Zhenja and Lyuda's Boarding House

The reserve itself is stunning, which makes it especially disappointing that we came away feeling money was being squeezed from us at every turn. We’d saved up and were really looking forward to visiting Aksu-Zhabagly. I’d still recommend the place, but not arranging things through Yevgeny. We paid for a full-day jeep tour, but it was over by 2 p.m. and only took us to two canyon viewpoints. On our first day we also paid extra for an English-speaking hiking guide. He was lovely, but his English was limited and he struggled with the hike. The escort described as not speaking English the next day actually spoke better English. Beforehand, communication was poor: emails went unanswered and my questions weren’t addressed. The guesthouse was simple and clean, but very expensive for what it was. We’d paid less for a 4-star hotel on the same trip. The food was poor and overpriced too. Lunch, for example, was plain pasta with a few bits of tomato and cucumber, at 1,500 tenge each. We were billed for an escort on the first day even though we had a guide and no escort. I asked Yevgeny to fix the charge, but he still made us pay it.

The dogs were what upset us most. They were chained up, including a puppy on a chain about a metre long, with no food or water and only a cardboard box for shelter. The puppy trembled, seemed frightened of everything, and cried all night. Our tent was between it and another chained dog, so we barely slept. I fed the puppy before we left in the morning, feeling heartbroken. We’ll never go back. We’d first considered renting a room, but the price shocked us. It was four times what we’d paid for a room in Shymkent. The owner wasn’t especially welcoming, though he did let us pitch our tent cheaply. We could use the toilet, but there was no shower and nowhere to sit. The only table was covered in bird droppings.

After five years in Kazakhstan, this was the first time I’d dealt with someone behaving like this. While we were staying there, Zhenya seemed greedy. He only offered activities he could earn money from and ignored what we were interested in. He also overcharged our whole group for leaving our bags in the room. I’d suggest finding somewhere else to stay in Aksu Zabagali.

We were keen to take the nature trip with Yevgeny because we’d read he was a biologist. Instead, he drove us 8 kilometers to the reserve for $10, dropped us off, and left us with a ranger who didn’t speak any English. The ranger hurried through the walk so he could take a longer nap during lunch. The biggest issue with this B&B was the cost. We paid nearly $100 (30,000 tenge) a day for two people, full board. Since the ecotourism center in Almaty had recommended it, we assumed that was the normal rate and didn’t negotiate or check other places. Later, other travelers told us that at least one guesthouse much closer to the park charged three times less for the same service level, 10,000 tenge. I’d look around the village first. You may get the same comfort and service for quite a bit less. AksuInn is in the center of the village nearest the national park, with several rooms and a dining room. Yevgeny, the owner, picked us up by car from Tyulkubas train station, 20 km away. Our room was okay, though it smelled very damp. The shower and toilet worked, but weren’t the cleanest. The food his wife cooked was good, and they offer full board. We stayed two nights and took one nature excursion in the reserve.