Kazakhstan: Charyn Canyon
Charyn Canyon is located about 150km east of Almaty and is often compared to the Grand Canyon in the USA. Which it most certainly isn’t! The supposedly most stunning section of the canyon – Valley of Castles was fairly mediocre at just 3km long and 100m deep. The views from the top of the ridge down into the canyon are more or less pretty – a lot of jaggy red rocks and some spires and towers. The bottom of the canyon is just a wide dirt road, probably easily drivable but reserved for “tours”. We even went way off script here and hiked an officially closed trail across a smaller side canyon that involved some serious rock climbing and navigating a mini slot canyon. Fun as it was, this doesn’t really compare to Boszhira in Mangistau in the Western Kazakhstan or Utah’s Bryce or Zion.
