1 day trip to Tamgaly petroglyphs

The place called Tamgaly or Tanbaly is located 170km to the north from Almaty, the road is sometimes very damaged so it takes 3-4 hours to drive there. But the place worth the time spent!
Tamgaly is a small gorge named after a river (dry). The most of the paintings are located at a place where the river (now dry) Tamgaly runs out of a small canyon into the valley. The slopes of the hills on both sides of a river seemed to be convenient for rock carving. As many other rock painting places in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, Tamgaly petroglyphs are made by different generations whose settlements and necropolis were found around: the complex of curved stones, burials and altars was used as a cult place for the thousands of years. The oldest carvings were formed during a Bronze Age using a picketing technique with stone or metal tools: most of them include large figures of “sun-headed” and zoomorphic beings dressed in furs (shamans), by one and in groups (involved in ritual dancing), with different attributes like baton, surrounded by animals.

The itinerary looks like:
07.00 – 10.30 drive Almaty – Tamgaly
10.30 – 11.00 entry the Reserve
11.00 – 14.30 excursion by the complex (gorge with carvings and necropolis with burials and altars)
14.30 – 15.30 lunch
15.30 – 19.00 drive back to Almaty