Kazakhstan off-road adventures: Unique landscapes from the Caspian Sea to the Silk Road

Just over 150 km separate Aktau, the biggest city on the Caspian Sea, from SheTpe, the nearest town to the Torysh Valley. It’s a unique off-road adventure that takes you through stunning natural landscapes, although the road that connects them dates back to the Soviet era and for the first 100 km, potholes dominate the asphalt surface. It’s rare to meet someone on the way. Very few cars, many horses and camels grazing. And, at some remote bus stop, you may be lucky enough to find local women selling camel milk, which is considered a real delicacy by the Kazakhs.

The Torysh Valley is strewn with round-shaped rocks and stones of varying dimensions: from the spheres that you can hold in one hand to those that reach up to 3 meters in diameter. There are no studies that prove the exact process of formation of these spheres, nor where they came from, with any precision. The most probable explanation seems to be a process of concretion around a small stone probably of volcanic origin.

Given their very friable nature, they are easy to dissect. Inside you can often see the remains of fossils and shells.