Mangystau tour: Bozzhyra, Torysh and the Ustyurt plateau in eight days

In February 2026 The Telegraph picked ten deserts to see in a lifetime, and one of them was Bozzhyra, a valley of white chalk towers on the Ustyurt plateau, about 300 km from Aktau. There is no paved road to the viewpoints. You reach them by 4×4, and the best light comes early in the morning and late in the evening, so the trip works best if you sleep out there.

We are a tour operator from Tashkent, and Ustyurt is familiar ground for us: the same plateau reaches the Aral Sea in Karakalpakstan. On the Kazakh side, in Mangystau, it is higher, whiter and emptier. Our Mangystau tour covers it in eight days, with a 4×4, a driver-guide and three nights in the desert.

Where Mangystau is and how you get there

Mangystau is the region of Kazakhstan on the Caspian Sea, and its capital, Aktau, is a seaport. Most of the region is the Ustyurt plateau, about 200,000 km² of desert shared by Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan between the Caspian and the Aral. On every side it ends in steep cliffs, which locals call chinks.

The trip starts in Almaty. A domestic flight takes you across the country to Aktau, and since 2024 all of Kazakhstan has used one time zone, UTC+5, so your watch stays the same. We book these flights for you on the current schedule and set the first and last days of the programme around them.

Torysh and Sherkala: stone balls and a lion's castle

The first desert day goes north from Aktau. Near the village of Shetpe lies the Torysh valley, the Valley of Balls. The stones are concretions: rock that grew in layers around a core on the floor of an ancient sea and was later washed out of softer stone. Some are the size of a marble, some the size of a car, and most are 3–4 m across.

Not far away stands Sherkala, a lone mountain of 332 m. Its name comes from the Persian for "lion's castle". From one side it looks like a yurt, and from another like a sphinx. By evening you reach the Kogez ethno-village for dinner and a night in a yurt.

On the same day you stop at Shakpak-Ata, a mosque cut into a limestone slope, one of the oldest in Kazakhstan. In July 2026 it was one of five complexes inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as the Rock Mosques and Associated Sacred Sites of Mangystau. We visit it as a heritage site, and your guide tells you how to dress and behave there.

Tuzbair and Bozzhyra: two nights on the plateau

At Tuzbair the white cliffs of the plateau drop to a dry salt lake, and a natural arch stands in the rock. When the crust is dry you can walk out onto it. After rain your driver-guide picks another route, so we never promise the salt flat on a set day.

Bozzhyra is the main reason for the trip. You see it from the middle plateau and from the ledge the drivers call Dreadnought, and in the rock you can spot ammonite spirals. Take photographs and leave the fossils where they are. The next day brings Mount Bokty, striped red by chalk, and the Kyzylkup hills, known locally as "tiramisu" for their bands of white, pink and ochre.

Both nights on Ustyurt are in tents. Conditions are basic and the nearest village is far away. The upside is a sky with almost no city light. Dinner is cooked at camp, and before the trip we tell you what the camp provides and what to bring.

Karagiye: 132 metres below sea level

On the way back to the Caspian you cross the Senek dunes and stop at the edge of Karagiye. It is a karst trench about 40 km long and 10 km wide, and at its lowest point it lies 132 m below sea level, lower than anywhere else in Kazakhstan or Central Asia. Then comes a night in Aktau, the seafront with its lighthouse on the roof of an apartment block, and the flight back to Almaty.

When to go and what we arrange

We plan Mangystau for April–May and September–October. In summer the plateau is very hot and there is almost no shade. In winter it is cold and windy, and the camps are not for that season.

• A 4×4 with a driver-guide for the four desert days, and cars with drivers in Aktau and Almaty.
• Nights in a hotel in Aktau, a yurt at Kogez, two nights in tents on the plateau and a hotel in Almaty.
• Breakfast every day, plus lunch and dinner on the desert days, cooked at camp.
• Mobile signal on the plateau is weak or absent for long stretches. Your driver-guide stays in touch with our team.
• Drink bottled water. There are no shops on the plateau, so we buy supplies in Aktau before the desert days.

Kazakhstan lets citizens of many countries in without a visa, and we check the rules for your passport before booking. The price depends on your dates, group size and flights, so we quote it on request.

Mangystau and Uzbekistan in one trip

From Almaty to Tashkent is about an hour and a half by air, so Mangystau pairs easily with Uzbekistan. If the desert is what you want, add the Uzbek side of Ustyurt: our Karakalpakstan and Khorezm fortresses tour or the Aral Sea trip from Nukus. For a broader plan read Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan and our guide to Central Asia tours.

In short

• Mangystau is the Caspian region of Kazakhstan, and most of it is the Ustyurt plateau, reached by a flight from Almaty to Aktau.
• Bozzhyra, about 300 km from Aktau, made The Telegraph's 2026 list of ten deserts to see in a lifetime. You get there by 4×4.
• Torysh has stone balls 3–4 m across, Sherkala rises 332 m, and Karagiye lies 132 m below sea level.
• The rock mosques of Mangystau, Shakpak-Ata among them, joined the UNESCO World Heritage List in July 2026.
• Go in April–May or September–October. Our eight-day private tour includes three nights in the desert, and the price is on request.