Mysterious Valley of Balls, Kazakhstan

The valley of balls or Torysh, as it’s called in Kazakh, is located at the Northern tip of the Western Karatau, close to the town of Shetpe in Western Kazakhstan. The area consists of plentiful ball-like rock formations strewn across a wide range of steppe land. The balls sizes are vary, but most of them are 3 to 4 meters in diameter. So far, the phenomenon is not properly researched, however various geological explanations from mega-spherulites crystalline balls formed in volcanic ash and exposed by weathering to cannonball concretions. 

It is believed, that balls are to be concretions a hard, compact mass created by the precipitation of minerals. They’re every so often spherical and generally form in sedimentary rock or soil.  In fact this is not a rare phenomenon, because this type of concretions is found all over the world. So, questions comes in mind what is rare, the size these concretions have reached, as large as those in valley of balls are found only at some places on planet earth. The New Zealand famous Moeraki Boulders is another example. Moreover you can see a massive Lion Rock also called “Sherkala” 332 white and ochre chalk outcrop with various fissures along its rim and more rock formation at its foot. The adjacent places are also the scant ruins of the Silk Road Town Kyzylkala. 

Sharyn Canyon Kazakhstan

Sharyn Canyon is an interesting natural phenomenon also famous as Charyn Canyon located on the Sharyn River in Kazakhstan, almost 200 kilometers east of Almaty, near the Chinese border. Sharyn Canyon is part of Sharyn National Park within the Sharyn River Valley. The canyon is 90 kilometers in length has gained colorful formation of varying shapes and sizes. The size of Sharyn Canyon is much smaller than the prominent U.S. Grand Canyon, but has been equally important site of Kazakhstan.

A very impressive canyon (Valley of Castles) is famous due to its unusual rock formation. The impressive natural canyon formation is along the banks of fast flowing Charyn River in a northern flow stretch 80 kilometers stated a tributary of the IIe River. The river lengths is 393 kilometers, rises from Tian Shan Mountains. Moreover, the geological formation is sedimentary red sandstone which have been subject to the atmogenic process, wind action or deposition from volcanic vapors, water and wind erosion ultimately result in weird and colorful formation in the form of sculptures. The Canyon was formed about 3 million years ago as the land around the canyon started to rise, result in large lake existed in the area around the top of the canyon and it started to empty.  Over the next million years the canyon generate a large earthquake disturbed the flow of the river by blocking it with a land-slip forming the rock sculptures relatively soft and are a geologists dream, revealing hundreds of millions of years of the earth’s history at this location.

Canyon access is from Almaty on the main road toward east which passes through small villages. The Canyon views are very scenic, adventure lovers likes white white-water rafting and canoeing. Moreover fishing is another activity can be done on the river side. The local fish Naked Osman is famous fish here. Furthermore downstream of the Canyon is a dry zone of the gorge recognized as Red Canyon or Valley of Castles. A beautiful track has naturally sculpted red stone formations.  A forest, 20 kilometers away under the Umbrage of Canyon (Sogdian Ash) away remnant of a relic forest, the trees are to be a derivative from the Ice age, one of unique forest formation in the world. In 1964, it is declared protected reserve, Ash tree and other species of trees willow, poplar and barberry are extremely important trees. 

It is recommended to make a day plan of Charyn Canyon from Almaty, however, two days are suggested to take in a few different sights and activities. Therefore, due to rich popularity between local and foreign tourists, camping at the bottom of Dolina Zamkov has become a crowded affair which is best avoided. 

Kazakhstan, Almaty

This Movie is dedicated to the city where I was born and live. The real inspiration for the creation of this video was works of Tom Lowe and Artem Pryadko (zweizwei). Therefore in 2012, I decide to shot the video by the end of year, and editing process took an extra month of time. I’ve taken more than 55,000 photos, however the movie consist only the best shots, some shots were not included. So i’m highly grateful to all who helped me in some way during the shooting process. Moreover, a big special thanks to my parents for their understanding and patience.

I used the following equipment:

Canon 60d, Canon 1100d, Tokina 11-16, Canon 50 1.8, Canon 18-55 (2х), Jupiter 37А 3,5 / 135mm.

LCW Neutral Density NDx500, LCW Fader ND MK II (ND2-ND400), Kenko PRO1 Circular PL.

1m Igius rail with Dynamic perception MX2 Motion Controller.

Photographer: Pavel Tenyakov.

Assistants: Vladimir Volkov, Elijah Tenyakov.

Music: Lindsey Stirling - Crystallize

Please watch in FULLSCREEN and HD for the best quality. Enjoy!

© Pavel Tenyakov

Licensing/press please contact: tenyakov@fromru.com

Almaty project from Pavel Tenyakov on Vimeo.

Kaindy Lake Kazakhstan

The beautiful Kaindy Lake is a 400 meter long lake in Kazakhstan’s portion of the Tian Shan Mountains actually located 129 kilometers from the city of Almaty. The Kaindy Lake came into existence after enormous limestone landslide in 1911 that triggered a big landslide blocking the gorge and forming a natural dam. Subsequently, rainwater filled the valley and formed the lake. The track leads to Lake Kaindy has numerous scenic views to the Saty Gorge, the Chilik Valley, and the Kaindy Gorge, but dried-out trunks of submerged Picea schrenkiana trees rise above the surface.

The Kaindy Lake is popular for its scenic exquisiteness mainly the submerged forest and the imposing trunks of spruce trees that rises out of the lake water. Moreover the above water, the sunken trees appear as large masts from lost ghost ships, or perhaps the spears of a mysterious army hiding and waiting for the right time to emerge. The water is so cold even in summer the temperature does not surpass 6 degrees that the great pines still remain on the trees, even hundred years later, and the clear mountain water, you can observe deep into the depths of the lake. In winter, the lake surface is freezes over and during this time, Lake Kaindy becomes a great spot for trout fishing and ice diving. 

The lake water itself is often of a somewhat kryptonite hue and strange coloration is mainly caused by lime and other mineral deposits which have been seeped into the water since the lake’s creation. Yet once you get closer to the lake the water appears crystal clear and you can see the trout which were introduced in to the lake in the 1930s. Very surprisingly the lake has few visitors, partly because lake is overshadowed by the more famed Bolshoe Almatinskoe Lake and the Kolsay Lakes, all of which are close by, but far easier to reach from Almaty. Thus, notwithstanding its proximity to a city with a populace of more than one million, the lake retains a peaceful atmosphere.

Source: Charismatic Planet