|
|
|
|
KanTengri Expeditions, Almaty, Kazakhstan
|
|
| |
| |
Average reviewers' rating: not available
|
|
Casper Blom
, Netherlands (expatriate in Kazakhstan),
11 Jun 2014,
Email verified: Yes, hidden
|
|
| 
|
I represent a group of mountainbike loving expatriates living in Atyrau, Kazakhstan.
Kantengri adapted their standard programme to include a long weekend of hard biking in Ile-Alatau National Park, near Almaty.
A full detailed report of our trip can be found at
http://www.atyrauoutdoors.com/wordpress/?p=1026
Kantengri is an outdoor adventure/expedition company setup in Almaty.
We found the owner, Kazbek Valiyev, helpful in our initial enquiries, and he offered a good programme.
Kazbek is the first Kazakh national who successfully climbed mount Everest, and it shows in their organizational approach.
While their normal expedition programmes for mountain-biking last for 2 weeks or for 4 weeks, and can only be done during the right season between June and September,
he was willing to adopt and created a new and special short strenuous programme for us to ride in the Ile-Alatau National Park south-east of Almaty.
The price initially seemed expensive, but it soon became clear that a long weekend of is no walk in the park and requires the same expedition-style approach as their 2 or 4 weeks programmes.
The organization proved to be punctual and largely delivering on promise.
For 6 riders we get 7 people supporting us, of whom 2 speak well English and the others a word or two.
They are very upbeat, friendly and also professional as each person is hired for a specific task.One person had a rental bikes, this was of older spec, a hardtail without discbrakes, but well maintained and right-sized. It appears that in Almaty it is very difficult to rent modern western full-sussers.
The practicalities of travelling with bikes and bike boxes for a group of people are thought through properly, and very decent vehicles were available that gave no problems whatsoever.
Paperwork (eg. entry into National parks) is handled well and was largely transparent to us as riders.
Camp sites are situated at totally superb spots.
Camping equipment is definitely dated: Smallish two-person tents for sleeping were available, that do not at all allow for standing, nor storing all gear properly shielded from elements and larger mess- and cooking tent. Separate old-ish toilet tent, using dug-out hole with western toilet on a wooden plank over the hole. Shower tent with hot water for showering made in the afternoon is very welcome!
Cutlery is basic but adequate.
Cooking was very very delicate with subtle tastes. The quantities were more than enough and we could never finish. Our day packs were varied and well packed and preservation and presentation was good.
So in all camping services function well
We experienced only one little hiccup where the driver of the support Jeep (driving out of ears and eyes reach behind us) had to take a detour due to lack of access and drove completely the wrong way. This led to an evening search mission and the support Jeep only making it back to camp 7 hours later than planned.
Satellite phones are present but only two and the Support Jeep had 0. Support Jeep also had no form of GPS-based navigation at hand, which seemed odd.
The quality of the two biking guides was very good, clearly capable bikers, although not neccesarily the strongest ones in the group. They were not always outspoken about one riding in front, and one in the back. One the flip-side, there was at large only one clear and obvious track to follow 95% of the time, and when not clear, adequate instructions were provided.
The weather was not particularly friendly to us and temperatures were still subzero (C) at times. This is something we were not well enough prepared for on- and off-bikes. Kantengri can provide more detailed and more transparent information about this upfront.
In all we had a very positive experience with kantengri. They are likely the only operator around Almaty for this kind of tripgeared up properly for the task.
|
|
| |
| | | |
Adventure Experience Providers 
Fishing/Hunting 
