Walking Almaty
  • Main
    • Almaty Walking Tours
    • Blog Posts >
      • "Big Bill" Builds the Turksib
      • Auezov in America
      • Nixon in Almaty
      • 7 Interactive Maps of Almaty
      • 7 Things to See on an Almaty Layover
      • One-Story Alma-Ata
      • 11 Almaty Businesses You See Over and Over
      • 9 Spiritual Cousins of Walking Almaty
      • 6 Principles of Documentary Urbanism
      • 13 Historic Maps of Verny, Alma-Ata, and Almaty
      • 10 Best Almaty Walks
      • 12 Bus Routes to the Mountains
      • 10 Almaty Sights for Fans of Kazakh Falconry
      • Travel Reports
    • Almaty Neighborhoods >
      • Alatau
      • Alma-Arasan
      • Druzhba
      • Geologostroi
      • Medeu District
      • Nurlytau
      • Pervomaiskiy
      • Plodik
      • Shangyraq
      • Tastak
      • Tatarka
      • Taugül
      • West Almalinsky
      • Yerminsai
    • Unsolved Mysteries
    • About the Project
  • Access Ramps
  • Addresses
  • Advertising Graffiti
  • Air Conditioners
  • Aluminum Facades
  • Antennas
  • Aryks
  • Balcony Panels
  • Basement Stairs
  • Brandmauers
  • Brise Soleil
  • Bus Stops
  • Canals
  • Carved Eaves
  • Carved Windowframes
  • Cast Iron Fences
  • Central Asian Brick
  • Children's Graffiti
  • Classified Ads
  • Coal Shed Windows
  • Commemorative Plaques
  • Concrete Fences
  • Convenience Stores Signs
  • Corner Pilasters
  • Corrugated Metal
  • Courtyard Sculptures
  • Dead Entryways
  • Decorative Plaster Facades
  • Decorative Sheet Metal
  • DIY Downspouts
  • Doorbells
  • Dormers
  • Duplexes
  • Ear Graffiti
  • Fire Hydrant Signs
  • Flower Planters
  • Gables
  • Gas Lines
  • Gas Signs
  • Gilted Aluminum
  • Glass Blocks
  • Graffiti
  • Granite Facades
  • Hand Pumps
  • Handpainted Signs
  • Insulation
  • Insulators
  • Kiosks
  • Lanterns
  • Limestone
  • Mailboxes
  • Manhole Covers
  • Masonry Patterns
  • Metal Gates
  • Metal Plates
  • Mosaic Bus Stops
  • Mosaics
  • Natural Elements
    • Birds
    • Creeks
    • Strays
    • Weeds
  • Painted Trees
  • Paver Blocks
  • Pedestrian Paths
  • Pedestrian Underpasses
  • Pigeon Perches
  • Remodeled Roofs
  • Romantic Graffiti
  • Scrap Metal Signs
  • Security Bars
  • Sgraffito
  • Soviet Cars
  • Stalinki
  • Stencil Graffiti
  • Telephone Poles
  • Tile Facades
  • Tires
  • Trash Cans
  • Trash Removal
  • Utility Boxes
  • Ventilated Facades
  • Vestibule Windows
  • Window Signs
  • Wooden Gates
  • Wood Slats

Creeks


Especially in the region north of Tashkentskaya, this natural nature is even more evident, as the quaintest of rivers flow through people's backyards and wind their way through little valleys. It's fun to explore these neighborhoods, because the creeks tend to separate one group of houses from another, but the maps tell you nothing about how to cross over. So you wander and search until you stumble upon a narrow set of stairs that falls into a patch of reeds, and a metal grate lets you wobble your way to the other side. In some places, the city has begun a kind of mini-canalization project shoring up the banks, but this time not with dreary cement but with these fairly attractive bundles of stones that are held together with mesh.  It's not as wild and exciting as a marshy stream, but its also less prone to flooding. 

In the northeast of town, in Alatau District, branches of the Big Almaty River like the Terenkara and the Ashybulak have carved wide gorges through the landscape. Neighborhoods like Ulzhan are effectively islands, so stranded are they by the deep canyons around them. Here, though, are some of the last wild places in Almaty, with birdlife, marshes, and fish in the streams. This area has a reputation for squatters and poverty, but I find it one of the most ecologically unique. Go explore it sometime!   ​

Walking Tours

Picture

Blog

Picture

Neighborhoods

Picture

About

Picture
Picture