Mangyshlak is a peninsula in Kazakhstan. Description and photo

Mangyshlak is a peninsula, beloved by historians, geologists and simple travelers. The landscapes here are reminiscent of Martian landscapes - even though they make films based on the stories of R. Bradbury. Wherever you look, a stony desert. But at the same time archaeologists find numerous traces of people's stay - since the Paleolithic times. Mangyshlak is enveloped in secrets, including geological. There are cave mosques, Zoroastrian temples, medieval dilapidated tombs.

The history of the grandiose plan of Peter the Great is connected with the peninsula of Mangyshlak, which, fortunately, did not materialize. A traveler on an off-road car has an advantage over an ordinary tourist: in these mysterious and wild places excursions are not carried. In this article, we will talk about some of the sights of the Mangyshlak peninsula, backing up the description with photos. We hope that you will want to see them first hand.

Where is Mangyshlak located

The peninsula is in western Kazakhstan, on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea. This is a fairly large area. It occupies the entire Mangistau region of Kazakhstan. This geographic object, deep into the Caspian, has its own peninsula. In the north it is Buzachi, and in the west - Tyub-Karagan. Washed Mangyshlak waters of the Gulf of Kazakhstan in the south. And in the north the Buzachi peninsula makes a bend towards the mainland. Thus, a small bay is formed, called Dead Kultuk, and a very narrow water area of Kaidak.

Since the beginning of independence, the state of Kazakhstan Mangyshlak (peninsula) has been renamed. He was returned to the former name Mangistau. In Kazakh it means "one thousand winter". The capital of the Mangistau region is the city of Aktau. In the times of the USSR it was called Fort Shevchenko, because in those places served a famous Ukrainian poet, writer and artist.

Why is the desert here

The geology of the Mangyshlak peninsula makes it possible to determine it (at least in the northern part) as a continuation of the Caspian lowland. This territory is incredibly rich in minerals. About a quarter of Kazakhstan's oil is extracted here. But the main wealth of Mangistau is uranium ore. It is known that a long time ago the peninsula was covered not by a desert, but by green meadows. Here flowed a large river Uzboy, flowing into the Caspian. But the change in the riverbed and the sharply continental climate led to the fact that the lush vegetation had dried up, giving way to desert landscapes. In Mangyshlak, severe winters with snowstorms. And in summer the thermometer's column jumps to seventy degrees!

Geological mystery

Nevertheless, the peninsula Mangyshlak is rich in medicinal mineral waters - sodium, chloride, bromine and others. In terms of chemical composition, these sources are similar to Feodosia and Matsesta. There are also thermal keys resembling those that beat in Kamchatka. How could there be so much underground water in such an arid place? The secret is simple. On the territory of the peninsula of Mangistau from north to south for many hundreds of kilometers stretch the sands of Tuiesu, Bostankum and Sengirkum. There are huge hollows here. The sand that fills them from the time of the Caspian's retreat plays the part of a sponge. It absorbs precipitation, very few, and retains fresh water, not allowing it to evaporate. Such reservoirs are enriched with mineral salts of rocks. The presence of numerous healing springs makes it possible to believe that with time the balneological resorts will develop here.

Peter the Great and Mangyshlak

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the tsar-reformer came up with the idea to build a waterway from Russia to India. It had to pass along the Volga, the Caspian, the Amu Darya and the Panj. Therefore, in the spring of 1715, a two-thousand-strong detachment led by Captain Bekovich-Cherkassky was sent. His goal was to identify the bed of the dead Uzba, which once flowed through Mangyshlak. The peninsula met the soldiers very inhospitable. Less than half of the detachment returned. But Peter the Great was inexorable. He again sent Bekovich-Cherkassky to his, this time the last, mission. Khan Shir-Gaza, with skepticism, reacted to the insane undertaking to turn the Amu-Darya flow westward so that it would occupy the deserted channel of the Uzboi and flow into the Caspian Sea. In addition, the presence of Russians in his kingdom also did not bode well. The detachment, entrapped in Khiva, disappeared without a trace.

Nature of Mangyshlak

She is truly harsh. But nevertheless, the Martian landscapes, which are especially famous for the plateau of the same name on the peninsula of Mangyshlak, attract hundreds of brave travelers. Nature here only seems lifeless. In fact, the peninsula inhabits about two hundred species of animals and almost three hundred species of plants. In the Caspian Sea off the coast of Mangyshlak is a seal. In the shallows you can see flocks of flamingos. Among the other inhabitants of the peninsula, one can mention a cheetah, a white-eyed shooter, a four-horned stalk, a honey-man, a barchan cat, a manul, a caracal, a gazelle, an Ustyur moufflon, a bustard, an owl, an eagle, a steppe eagle, a vulture, a peregrine falcon. Many species of these animals are listed in the Red Book.

Peninsula Mangyshlak: attractions

Like the abandoned cities, lost in the desert, look like ancient necropolises: Sultan-Epe, Kenty-Baba, Beket-Ata. Some memorials date from the Early Middle Ages, others were erected in the eighteenth century and were used as a cemetery until the twentieth century.

Tourists like to consider rock paintings, which depicts camels, horses, plant designs mixed with Arabic script and Zoroastrian symbols. Especially popular is the grave of the holy Sufi and the underground mosque Beket-Ata. Tourists also rise to the top of Otpan mountain, where once the signal tower of ancient Kazakhs stood. Now there is built a memorial, recreating the forms of this stronghold. Tourists among other attractions of the peninsula often visit the Shakpak-Ata cave mosque.

Natural sights-puzzles

At the very foot of the Karatau mountains lies the Karagiyi depression. Its bottom is below the level of the World Ocean at one hundred and thirty-two meters and approximately one hundred - the Caspian Sea. The depression is huge - fifty to thirty kilometers, and its origin is still inexplicable. What is this: the place of the fall of the ancient meteorite?

Similar to the hollow of Karagiye is the basin of Zhygylgan. Its dimensions are somewhat more modest - ten kilometers, but its outline is almost an ideal circle. The hollow is filled with cliff-remnants, which from a distance resemble the ruins of ancient castles. Of the other natural attractions that the peninsula of Mangyshlak is famous for, photoes often capture the "chalk mountains" of Northern Aktau and the lonely standing rock of Sherkala.