Tour to Altyn-Emel National Park: Singing Dune and Aktau [Basshi Village + Altyn Emel National Park] · 2 days

Transfer and overnight stay in Basshi Village, the gateway to Altyn-Emel. A quiet aul at the foot of the range, where the air smells of steppe and burnt straw; guest houses with a simple but hearty dinner. In the first half of the day, explore Altyn-Emel National Park, 4600 km² of desert landscapes with herds of kulans and goitered gazelles. The scale here is felt physically, like in Arizona. By lunchtime, visit the Aktau chalk mountains, with pink, green, and blue bands of rock from the Paleocene era. A colorful echo of the ancient sea that disappeared 50 million years ago. In the second half of the day, make a short stop by the 700-year-old willow in Basshi Village, a living tree whose trunk remembers the era of the Golden Horde. Overnight in a guest house in Basshi Village at the gates of Altyn-Emel.

Stop in the colorful Katutau Mountains, volcanic rocks shaped by the wind into sculptural forms. Here, geology seems to have decided to work by hand. In the first half of the day, climb Singing Dune, a 150-meter dune 1.5 kilometers long. On the descent, the dry sand hums with a deep sound, like the engine of a warming car, and that sound really comes from under your feet.