ruslan tours of aksu-zhabagly nature reserve

We stayed 8 nights at their campsite in the beautiful mountains. Slightly pricey for Kazakhstan but great facilities and amazing family too! We paid around £20 a night and used their modern washing machine almost to destruction! A welcome break after a month travelling across the desert. They have a modern toilet and shower block with hot water. A communal kitchen if you can't stretch your budget to include 3 meals a day for £20. However those that did, enjoyed being catered for and said the food was simple but very tasty and plenty of it. None of the fabulous family speak much English but you can get by with a little Russian, even less Kazak, lots of smiles and hand signals. The village has 3 shops where you can buy most things like bread, noodles, beer and tomatoes though fresh meat is a little lacking. Ruslan's family gave us fresh milk and honey from the beekeeper who has his hives right by the campsite. We couldn't afford to do any trips into the reserve itself but plenty of other routes to walk and where we parked our converted van was right by the reserve border. Other travellers including locals from Shymkent said the horse riding was great and the canyon beautiful! The road to the village has one sandy track diversion but this is short and from the village to the campsite is a steep gravel track which our Mercedes Vario just about managed. The guesthouse in the village has WIFI albeit a little slow and the rooms we saw there were basic but nicely done and very clean. The best part, aside from the views, was the family who were welcoming, helpful, funny and we were sad to say goodbye. No photos to post at present as currently travelling through Kyrgyzstan but will try and add a pic or too later as the scenery is impressive.

I travelled with a group of friends on a short holiday weekend. We were very impressed by the friendliness of the staff, great food, and professional coordination of our trips. We stayed two nights at a wonderful guest house in the village. On the first day we hiked in the mountains and had a guide who helped us spot some of the wildlife. The guest house had provided a nice boxed lunch so we could picnic on the mountain. The 2nd day we had arranged a tour of some of the historic sites. We had a great driver and Ruslan explained some parts of the sites. It ended with an evening of shashlik and a trip to the airport. We will definitely visit again.

We stayed two nights at their guest house at the border to the national park. Beautiful setting just by the mountains with easy acces to hikes as well as short strolls among wild horses and flora. We are impressed by the genuine hospitality, excellent home made food plus personal care and attention to detail by hostess Diana and brother Ruslan. Advise on hikes, arrangement for pickup at train station and excursion to the wild tulips, packed lunches, well-heated banya... They are a team that can help develop international tourism to this area whilst understanding the asset and need of care for mother nature (which is not always the case here). Lammert was managing pre-trip emails in English but on site we improvised with our (very) basic Russian.

If you stay at Ruslan, Lammert will collect you from The station at Tjulkubas, only 30 mins away. They do 4 wheel drive tours of the reserve. Fantastic tours with packed lunches. Bring binoculars as there are rare birds and animals, incl bears, loepards and golden eagles. Homestay was very comfortable with modern showers. Wonderful hospitality from the family. We got invited to a family wedding - amazing. This is a great alternative to staying the whole time in Almaty.

Ruslan Tours offeriert nicht nur Touren im Aksu Zhabagly Park, es bietet auch eine sehr gute Bleibe für jene, die nach langen Fahrten eine ansprechende Landschaft und Umgebung im Dorf einen Standort in den jeweils 70 km entfernten, nicht sonderlich attraktiven Städten Shymkent oder Taraz bevorzugen. Wr fühlten uns im homestay der kazakischen Familie mit dem Holländer Lammert nach langer und mühseliger Fahrt durch Kazakstans Steppe wie im Paradies. Lammerts Schwiegermutter Natalia ist eine sehr liebenswerte und aufmerksame Gastgeberin, die darauf achtet, dass sich ihre Gäste wohlfühlen. Der schöne Garten bietet einen ruhigen Ort der Entspannung, die beiden Bäder (geräumiger Duschraum!) und die wenigen Zimmer sowie die Gästeküche und der Aufenthaltsraum eignen sich bestens für einige Ruhetage während langer Reisen. Selbst das WiFi funktioniert bestens, was im Lande keineswegs selbstverständlich ist. Und mit Lammert hat man einen Gesprächpartner, der kundig ist und bestens englisch spricht – ebenfalls eine Seltenheit in einem kazakischen Dorf. Die Parkbehörde, die für die Genehmigung von Touren im Naturschutzgebiet zuständig ist, befindet sich in unmittelbarer Nachbarschaft. Der Direktor der Behörde ist recht unsympathisch und arrogant und zu keinerlei Konzessionen bereits (Geld scheint für ihn am wichtigsten zu sein…), aber mit einigem Geschick kann man ihn zur Erfüllung der eigenen Wünsche auch umgehen, wobei im Mai/Juni die Blumenpracht ein highlight bildet.