Mountains on Mangyshlak.

“I am traveling not to come somewhere, but to go. The main thing is movement"

Robert Louis Stevenson.

Hiking around Aktau.

The Basgurly-Zhazgurly depression is located in the south of the Mangyshlak peninsula in the Karakiyan district of the Mangistau region, 20 kilometers east of the Kaunda depression. The depression is oval in shape, extending from west to east for 30 kilometers, with a width of 14.2 kilometers and an average depth of 100 meters from the surface of the plateau.
The depression is characterized by steep, precipitous northern and western slopes, indented by ravines. Its flatter western slope gradually turns into a slightly undulating accumulative plain, dividing the depression into two halves - Zhazgurly and Basgurly.
The vicinity of the depression i
There are several wells in the vicinity of the depression (the northern part of the depression); there are no other sources of water. The area is important as a high density nesting site for birds of prey. About 10 pairs of Long-legged Buzzard (Buteo rufinus) live here. A typical set of desert species of passerines, sand grouses, etc. nests.
The Ustyurt mountain sheep, or mouflon (Ovis orientalis arkal), is found in small numbers.

Authority:
Alexander Petrov. "On the origin of the drainless depressions of South Mangyshlak". V.V. Sholokhov. Institute of Physics of the Earth, RAS, Moscow, Russia.

Photos by:
Alexander Petrov.