Shalkar-Nura

How to Get to Shalkar-Nura

One route you could take to explore the area, based on Georgy Osadchiy’s (Георгий Осадчий) Shalkar-Nura trip report, is to drive from Yrgyz village to the Kul dam via the Kuylys and Zhaisanbay settlements. Bear in mind that the roads are unpaved and rapidly worsen once you leave Yrgyz. The dam serves to block off the Turgay River’s access to Kurdym Lake.

From the lake and dam, you can drive along the 1,800 km² Shalkarteniz salt marsh’s southwestern shores to the twin-peaked Kosbuirek Mountain (158 m), which means ‘two kidneys’ in Kazakh. A nine-kilometre-wide area called the Minsay Tract separates Kosbuirek from Shalkarnura’s cliffs. Zhamanai Mountain (209 m) forms the outermost edge of the cliffs, locally known as chink. Measured from Zhamanai, the cliffs extend for some 50km north to Nura village and for over 80km east to the Aktobe-Kostanay border. Seven kilometres to the west of Zhamanai is the freestanding Sunkarkiya Mountain (191 m), and between these two peaks it’s possible to drive further north along the cliff’s west face.

The south-facing cliffs, which overlook the Shalkarteniz, are the tallest and ascend up to a 239m unnamed high point. Along this stretch, some of the rock faces are over 100m high. The west-facing stretch overlooks a 15-kilometre-wide desolate plateau, sparsely vegetated apart from patches of tamarisk, saltwort, and wormwood. Atop the western cliffs you might be able to spot the Turgay River further to the west. Backing the cliffs is Shalkarnura’s plateau, which has several small lakes and a few saline basins. The largest body of water is Akkol (Акколь), in the plateau’s north-eastern corner. Outside of the plateau area there are very few water sources in Shalkarnura, aside from a few natural springs and man-made wells created for the saiga, some of which are thermal.

Although Shalkarnura’s geological history and composition is similar to the Ustyurt’s and Aktolagay Plateau’s, morphologically it’s different with mellower slopes and fewer dry canyons. However, it’s still spectacular in its own right and given its remoteness is likely to remain one of central-west Kazakhstan’s least-visited areas.