Kazakhstan is the world’s largest landlocked country. Oil and gas are the 2 major income earners. More than 35% of Kazakhstan is flat lowland. However, in the far east you find the mountainous area with Mount Khan Tengri at just under 7000 meters. Officially Kazakhstan is a democratic society. Large parts of Kazakhstan are empty desert type terrain with less than 6 people per sq. kilometres so the population density is low. Kazakhstan became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991. Kazakhstan was the last Soviet republic to declare independence, just 10 days later the Soviet Union stopped to exist. Kazakhstan is a country that covers 2 continents. (Europe and Asia)
Once the Aral Sea this was the 4th largest lake in the world. During our visit it was about empty due to water diversions. It once had 68000 square kilometres of surface area, with a thriving fishing industry employing over 40000 people. As a result of the drying over the past decades, millions of fish died, coastlines receded miles from towns, and those few people who remained were plagued by dust storms that contained the toxic residue of industrial agriculture and weapons testing in the area.