A video filmed in the Mangystau Region is rapidly gaining popularity on Instagram. The region's unique natural landscapes, reminiscent of the snow-white travertine terraces of Turkey's Pamukkale, have delighted both Kazakhstanis and foreign tourists, according to infohub.kz.
The filming location is said to be the Tuzbair salt flat — a vast white expanse measuring 15 by 4 kilometers, stretching beneath the picturesque white cliffs of the Ustyurt Plateau. The cliffs above the salt flat date back tens of millions of years: they were once the bottom of the Tethys Ocean. Today, shark teeth and sea urchin skeletons can be found here.
The main pride of Tuzbair is a natural chamber arch in the rocks that visitors can walk through.
The journey from Aktau takes approximately 4–5 hours. Travelers must cover 260 kilometers to the northeast.
SUVs can be seen in the video. Driving on the salt flat requires caution: do not venture more than 200 meters from the cliffs and follow the tracks of previous travelers to avoid getting stuck in the viscous ground. The best time to visit is April, May, September, and October.
Users are sharing their impressions in the comments. Many admire the beauty of their homeland, comparing it to outer space and other planets.
"I dreamed of seeing Pamukkale, and it turns out we have a place that's even cooler," users write.
"Mangystau is outer space," commenters note.
"How beautiful!" subscribers add.
Earlier, Kursiv LifeStyle reported that Aktau blogger Azamat Sarsenbayev showed that flamingos are returning to the region. In the comments, users admired the birds.