The corridors, crevices and towering columns of Kazakhstan's Charyn Canyon National Park are easily accessible to hikers now that the road here from Almaty has been upgraded and trail signage improved
I’m staring into the yellow eyes of a northern goshawk. He’s perched on a lone rock rising from a sea of scorched steppe, his chest puffed up and head held high like a warrior waiting for battle. I’m so close I can see the markings on his feathers: the tips of his upturned wings are a dark, chestnut brown; his underbelly has cinnamon and white stripes, like the coat of a tiger. He has yellow talons and a curved grey beak sharp enough to puncture a tyre.
“It’s a hawk,” whispers our Kazakhstani guide, Sergei, as we inch closer to get a better view of the bird. I can tell Sergei is disappointed, but for someone like me, whose most exciting bird sighting so far this year has been a seagull on Brighton beach, spotting a hawk in the open steppe is more than enough.
“Kazakhstan is changing fast,” says Sergei as we pull up to the park’s entrance, where new signage helps visitors navigate the canyon’s trails. Improved toilet facilities and signal for GPS devices have also made the park more accessible in recent years. “Our past was oil, but our future is tourism — especially this kind of tourism,” says Sergei, pointing to a newly installed hiking route map marked with water stations and viewpoints.
“Kazakhstan is still a young country, but we have a lot to offer,” says Sergei. Hair tied in a ponytail and wearing a leather jacket and fingerless gloves, he looks like he’s off to a heavy metal gig rather than out on a hike. “We have mountains, deserts, forests, modern cities and ancient cultures. I think it’s taken time to realise how diverse our country is, but a shift to tourism is changing things.
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