Spring flowers of Kazakhstan
The Kazakh flora contains more than 5700 species of plants, 700 of those are endemic. The most interesting of them are the beauty-blooming spring flowers. This tour will give you an opportunity to see them. The length of the tour is 3000 kilometers (1900 miles).
Duration: 14 days (13 nights).Season: April - May.
Accommodation: Hotel (in Almaty), guesthouses, cottages.
Meal: full board, lunch box, hot dinner.
Transport: trains and comfortable buses would be your transport.
Tour description.
Day 1. Meeting at the Almaty airport. Accommodation in a guesthouse. City tour.Day 2. Driving to Bakanas - Kapchagay (200 km). You will see: desert plants. There are the unique caksaul woods (haloxylon aphyllum), ancient grove (Populus aphullum), bushes - Halimodendron halodendron, Ammadendron bifolium, Calligonum ssp., ephemeris - Tulepa buhseana, T. Kolpakow skiana, T. Behmiana, Rhinopetalum karelinic, Cyagea, Iristenuifolia, Zeptaleum filifolium, Carex physodes. Driving to Almaty.
Day 3. Driving to Tamgalytas (170 km). Images on the rocks (Petroglyphs). Original endemic Tulipa regelii and other ephemeris - Juno kuschakewiczii, Colchcum kesselringii, Corydalis schanginii, Eremurus cristatus, Gagea (4-5 aspects), colour of streets bushes - Spiraea hupericifolia, Cerasus Tianschanica, Caragana balchschensis. Driving to Almaty.
Day 4. Driving to Valley of the Charyn River (Ashen grove, 220 km). Accommodation in cottages. Here you can see a unique grove of Fraxinus potamophila, deserted bushes (Tamarix, Calligonum junceum), Helianthmum songoricum, Convolvulus tragacanthoides, C. fruticosus, blossoming Eremurus altaicus, Tulipa kolpakowsuiana, T. buhseana.
Day 5. Excursion on the canyon. Picturesque rocks, unusual landscapes, desert; endemic Berberis iliensis, Nanophyton erinaceum, Frankenia hirsuta, Zygaphyton, blossoming ephemeris - cyeranium transversale, Vicia subvillosa, Cjagea, Tulipa. Driving to Almaty.
Day 6. Driving to Kurday settlement (180 km). Here you can see: Tulipa alberti, T. Ostrowskiana (Hybrid populations), Tulipa greigii, Pheum maximoviczii, Zeontice ewersmanni, Carydalis. Returning to Almaty.
Day 7. Driving to Kaskelenskoe gorge (35 km). You will see endemic: Eupherbia jaroslavia, Iris alberty, hybrid populations Tulipa ostrowskiana, T. Kolpakowskiana, Coridalis ledebowriana, C. Glaucescenes, Gagea tenera, Cy. Bulbifera. In the evening departure to Aksu-Dzhabagly National Park by train.
Day 8. Accommodation in the guesthouse. Driving to Korbulak gorge. Here you will see: Pistacia vera, Crataegus pontica and endemic Zepidolopha karatavica, Z. filifolia, blossoming Tulipa greigii, T. Kaufmanniana, Erimurus regelii.
Day 9. Driving to Berkara gorge (100 km). Endemic: Spiraeanthus schrenkianus, Amtygdalus petunikovii, Pyrus regelii, Celtis caucasica, rare trees and bushes - Amtygdalus petunikovii, Pyrus regelii, Celtis caucasica, polymorphic populations Tulipa greigii.
Day 10. Driving to Kim-Kaindy gorge. Picturesque waterfall, original wood of Juniperus seravschanica, j. Semiglobosa, Zeontis alberti, Jridodityum kolpakowskianum, Tulipa turkestanica, T. Kaufmanniana, Corydalis nudicaulis.
Day 11. Canyon of the Aksu river (30 km). Picturesque landscapes, blossoming ephemeris: Scilla puschkininioides, Anemone petiolulosa, Jumo coerulea, Rhinopetalum stenantherum, Allium karataviense. To Almaty by train.
Days 12-13. Driving to lake "Bolshoe Almatinskoe" (30 km). Accommodation in the guesthouse of an observatory. High-mountainous Picea schrenkiana, Juniperus sibirica, j. Sadina, j. pseudosabina. Variety of flowers: Tulipa dasystemon, T. heterophulla, Crocus alatavicus, Viola altaica, Primula algida, P. kaafmanniana, Cortusa brothere, Gagea.
Day 14. Driving to Ile-Alatau National Park (35 km). Coniferous (Picea Schreniana) and deciduous woods (Malus sieversii, Armeniaea vulgeris), endemic bushes of Atraphaxis muschketovii, Gagea, Corydalis Tulpia.
Cost of the tour includes: VISA support, accommodation in guesthouses, food during the tour, vehicles with drivers, the ecological taxes on the territory of National Parks, rental payment of the sport and kitchen equipment, guide-interpreter, cook.