Hi there,

I have just been looking over our 'schedule' for our trip through KZ this summer and have noticed we given ourselves just 2 days to get from Atyrau-Qandygash ( oktobyarsk) to Aralsk.

It works out as 519ish km from AT-Qandygash and 500km QG-Aralsk. Does anyone have any experience of this section? I have heard this could be the 'worst road in kazakhstan', and although google maps shows a 'nice' black strip I am still deeply apprehensive.

We will be travelling in a 4x4 and have relatively small mileage days both before these two days and after. So I was wondering- is this route possible (gulp) in our timeframe?

Thanks,
Tom

Hi Tom,

2 years ago it was like this: BikerBytes.com: No traffic on the Road !

Cheers,
John

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Nostradamus Ate My Hamster

It's absolutely awful! I did Aralsk to Aktobe less than a year ago - see the Kazakhstan section of my website overlandcruiser.net

Also see kazakstan - they did Aralsk to Aktobe and then the Kaz-southern Rus border and I know it took them longer than they planned.

Where do you plan to stay in Aralsk?

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www.overlandcruiser.wordpress.com

I will be entering kazakhstan from Astrakan about 15 July and have given myselfe a good four weeks to cross to Almaty . I am expecting bad roads on the western part of the country .

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www.uk2sydney.blogspot.com

Try and time your trip so that you are passing through Baikonur while a rocket launch is taking place - there are websites about this

for eg Spaceflight Now | Tracking Station | Worldwide launch schedule

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...baikonur-35841 (read the last entry)

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www.overlandcruiser.wordpress.com

It's absolutely awful! I did Aralsk to Aktobe less than a year ago - see the Kazakhstan section of my website overlandcruiser.net

Also see kazakstan - they did Aralsk to Aktobe and then the Kaz-southern Rus border and I know it took them longer than they planned.

Where do you plan to stay in Aralsk?


I think on reflection we'll give ourselves 2 days to get to aqtobe from atyrau and then fly down to aralsk in one day- it'll be a big one. Fortunately the following couple of days to dzhezkazgan will be relatively short.

We have yet to figure where we'll be staying- I know it can be a pretty tough town... ideally we want to keep makin use of the oztent but what do people recommend?

Cheers,
Tom

I rode most of this section last year, in reverse, on a Burgman scooter.

Atyrau to Oralsk is a perfect road - the best bitumen in the whole of Kazakhstan - and the 500km can easily be covered in 4 hours.

Oralsk to Aktyubinsk is also pretty good bitumen and high speeds are easily achievable - much better than the roads out east and an easy afternoon's ride.

From Aktyubinsk down to Qandygash is around 100km of dirt - yes, a nasty road but it's only 100km.

I was warned off riding direct from Atyrau to Qandygash by a couple of Germands I met near Krasnoyarsk - they also said it is the worst road in Kazakhstan.

Garry from Oz.

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Garry from Oz - powered by Burgman

I've been convinced by Tiffany NOT to go with the original plan ie go right up to the Uzbekistan border crossing 400km from Aktau / Aqtau in Kazakhstan skirt the Aral sea of whats left of it to get to Aralask.

I have some options in my mind:

I have completely lost ALL my tools including tyre repair ones and thus need to wait for a parcel via DHL in Baku (is this reliable?)

I am 5-6 days out of Baku , apply for the LOI from David Bergoff (if he ever answers my emails) , get the Uzbek visa from Baku and ride in convoy with various other riders to the Uzbek border and into Smarkaland and onto Almaty to apply for the Kryg and the Tajik visas reapplying for the Kazakh visa in Toshkent. Hopefully my parcel will arrive in this time also.


OR

Get to Aktau and attempt to put my XT600 on a train to get to Almaty saving the need to get the LOI and the uzbekistan visa (lowest risk but dont know if this is even possible and do not know about the costs).

Option 3 is different

Turn back into Turkey , get the ferry into Sochi and skip the stans out completely I only have a double entry visa for Russia and thus if I do this I miss out on the stans opting purely for Mongolia instead.


What do you reckon? , my off roading experience is limited and there is talk of soft sand for 100s if not 1000s of km.

Sorry this trip was poorly planned from the outset...


Thanks

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http://www.itchystravels.co.uk/Bigone2009.html

I am in Arask. I just rode this section. It took me two and a half days to do about 250kms. it is hell there is no road for a lot of it and even in a 4wd it will be a nightmare. if you try it take enough water for a week and go with a strong mindset. Good luck Jim xt600 tenere.

Hi there,

Tenere99 presumably you are talking about the main 'M23' that runs straight down from Aqtobe? I have noticed that there is a route from Aktjubinsk via Embi and Zhuryn to Aral'sk... is this route equally as bad?

We're not expecting perfect roads everywhere, but 250km over 2 days in our 4wd is a serious issue, were the roads running 'parallel' to the main route equally as bad.

I guess a large part of it depends on weather conditions at the time of travel, things may have dried up a bit when we reach it in late july, we hope, instead we'll just have miles and miles and miles of corrugations, mmmmm

Thanks,
Tom