A Daytrip to Tamgaly & Kapchagay

The downside of only doing a 2D1N excursion to Charyn Canyon was that I was left with too much time in Almaty. I spend a whole day to find bike parts and do much needed maintenance to Bragge changing the sprockets and chain then servicing and tuning up the bike but then that was it.

Everything that required attention was complete and there was a free day before meeting up with Bern & Ita to get the Wise Card. The whole purpose of coming to Almaty was to get the Wise card but I had too much time to burn. 

Finding ABUMOTO to get bike parts in Almaty Kazakhstan

Then round the corner to find a Mechanic to fix up the parts 

The danger of Almaty was my primary poison, there was a smattering strip of casino just off the city 75km north towards Kapchagay. May & Chye was not helping too feeding into my poison, softly cueing me of the blissful enjoyment of some sweet gambling. 

So even with all my effort of trying to distract myself and doing other things, it was an unavoidable daytrip to Kapchagay. I was still in resistance mode and decided if we were to go to Kapchagay, a visit to Tamgaly should be included at least since it was nearby. 

Off Road to Tamgaly National Park

Tamgaly National Park

I was dead set on not doing a pure casino daytrip. It should be a day trip to Tamgaly to see the petroglyph and visit the resort city of Kapchagay and its beach side by Kapchagay reservoir and lastly a short drop by to to one of the many Casino in the region.

Tamgaly was about 100km from Almaty so the additional distance of 25km from Kapchagay did not feel so bad but what we did not expect was there was no proper roads to the ancient site. 

10Km of off-roading was required to get to Tamgaly and it was fairly easy until it was fairly scary. The last stretch where we needed to go downhill to the river was through a sandy off-road.

At one point the sand was so soft that I had no control of the bike and slip slide down, eventually forced to let go the bike to drop on the side. By some luck, a local in a 4x4 pick up passed by and help me pick up the bike. 

Petroglyph of Ancient Buddha at Tamgaly - Kazakhstan

Petroglyph of Ancient Buddhism Script at Tamgaly - Kazakhstan 

Petroglyph of Ancient Buddhist Script at Tamgaly - Kazakhstan 

There was no way to turn around in that downhill slope so I had to go through it even with all my internal alarms telling me this is going to be multiple falls.

First time for me going downhill on first gear fully and I was really careful not to brake too much making sure the tire would roll instead of slide but the downhill went faster and faster and scarier every minute. Luckily it was a short track and I manage to get down safely then it was a shorter ride to Tamgaly National Park.

Tamgaly National Park Petroglyph cost 500 tenge and it was filled with sand flies attacking non stop. I went to have a look at the Petroglyph, A few beautiful Buddha carvings, some scriptures and that was practically it. 

Locals Paddleboat from upriver Tamgaly

Locals Paddleboard from Upriver Tamgaly

Locals that know the place would camp by the river a few days just swimming and enjoying the summer heat. We also saw many locals doing river activities such as canoe and stand up paddle boarding.

The detour to Tamgaly took longer than expected due to the off-road but then after it was time to explore Kapchagay. It was a small town with nothing much to speak about. Beach was crowded with massive people and while it was nice, I had no idea how to enjoy a beach with so much people.

City of Kapchagay - Kazakhstan

Kapchagay Beach

Kapchagay Beach - Kazakhstan

Lastly was Casino. I lost money that night as expected. It was inevitable since I was already trying very hard to avoid the casino in this region since I knew about it when still in another country (Kyrgyzstan). I had an inkling but the itch was scratch at least so the pull to find another casino will be but for a while.

Montana Casino - Kapchagay Kazakhstan

Traveled on: June 2024