Despite being under three hours from Astana and possessing a collection of birdlife that has recently attracted a nomination for UNESCO World Heritage Site status, the Korgalzhyn area remains surprisingly unknown, even within Kazakhstan. Located at the crossroads of two migration routes, the vast wetland area is home to wolves, marmots and the rare Saiga antelope. However, it is the birds, and the pink flamingo in particular, that are the real attraction of this combination of virgin steppe and lakes. The area, most of which is protected as a National Nature Reserve, is home to the world’s most northerly population of pink flamingos, one of over 300 species of birds, which includes one of the largest wildfowl populations in Asia. Other notable residents include the Dalmatian pelican, the white-headed duck and a number of cranes and a variety of birds of prey.

Trips to Korgalzhyn can be organized through the Ecotourism Information Resource Centre (see Almaty Play section) or you can contact Ljudmila at the NGO Rodnik on OORodnik@mail.ru.
Telephone 8 3163 72 10 43.

Malinovka is a small settlement to the west of Astana, which was home to ‘Site 26’ or ALZHIR – ‘The Akmola Camp for Wives of Enemies of the Motherland’. Because Akmola played a major part in what Alexander Solzhenitsyn termed ‘the gulag archipelago’ (Solzhenitsyn himself was imprisoned in a gulag further east at Ekibastuz), it is well worth visiting this moving site just thirty minutes drive from Astana. The small museum documents the history of the prison camp system in Northern Kazakhstan. The Avenue of Tears at the former entrance to the camp with metal plaques listing the prisoners’ names, and the monuments at Malinovka are a moving tribute to the wives who were arrested during the Stalin era and imprisoned in the ALZHIR camp.

Any of the above excursions can be organized either independently or through the travel agents listed at the end of the Almaty Play section.

Hire out this swanky VIP sauna in the Astana Park Hotel and you will be able to take advantage of a dazzling sauna with its very own gold and cream mosaic plunge pool, a crimson and tiled Moghul-style dining room and a dedicated billiards room upstairs, with – should you feel fatigued by the whole event - its very own adjacent bedroom. To make a night of it, order food and drinks from the hotel’s in house ‘Chalet’ restaurant.

Price: 15,000 tenge per hour