists.
There is one interesting rel­ic plant - the so called “karkas”, or iron tree, (tau-dagan - in Kazakh) (Celtis caucasica). This tree is un­usually hard, strong and elastic. It can be found on the stony slopes where no other arboreous plant can grow.
Eighteen species of plants from. Aksu-Jabagly are registered in the Red Book. Two species - the apple-tree and Pskemsky onion (Allium pskemense) - arc considered to be under the threat of vanishing. The plant Acanthophyl-lum, which is usually called turkestani soup root, also refers to species, the number of which is de­creasing. It is interesting to mention some of the animals.
All of them are rare! To our regret, this word “rare’’ is to be repeated frequently. One of them is lammergeyer (beard­ed vulture) (Gypaetus barbatus). It is one of the largest feathery preda­tors, with long wings, well-propor­tioned, resembling a falcon in its flight.
There are legends about this bird: it is said to be capable to, throw down a man or an ungulate walking along the mountain path into the precipice and then to use them as food. This legend could be the naked truth! Even experienced zoologists, mistrustful to any sort to exaggerations, do not deny it. Usu­ally this bearded vulture feeds chief­ly on bones of the carrion.
In com­parison with golden eagles it legs are rather weak. There is even a legend, written down by D.P. Dementyev, of how the bearded vulture turned from a predator into a carrion-eater. It is taken from the book “The Aksu-Jabagly Reserve” by A.F.Kovshar and A.A.Ivashchenko: “Predatory birds competed in speed and dexterity”.
The lammergeyer flew ahead of all other birds on its long large wings, outstripping the rivals. Suddenly it saw a kid that died. Forgetting about everything, it rushed to it, seized and picked it up. The prophet punished the lammergeyer for greed­iness: its paws became weak, and it could take nothing except bones.
Legends often very precisely show characteristic features of animals’ behavour. The most exotic bird of South Ka­zakhstan is the paradise flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi). It inhabits the forests of India, Afghanistan, Central Asia.
The south of Kazakh­stan is the northern border of its . area. It nests in Talas Alatau and in spurs of Karatau (Boroldai, Berka­ra. Kokbulak). To meet it is the real pleasure for naturalists. The dark blue bird is also rather exotic! It lives throughout Hindustan, its northern area covers the southern regions of Kazakhstan.
The dark blue bird resembles a blackbird, but it seems to be larger than it, and its plumage is of more violet-and-lilac colour. This bird nests not far from water, often in a stone recess right  above heavy streams, so that sprays of foam can reach its nest.
The dark blue bird feeds on insects, spiders, molluscs, it can catch a lizard, mouse and even small birds of pas, serine order. A small bright bird with red wings and a thin beak bent, as that of the bird’ pishchukha (Certhia familiaris), is more rare. It is the red-winged stenolaz (Tichodroma muraria).
It builds its nest high in the mountains in unapproachable rocks with steep walls, like a light bright butterfly it quietly flies about gloomy rocks. It takes out of cracks in stones, moss and lichens all kinds of insects and arachnida.
In a hard season (winter) these birds leave favourite unapproachable slopes. At that time they can be found at the foothills where they in­spect barks of the trees and walls of the constructions. They can also be met in plains where they try to keep to clay precipice along steppe rivers and streams.
This lively bird revives and decorates gloomy mountain ravines. The porcupine, an interesting and unusual rodent, does not even climb the mountains, it makes its dens in the counters. It lives in Karatau (Boroldai, Kokbulak, Berkara).
It is difficult to see it, it is a night ani­mal, but one can know about its presence from it's traces, lost needles and marks of digging (the so called). Sometimes the porcupine goes to melon-fields to regale on, seeds of water-melons or melons.
Its long motley needles serve as protec­tion against enemies. In winter por­cupines dn not run into hibernation. The Aksu-Jabagly reserve and its en are home to the marmot menzbira (Marmota menzbieri), that is the endemic of West Tien-Shan.
It inhabits Sub-alpine and Alpine zones of the mountains up to height of 3000 meters where it lives mainly on southern warm- slopes.Farther, we go to the second largest (after the Amudaria) river of Central Asia - the river Syrdarya.
It begins from two-sources r the right is the Naryn, the left is the Karadarya, flowing down the mountains of Terskey Alatau and Fergana ridge. It falls into the Aral Sea. The length of the river from its source  Naryn up to the Aral Sea is 2 860 kilometers.
Because of the excessive expenditure of water of Syrdarya on rice and sot- ton the river has shoaled, thus the level of the Aral Sea which due to the so called reform­ers of nature is in a sad state. Where the - blue have lapped quite recently, playing sunbeams, while whirlwinds of salty dust go round among rare solyanka (Salsola).
On the deserted coast of the re­ceding to hundreds of kilometers sea skeletons of steam-ships not long ago ploughing the blue surface of the Aral Sea rust and then turn into trash. We continue our journey from the Aral Sea to the Caspian Sea.
There between two seas the deserted pla­teau Ustyurt lies. One can come across old and deep - draw-wells, made of stone, these draw-wells are said to be eighty meters deep. You can only wonder how these draw-wells were dug out, if it is even difficult to scoop up wa­ter!
The art of constructing wells in the desert has been known since an­cient times. The draw-wells were dug up at the interval equal to one- day’s walk of a camels caravan. This is Western Chink of Ustyurt Stone bulks stretch ledge after ledge, moufflon paths wind along stony slopes.
The vegetation is poor: the mortuk (Eremopyrum triticeum), biyurgun (Anobasis salsa), sandy sedge (Carex physodes) and here and there rare saxaul trees (Haloxylon), juzgun bushes (Calligonum) and karaganas (Carogana spinosa).
When seeing this inhospitable place you may have a disturbing and wea­risome sense of mystery everywhere. If you go slowly under the chink it is not difficult to find sharp like an awl shark’s teeth, fossilized shells of molluscs, “devil’s fingers” fos­sils), you may find a silicic scraper with which the ancient people, tooled animal skins and stone spear or arrow tips.
Fossil shells and shark teeth, do not leave any doubt, that in time imme­morial the sea lapped there and instru­ments of hunting show that the an­cient people were engaged in hunting. The fauna of Western Chink of Ustyurt Is rather mysterious.
For a long time the scientists doubted whether the medoed (Mellivora indi- ca) had lived there or not. Only when Konstantin Plakhov caught this ani­mal, its habitation there was proved. One hunter put a trap on the wolf but caught the hyena. In the chink a zool­ogist found a needle of the porcupine not rolled into the list of animals in­habiting the place.
Helicopter pilots said that they saw a big spotty animal similar to a cheetah! The Ustyurt chinks strongly keep their secrets! Mangystau has the same form as Ustyurt, only the roads there are. shorter and the landscape is more accurate, there are the same ancient tombs of a shell rock resembling the ruins of ancient fortresses.
Every­thing is covered with legends. There are two parallel ridges in the desert: they are Aktau and Karatau. In 1851 the exiled poet and artist Taras Shevchenko travelled in the expedition of the mining engineer Ivanin. During this trip he made many sketches of the area.
The writ­er Konstantin Paustovsky called Mangyshlak the peninsula of star downpour. The name of the river Yaik, as it is stated by geographers, existed for about two thousand years. Tsarina Ekaterina II enjoined to erase the memory of the Pugatchev revolt: “To bury in oblivion the unhappy incident on the river Yaik. 
The river Yaik is to be renamed into the Ural, and the city of Yaitsk into Uralsk Many tourists travel by the river from Uralsk to the Caspian Sea. Uralsk i£ the oldest city of Kazakhstan, the of­ficial date of its birth is 1614.
The city of Atyrau (former Gurjev) was founded in 1640 by the mer­chants. In the second half of the XVIII century Guryev was located on the coast of the Caspian Sea, now it is in more than 30 kilometers from the sea.
Every year shoals of fish go for spawning to the Ural from the Caspi­an Sea. Among them are the valuable beluga, sturgeon (Acipenser guldenstadti), ship (Acipenser nudi-ventris), sevruga (Acipenser stella- tus). The sterlet (Acipenser ruthe- nus) lives in the Ural.
The endemic of the Caspian basin is the salmon fish - belorybytsa (Stenodu Ieucich- tys), it can be found only near the Caspian Sea. The Caspian lamprey (Aspyimyzon Wagneri) lives there. In the past the population of lamprey was numer­ous, it was used for food, when dried it was fired instead of candles.
At present the number of lamprey is insignificant. The North Caspian region, between the Ural and Volga, is home to a great number of game. There are a lot of birds in the time of spring and autumn flights. The wild boar and raccoon dog in­habit the reeds.
In the early spring when the ice thaws, the Caspian seal fishery begins. The wildlife is the invaluable wealth of Kazakhstan and it should be kept for future generations.

Authority:
Photo album Kazakhstan. V. V. Yakushkin. 2002. Of. Berel. Author of the text Victor Mosolov.

Photos
Alexander Petrov.