Mangystau

Mangystau occupies the eastern shore of the Caspian, and it is the strangest landscape in Kazakhstan: a plateau of chalk and limestone laid down under a sea that has gone, now eroded into white pinnacles, castellated cliffs and flat-topped mesas standing over salt flats. Bozzhyra is the signature view, a set of chalk fangs rising from a valley below a cliff edge. Torysh, the valley of balls, is scattered with hundreds of spherical concretions. Underground mosques cut into the rock, notably Beket-Ata, remain places of active pilgrimage. There is essentially no infrastructure: travel here means a four-wheel drive, a driver who knows the tracks, and camping.

What you actually see

• Bozzhyra - chalk pinnacles below a cliff edge, the region's defining view.
• Torysh - a valley scattered with hundreds of stone spheres.
• Beket-Ata - an underground mosque cut into the rock, a working pilgrimage site.
• Tuzbair salt flat - white salt below a chalk escarpment, reflective after rain.

When to go

April to May and September to October. Summer is brutally hot on open chalk with no shade, and winter brings cold winds off the Caspian. Spring gives brief green and wildflowers on the steppe.

Honest expectations

This is expedition travel, not sightseeing: no fuel, water, food or signal across large areas, tracks that are not on maps, and a genuine need for a competent local driver rather than a rental car. Camping is the norm. Beket-Ata is a pilgrimage site with expectations about dress and behaviour that visitors should follow. Costs are dominated by the vehicle and driver rather than by anything else.

Nearby

Aktau on the Caspian is the base; the Ustyurt plateau continues east.