Kazakhstan is a destination to experience before anyone else.

A big country of widescreen landscapes and surreal rock formations, Central Asia’s retort to Monument Valley and the red-rock plains of Utah. The Wild East, with camel wranglers instead of cowboys. Once upon a time, the Silk Road threaded through it; now curious travellers are finding their way here. If Uzbekistan is the gateway country for the ‘Stans with its mosques and ornate minarets, then Kazakhstan should be visited for its vivid, sculptural geology. For the red sandstone columns of Charyn Canyon, eroded by millennia and grazed by Siberian ibex, and the turquoise waters of Big Almaty Lake, reflecting the snow-capped peaks above. But mostly for the otherworldly swirl of the Mangistau region, remote and rugged. The city of Aktau, set on the Caspian Sea, is the launchpad for 4X4 adventures into the steppes, where mushrooming plateaus are bathed in mist and folds of rock strata resemble tiramisu. And in the mountains above the historic city of Almaty, with its Soviet-era memorials and food markets, rare snow leopards prowl and eagles fly high.