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“Altyn-Emel” is another of the majestic and historically important places of the Republic of Kazakhstan. It is located not far from the middle course of the largest river of Semirechye - Ili and fully reveals all the richness and beauty of this area.
The State National Natural Park can be called a giant, because it reaches its area of up to five hundred thousand hectares and extends thirty kilometers from south to north, two hundred kilometers from east to west.
The very name "Altyn-Emel" comes from the Mongolian language and, according to legend, it was given to the valley by none other than Genghis Khan himself. According to legend, in 1219, when the troops of Genghis Khan passed through the valley in order to capture Central Asia, the commander revealed a picture of the grass turning yellow at sunset that grew on the mountains of the valley and stretched towards the sun. And he cried out “The Golden Saddle!”, Which in Mongolian sounds like “Altyn-Emel”, since then the area has been called. Indeed, if you look closely, the outlines of the valley are outwardly similar to the outlines of the saddle.
Such a huge area is rich in diverse landscapes, here you can meet both sandy deserts and desert mountains. There are also a lot of historical monuments and natural attractions, such as the Aktau and Katutau mountains, we will tell you about them.
The Aktau mountains are classified as Cretaceous, they were formed from sediments belonging to the Cenozoic era, which began about 60 million years ago, which makes these mountains so historically important. Basically, the composition of the mountains is gypsum clay, on which there is absolutely no vegetation. Due to this feature, being here, one gets a cosmic sensation, as if you are on another planet. For a huge amount of time, nature has cut these mountains, forming canyons, passing through which you can clearly and clearly see the layers of which the steep slopes of the hills consist. This place is invaluable for geology, because in the layers a lot of flora diversity was revealed, for example, species of wood such as pistachio, alder and frame, and this is called only a small percentage.
In addition to wood, fossils of ancient animal species such as crocodiles, many primitive predators and even rhinos were found in the layers of the Aktau mountains!
This is a very interesting and unusual place to travel, which is definitely worth a visit to lovers of archeology, geology, as well as to curious and inquisitive people.
The Katutau mountains have a very interesting composition and without knowing this information it is hard to imagine that they were formed from volcanic rocks. The breed that Katutau consists of dates back to the Permian period, which is 240 million years ago. It was at this time that two local volcanoes acted on this territory, and it was not for nothing that these mountains were called “severe mountains”.
In addition to the fact that the mountains consist mainly of lava and volcanic rock, you can also see many dikes here, these are cracks that were formed as a result of an earthquake or volcanic eruption, and then were filled with magma. The length of such dikes reaches up to 8 kilometers.
Also, this area is considered the bottom of the once-existing ancient ocean of Tethys, this memory did not pass without a trace and left landscapes washed by its waters, which took an interesting and rather unusual form, which is rarely seen on the surface.
A visit to the Altyn-Emel State National Natural Park will undoubtedly appeal to lovers of outdoor activities, moreover, thanks to the trip, you will discover a lot of new and interesting about the nature of Kazakhstan.