Tuzbair. A lake, a salt marsh, a mount // SAYA.UZ

Tuzbair. A lake, a salt marsh, a mount

Tuzbair. A lake, a salt marsh, a mount

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Took place on: 2025-04-16; 2025-04-17

Deep into salt marsh, along the ridge

Tuzbair is one of the main sightseeings of Mangistau. Tourists come here for "nostrils", grandiose gullies and salt marsh (if there was no rain for a week at least).

How vast...

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How vast...

During dry seasons it is possible to ride and walk freely around salt marsh. Like now!

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During dry seasons it is possible to ride and walk freely around salt marsh. Like now!

Mind sitting here?

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Mind sitting here?

We rode down. Imagine it's a panorama. I couldn't glue it together. :(

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Looking from the foothills, you see this desert

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Looking from the foothills, you see this desert

Walk a bit deeper -- you see a Tuzbair battleship!

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Walk a bit deeper -- you see a Tuzbair battleship!

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Halfway between Order and Chaos

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Halfway between Order and Chaos

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When I wrote about immense gullies, I meant them:

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I met chilipizdriks (unknown weird small things) here. The closest I saw on iNaturalist is Glaucous Glasswort, or other kind of glasswort (like Halocnemum strobilaceum). But never one with such stiffened stem.

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But this species is, most probably, a wingless booklice (Mesopsocus unipunctatus). The tiniest fella I photoed by now. I guess he feeds on those glassworts.

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Sunset time!

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Seats for picture here

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Seats for picture here

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It's those «nostries», btw

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It's those «nostries», btw

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Next morning we're coming deep into salt marsh.

By the foothills of Tuzbair ridge is crumbly sand with foothills and cracks all over it. These get watered down by a rare rain, when a salt marsh becomes bog for some time.

This sand is coated with salt, somewhere more dense, somewhere less. Here even low bushes and glassworts grow.

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With exploring down the lake you get attacked by a howling wind. Footsteps get rarer with more distance, life is no more.

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With exploring down the lake you get attacked by a howling wind. Footsteps get rarer with more distance, life is no more.

The next level is sludgy sand. Cracks are less evident, your feet delve deeper to some moist.

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The next level is sludgy sand. Cracks are less evident, your feet delve deeper to some moist.

You think, maybe meters 50-100, and you'll get into quicksand -- a sign not to go further.

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You think, maybe meters 50-100, and you'll get into quicksand -- a sign not to go further.

Meanwhile salt forms these stark gradients with sand

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Meanwhile salt forms these stark gradients with sand

The adventure, though, is not over. The ground does become harder, maybe, due to salt.

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The adventure, though, is not over. The ground does become harder, maybe, due to salt.

Salt starts to form small slabs, cover the trails of jeeps and steps of tourists, conserving them.

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Salt starts to form small slabs, cover the trails of jeeps and steps of tourists, conserving them.

And this frosty howling wind is never-ending.

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And this frosty howling wind is never-ending.

Your bones are scraped clean by the desolate wind. Your Vault will now surely die, as you have.

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Your bones are scraped clean by the desolate wind. Your Vault will now surely die, as you have.

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There is more and more salt, your steps are lonely in this world.

By the end, the salt grains crystallize to bigger entities, resembling teeth.

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By the end, the salt grains crystallize to bigger entities, resembling teeth.

Water coming under my steps.

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Water coming under my steps.

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This is it. A salt desert, shining under scorching sun.

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This is it. A salt desert, shining under scorching sun.

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I didn't step further, but I might except even larger crystals and maybe even lake itself.

This walk was really awe-inspiring. It's like I started to imagine radically new fantasy worlds with a deep sentimental value. I can paste this track which played in my head on my farthest steps there.