
Ryn Desert
The Ryn, also known as the Naryn Sands, is Kazakhstan’s westernmost desert. It spans for over 350km between the Volga and Ural Rivers, and over
Established in 1982, the Aktau-Buzachinsky Nature Reserve covers an area larger than Greater London. It’s little-visited, rarely written about, and features a diverse landscape of gorges, small valleys, and coastal plains overlooking the Caspian. The southerly extent stretches for 30km from eastern Sarytash Bay to Kochak Bay and into the Kimbelek Salt Marsh.
The rest of the reserve extends 60km north along the Dolgiy Peninsula, part of the western Buzachi Peninsula, until Aktumsuk Bay. On the peninsula’s north-west coast are the remains of Krasnyy ‘Red’ Dolginets, an abandoned village and collective fishing farm, and the birthplace of decorated Red Army soldier Sisembaev Sham (1919–2004). According to Soviet maps, there may be a few more ruins on the road leading north to Aktumsuk.
Animals living in the area include the Ustyurt mouflon, Brandt’s hedgehog, Persian gazelle, foxes, caracal, steppe polecat, Pallas’ cat, whooper swans, occasional saiga herds, wolves, Caspian seals, and Dalmatian and eastern white pelicans. There are at least 15 reptile species and 30 types of birds of prey, such as vultures and white-tailed eagles. Please note that this information reflects the biodiversity as of the 1990s, and the current fauna composition may have changed since then.
Krasnyy ‘Red’ Dolginets (Красный Долгинец): 44.9583, 51.1007
Dolgiy Peninsula (Dolgi Tübegı/Полуостров Долгий): 44.9071, 51.1391
Aktumsuk Bay (Aqtūmsyq Şyğanağy/Залива Актумсук): 45.0242, 51.2580
Kimbelek Salt Marsh (Kimbelek Sor/Кимбелек Сор): 44.5818, 51.6706
1:200k Soviet map of Aktau-Buzachinsky Nature Reserve, with Dolgiy Peninsula in the bottom-left quarter.
1:500k Soviet map of the Buzachi Peninsula and the reserve, shown on the bottom-left quarter’s upper edge.
The European Commission’s Digital Observatory for Protected Areas digital map of the reserve.
Silk Road Adventures’ photos of Aktau-Buzachinsky Nature Reserve.
The Ryn, also known as the Naryn Sands, is Kazakhstan’s westernmost desert. It spans for over 350km between the Volga and Ural Rivers, and over
Perched on the western tip of the Tub-Karagan Peninsula is the city of Fort Shevchenko and its satellite port town of Bautino. It’s the Mangystau
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