KAZAKHSTAN - Introduction to the desert

From Tehran, we took off to fly over the Caspian Sea and arrived on September 9th, 2022 in the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan. The gateway to the desert.

After a hectic night and reassembling our bikes in the airport hall, we are finally ready to conquer the ancestral territory of Kazakhstan! From the first pedal stroke, we realise what the scenery for the next few will be : desert everywhere, an infinite immensity with only a few camels and come bushes very occasionally.

Heading to Aktau, a charmless town straddling the Caspian Sea on one side and the desert on the other. Last chance to take a good shower before a long time and stock up on food for the desert crossing.

We are off for a long crossing of the desert, 550km of cycling on the Kazakhstan side with protagonists who can be counted on the fingers of their hands.

The landscapes

Without a single drop of water or a tree on the horizon. You get used to it eventually. Most of the time, it's flat and the road seems endless. You can see as far as the eye can see. From time to time a few shapes stand out from the horizon: camels! They are very small at first, then as we get closer, they grow and end up becoming huge. They are often on the side of the road, where small bushes struggle to grow.

Exceptionally, there are these cliffs. Of a white and ocher color. Very impressive, of all beauty. It's pretty rare though. But when you bumped into one, it feels like being on another planet. Maybe Mars ?

The bivouacs

This is a good surprise of the desert: the easiness of finding a bivouac spot. Everything is flat and without vegetation, so every square meter of this desert is an ideal place to pitch the tent. The Kazakh soil is made of dry and hard earth, no problem to move a few hundred meters from the road. The sunsets and sunrises are majestic, with nothing to hide the horizon line. A challenge will come with the arrival of the wind, which will force us to look for sheltered places: behind some ruins, or in basic shelters... A real treasure hunt in the desert!

The wind

And yes, it was the surprise guest of the adventure! Leaving Aktau with a slight tailwind, it was an amazement at the first 90 degree bend when our speed went from 20km to 6km... 3 days followed with a strong headwind, including the bulletin weather indicating gusts at 60km… What to do? Stop and wait? Our provisions wouldn't allow it, and where to stop anyway? Wait in the tent ? We pedaled, 50km each day, sometimes having to push the bikes during the most critical windy passages. It was hard mentally, especially since it was our first real windy experience of the trip… So we have to keep our minds busy and try tfortunately At least, the Kazakhstan’s road is good.

The road

The main character of the adventure. A line of asphalt in the middle of nothing! We wonder how the engineers chose the route, which ultimately is not so direct to reach the city of Beyneu from Aktau. Its change of direction is sometimes life-saving, sometimes a catastrophe depending on the direction of the wind... But the good news is the quality of the road and the surface. It is not new but of very good quality, with not a single pothole over the 550km! We were told that the almost unlimited resources of oil and gas are the main reason for these impeccable infrastructures. Surprisingly, every 50km, a sign with a tree and a table indicates the presence of a rest area. Hilarious. Obviously, there is no tree or table on the horizon, but toilets (holes in the ground between 3 walls) and a small umbrella allow us to at least punctuate the journey and change the landscape hitherto empty.

Loneliness

We expected it, we were served. You feel alone in the desert, even as a couple. This feeling was surely emphasized by our 3 weeks spent in Iran. Going from a country where we were constantly invited for a dinner, sleep, and share a tea to an empty desert, with nothing and no one, is a shock. So we started listening to podcasts, but the wind was too strong, it was impossible to hear the words… We ended up talking to the camels…

This feeling of loneliness is scary at first. What will happen to us if we are injured or if a sandstorm occurs? We feel small, facing the immensity of the landscape. He was there before us and will be there long after us… Fortunately, we have met a few people in this desert.

Meetings

The most miraculous meeting was with Chad. Chad is an English cyclist, who travels like us across the continent, always towards the East. He was very good company during difficult times. However, he does not have the same rhythm as us and he rode later in the evening when we woke up earlier. So we had fun meeting up every morning a little further down the road and parting ways in the evening. A nice meeting!

During our life-saving stops at the “rest area” many motorists and truckers asked us questions and offered food. Perfect for our supplies that dwindled along the way. In this region where the cities are spaced several hundred kilometers apart and where the environment is inhospitable, the Kazakhs do not understand the logic of our adventure. Honestly, we don't really know either!

The cities of the desert

Yes! Surprisingly, there are a few cities, or rather villages in this desert. The road more or less following the train line still in service, some stations have developed into towns, connected to civilization by the railway. These localities are perfect supply points along the way. But it is necessary to plan 3 days of food autonomy, mainly pasta, lentils, rice, noodles, boxes and fresh vegetables for the first days.

These townlets are unusual, with their small shops, schools. Frozen in time like the monuments of the former USSR found there.

We will spend a total of ten days in Kazakhstan before arriving at the Uzbekistan border, without knowing that these 550km were only a warm-up for the rest of the trip with the arrival of a new enemy : the denounced roads...