May 15 The Almaty mountains

Big Almaty Lake - a stunning view

For our second day in Kazakhstan, Sveltana, our lovely guide, arranged a picnic and took us into the mountains to the Big Almaty Lake, 250 metres above sea level. The lake looked like a dreamy mint milkshake. We were surrounded by glorious wilderness! And Mother Nature decided to pull out all the stops for our benefit - we went from warm sunny blue skies on the plains to rain, snow and a thunderstorm in the mountains. Quite awesome but fun being in amongst it way up there. It was veeery cold but we came prepared just in case.

Lindsay and Svetlana went for a walk in the rain

Armed with raincoat and umbrella Lindsay and Svetlana went for a stroll in the rain to get a different view of the lake. They made a rather touching scene - heads together talking non-stop. Meanwhile I sat in the car with the heater on - I was a bit walked out and cold. But we really enjoyed being there in spite of the weather. 

People camp in this glorious national park

We descended a little way to visit a falcon farm. Lindsay was over the moon! They put on a fabulous show which demonstrated the birds’ amazing skills - falcons, eagles, griffins, owls. The piece de resistance was a private show just for us. Our guide guide had told them on the quiet that Lindsay was a keen birder so on top of the private show we got to visit the birds 'backstage'.  The griffins were quite confronting - very big and scary looking! but they work with the vultures to clean up any carcasses lying around. Everything has its place - but we kept moving in case!!

A rather fearsome looking griffin

Three beautiful creatures! The bird is a Golden Eagle

Lindsay ready to put on the glove with eagle attached! He was excited but pretty nervous. 

Lindsay with Golden Eagle! 

And on top of our private show, Lindsay got to hold a Golden Eagle! Such a huge beautiful bird weighing many many kilos but he didn’t stop smiling for ages. He never thought he’d get this chance but he was saying under his breath "I can’t hold it much longer!" All that weight plus flapping. such awesome power. Note: the eagle’s hood has been left on to protect Lindsay - and not scare the bird. Pretty amazing experience. On a lesser note but still fun, I was allowed to feed one of the falcons! It was a terrific day. 

I got to feed this beautiful falcon

What a day!  Next stop Tashkent, Uzbekistan by plane as the train schedulae didn't match our tight schedule on this leg.  It was to be a journey of borders in fairly close succession. By the time we get to Istanbul at the end of the month, we will have crossed six borders.