Aktau

Aktau was founded in the 1960s as Shevchenko, a closed city built to serve uranium mining and a fast-breeder reactor that also desalinated Caspian water for the population, since there is no fresh water in the region; the streets have no names, only numbered microdistricts, which visitors find confusing. Oil and gas replaced uranium as the economy. The city has a long seafront promenade along the Caspian with beaches, a lighthouse mounted on top of an apartment block, and Soviet-era monuments and mosaics. For most travellers it is the arrival point and base for Mangystau: the underground mosques, Bozzhira, Sherkala and the salt flats are all organised from here.

History

The name means "white hills", after the hills between the Mangyshlak and Buzachi peninsulas. From 1964 to 1991 the city was named Shevchenko, after the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, who had lived in exile at a settlement about 100 kilometres to the north-west, and the area, on a spur of the northern Silk Road, had very few people before Soviet times (Wikipedia, Aktau).

What you'll find

• The seafront - the promenade and beaches along the Caspian.
• The rooftop lighthouse - the navigation light set on an apartment block.
• Numbered microdistricts - the streetless Soviet planning grid.
• Soviet monuments - the mosaics and memorials of the founding period.

When to go

April to June and September to October; summer is hot and dusty and winter windy and cold. The city works as a base rather than a destination, so timing usually follows the desert trips.

What to expect

The city itself has few sights and a functional Soviet layout. The address system without street names makes navigation difficult. Caspian water quality varies. Desert tours must be arranged and are expensive.

Nearby

Zhygylgan lies north; Karagiye depression is southeast.

Key facts