Kazakhstan

The border from Uzbekistan to Kazakhstan was the usual long haul from these previous Soviet states. A new twist at this one was a whole body scanner! Having got through to the Kazak side we waited for hours for the truck to pass through. We were in an area like the third world, a shanty town in blistering heat that made a couple of our ladies wobble a bit. We met our Russian speaking guide Vladimeer. Unfortunately, his English is not so hot. For the next two nights we camp in Vladimeers garden/zoo. His gogs, neighbours dogs, chickens, horses etc all of whome compete to be the loudest at 5am.
We go for atrek into the national park in this country that is as large as western Europe. Our trek takes down deep into a gorge to a river where we cool down in the cold glacial water. The trek up is very demanding and we are glad to see the truck and have lunch. One of our group came running to say a man had collapsed half way down the gorge so a couple of us ran down to his aid and found a swedish man collapsed with heat exhaustion. Having revived him a ranger arrivedand carted him off on his horse. We struggled back up to the top. We had one more bush camp night before heading off towards the border with Kyrgyzstan.