Kazakhstan Birdtours

We have been running tours to Kazakhstan for many years. Below you will find a sample itinerary for a full two-week tour to give you an idea of the habitats we visit and the birds we see. Follow these links for highlights of tours run in 2005, 2004, 2003 and 2002.

We also have full tour reports from Birdfinders 2000 and 2004, Gourmet Birds 2005 and Birdseekers 2005.

Kazakhstan Birdtours can offer customised tours to birdtour companies, groups, clubs, societies and individuals. We make all the ground arrangements from the minute you arrive at the airport to when you depart. We can supply visa support to enable your group to enter the country, accommodation, food, transport (including coaches, minibuses, four-wheel drive and internal flights) and a top English-speaking birdguide.

Day 1 Arrive in Kazakhstan and transfer to hotel.

Days 2–3 Today we will travel to Konchengil for a two-night stay. En-route we will visit a large lake with colonies of Dalmatian and White Pelicans as well as many passage waders and a huge colony of breeding Rose-coloured Starlings. The desert of Saryesik Atyrau stretches for about 400 km south of Lake Balkhash and this is our destination. It is an un-eroded, healthy sand desert with enough vegetation to support rich plant and animal life. As we drive we will see numerous European Rollers, European Bee-eaters, Hoopoes, Lesser Grey Shrikes, Common Cuckoos, Eurasian Golden Orioles and Red-headed Buntings. We will also stop to look for the distinctive migratory race of House Sparrow known as "Bactrian" Sparrow and Pied Wheatear, which also has a distinctive white-throated vittata form here. Colonies of the attractive Great Gerbil are scattered throughout little valleys surrounded by sand dunes or Barkhans. Birds we will be looking for here include Golden Eagle and Short-toed Snake-eagle, Shikra, Macqueen's Bustard, Greater Sandplover, Desert and Isabelline Wheatears, Asian Desert Warbler and Mongolian Finch. In the more grassy areas, larks abound with Sky, Oriental, Greater, Lesser and Asian Short-toed, Crested, Calandra and Bimaculated Larks all being present. The artesian wells near our camp attract migrants and flocks of Black-bellied Sandgrouse to drink. We will also visit a site where Eastern Rock Nuthatch breed in a gorge containing petroglyphs.

Day 4 We leave camp early and travel north towards Lake Balkhash. Numerous smaller lakes can be found in the desert and they abound with birds including Ferruginous Duck, Oriental Turtle-dove, Black-headed Penduline-tit, and Eurasian (Caspian) Reed-warbler. Sykes's Warbler, Isabelline and Southern (Steppe) Grey Shrikes breed in the arid tamarisk covered areas nearby. Continuing, we will visit an old cemetery where Rufous Bush-robin, Desert Lesser Whitethroat and Saxaul Sparrows can be found. Our next stop will be in remnant turanga woodland, where Eversmann's Doves, White-winged Woodpeckers and Turkestan Tits can be found breeding. We return to Almaty in the evening for one night.

Day 5 Today we will drive to the spectacular Red and Yellow Canyons of Charyn. En-route we will make several stops for White-crowned Penduline-tit, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler and Grey-necked, Rock and White-capped Buntings. Although birdlife in the canyons is not very rich, the scenery and plants are stunning. Amongst the birds we may encounter are Eastern Imperial and Steppe Eagles, Lesser Kestrel, Saker Falcon, Upland Buzzard, Demoiselle Crane and Shore Lark. In the afternoon we will return to the town of Shilik where we will stay for the night.

Day 6 This morning we will visit a well where Pallas's Sandgrouse regularly come to drink. Desert and Mongolian Finches can also be found here amongst the spectacular scenery of the River Ili and the foothills of the Dzungarian Alatau Mountains in the distance. In the afternoon, we will first drive back to Almaty before making the two-hour drive up to an observatory high in the Tien Shan Mountains for a two-night stay.

Days 7–9 After a good night's sleep, we will bird around the observatory area where we may see Black-throated and Brown Accentors, Himalayan Rubythroat, Red-fronted Serin, Grey-headed Goldfinch, Red-mantled Rosefinch and Plain Mountain-finch, whilst all around us the haunting calls of Himalayan Snowcock may lead us to a male calling high up on a rocky crag. The rest of the day will be spent exploring a range of different habitats at altitudes up to 11,000 feet where Lammergeier, Eurasian and Himalayan Griffon-vultures and Monk Vulture may be seen soaring overhead. Alpine and Altai Accentors, Güldenstädt's Redstart and Brandt's Mountain-finch inhabit the higher mountain slopes, while Blue-headed and Rufous-backed Redstarts, White-browed Tit-warbler, Hume's and Sulphur-bellied Warblers, Spotted Nutcracker, Oriental Turtle-dove, Songar Tit and White-winged Grosbeak inhabit the beautiful forests of Tien Shan Spruce and Turkestan Juniper. The Great Almaty Lake, at 8,000 feet, offers us a chance to see the incredible Ibisbill and Ruddy Shelduck, while fast-flowing streams are home to White-bellied and Brown Dippers and Blue Whistling Thrush. Throughout the whole area the variety of plant-life is astounding, with over 6,000 species recorded in this part of central Asia. In the afternoon of day 9 we will descend to Almaty, birding en-route for species like Azure Tit, where we will spend the night in a comfortable hotel.

Day 10 Today we will be embarking on the long journey across eastern Kazakhstan, birding en-route and, by the mid afternoon, we will arrive at our hotel on the shore of Lake Alakol for a three-night stay. En-route, we may see Montagu's Harrier, Steppe and Eastern Imperial Eagles, Chukar, Daurian Partridge, Long-eared Owl, Eurasian Crag-martin, Eastern Rock Nuthatch, Tawny Pipit, Blyth's Reed Warbler and Rock Petronia.

Day 11 Today we will explore Lake Alakol, checking its bays, inlets and marshes for numerous waterfowl and waders including White and Dalmatian Pelicans, Greylag Goose, Great Bittern, Demoiselle Crane, Ruddy Shelduck, Red-crested Pochard and Great Black-headed, Caspian and with some luck, Relict Gulls. Warblers may include Pallas's Grasshopper, Paddyfield, Barred and Blyth's Reed, raptors are represented by Saker Falcon and Montagu's and Pallid Harriers and waders may include Greater Sand Plover, Terek Sandpiper and Black-winged and Collared Pratincoles, while breeding birds include Common Quail, Richard's Pipit and Common Rosefinch.

Day 12 This day will be spent in the mountains overlooking the lake where, amongst spectacular flowering meadows and scattered birchwoods, we will look for Saker Falcon and Meadow Bunting.

Day 13 Today we drive back to Almaty birding en-route again. Arriving late evening, we will check into a hotel room to freshen up before leaving for the airport.

Day 14 Early morning flight to London, where the tour concludes.

Astana extension – days 14–17 We take an early morning flight to Astana, the new capital of Kazakhstan. It is situated in the vast steppes of the country and our targets here will be several species rarely seen by birders. Specialities we will look for are White-headed Duck, Red-footed Falcon, Caspian and Sociable Plovers, Black-winged Pratincole and Black and White-winged Larks. Three nights in a hotel in Kurgaldgin nature reserve. We fly back to Almaty on a late-evening flight in time to catch the international flight back to the UK early in the morning of day 18.