Ancient City of Nomads and Tamgaly-Tas buddhist petroglyphs

Ancient City of Nomads and Tamgaly-Tas buddhist petroglyphs

Nomad city and Tamgaly-Tas are two sights representing different history eras but located close to each other. Here you will learn something about both local nomadic culture and ancient buddhist missions.
We will pick you up from your hotel in the morning, drive will take approximately 2 hours. First you will have chance to feel yourself as a nomad in ancient fortress experiencing everyday life hundreds of years ago. After that you have some time to walk along the beautiful Ili river bank. Then we will move to Tamgaly-Tas to see ancient petroglyphs. Also there are many hills and rocks all over the place where you can hike for a pituresque view. If history and beautiful nature are in the top list of your preferences this tour is definitely for you!

Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product

Stop At: Nomad Fortress, Ili River bank, Kapchagay 040810 Kazakhstan

City of Nomads - was built for shooting "The Nomad" movie in 2004. After filming process people found this place unique and representing the culture of our ancestors. Since then fortress is one of the popular places among tourists and locals. All decoration of the city was designed with the help of historians. So it is very close to original. Here you can feel the spirit of medieval times with Central Asian flavor!

Duration: 2 hours

Stop At: Tamgaly Tas, Kapchagay Kazakhstan

Tamgaly-Tas ("stones with signs" in kazakh) is a system of hundreds of ancient petroglyphs (please do not confuse with UNESCO site Tanbaly petroglyphs) engraved on cliffs. There are different types of petroglyphs: a lot of runic writing of Kypchak clan which inhabited this territory for a long time. But the biggest and most visible are the images of Buddha Shakyamuni and Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. There are few versions why buddhist images are engraved in the middle of kazakh steppes. But not any of it is proven.

Duration: 2 hours