A fantastic spring weekend in Kazakhstan, full of surprises and great company.
On the way to the steppe, putting up colored flags over the road, preparing for Victory Day.
Mountains behind Almaty.
It was so windy at Lake Sorbulaq, Toni almost took flight.
Stopping to collect fire wood before we hit the desert.
A herd of camels along the way.
More tumbleweeds than I've ever seen in my life! The wind was blowing so hard there was an army of them rolling over the steppe.
Once we were off the main road, there was a tumbleweed jam blocking our way.
A few minutes of team work....
....and we were clear!
A herd of horses along the way. They were all headed towards...
...the oasis! Where there were more camels!
They let me get quite close to them.
Momma with baby.
Somehow it's not like I pictured an oasis....
Dung beetles hard at work.
Driving along the vast Asian Steppe.
We decided to camp a few hundred meters from the oasis. We began to set up camp and before too long the camels were there to observe.
With camp all set, we hit the dusty trail in search of sand dunes.
We didn't see any dunes, but we did find this really neat flower.
On the way back to camp, Nic and I decided to hop out of the car and walk the last kilometer or so. We saw a lizard, a few sand grouse, a mushroom, a dung bettle fight and lots of flowers.
Camel path.
Some kind of beautiful flower...we thought maybe related to the tulip?
Camp.
Peter.
A crack team.
The biggest moon of the year, and it's full! We only saw it for a few minutes before it was covered in clouds.
The next morning we literally woke up surrounded by poppies that had bloomed over night!
It was like magic.
Drue: Wanna poke with me?
Drue is fascinated by the fuzzy desert caterpillars.
Stunning colors and intricate patterns.
I'd never seen a purple poppy before, and they were so tiny.
Desert primrose.
Okay, yes, it's staged...but it's still neat, right? I mean, how often do you find a giant pelvis AND a poppy?
The horses are heading back to the oasis.
No comments:
Post a Comment