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Alain Denis

On the Tien Shan mountains

“The mountains of Heaven”

Trip to Kazakhstan from 05^th to 22^nd June 2008

After the cancellation of the AGS expedition to which I should take part and due to the Chinese reaction towards the occidentals for their position favourable to Tibet, and then further to the cancellation of a substitute trip to the Sichuan for the same reasons, I finally reported my choice on a destination that already attracted me: the Tien Shan mountains in Kazakhstan, poetically named “the mountains of Heaven”.

Departure on 05^th June from Paris to London Heathrow airport to join the group of 11 participants to this botanical trip: John and Hilary Birks who both are professors of botany at the Bergen University, Norway; they have participated in or organized numerous expeditions. Liz Copas, Pat and Fred Bundy, Joan and Liam McCaughey are AGS active members and prize winners of many photographic competitions; Moira Brett, Alf and Hannah Strange as well as Barbara Spivey fascinated by ornithology and myself the only French and enthusiast of alpines and mountains. We meet Paul Green, the Greentours’ leader, the tour operator of this trip. Paul is easily recognizable with his red tee shirt marked Greentours in green letters (of course) and we board for Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan.

Almaty (Alma-Ata in the former USSR era) is the most important town in the country and counts 4 million inhabitants. In my opinion it’s a beautiful city with wide shaded and flowered avenues. Today, brand new buildings are erecting everywhere and dozens others are currently being built.

Almaty is the economic lung of Kazakhstan. Since the independence, Astana is the capital of this immense country of 2.727.300km2 and of only 15.2 millions of inhabitants, the underground of which is full of oil, gas, uranium, gold, iron ore, copper, chrome and many other richness that already make it one of the dragons among the Central Asian Republics.

After a 7 hours flight, we are now landing at Almaty where the heat invades us. In fact the temperature is 25°C, despite the late hour as it is 01:45 a.m., but is warming up us quite a lot from the cold air conditioning during the flight.

Vladimir Kolbintsev, our russian guide is waiting for us at the airport arrival. Vladimir lives in Taraz a city of 300,000 inhabitants and provincial capital of Zhambyl located at the western end of the chain of the Tien Shan where we will visit a few days. The three drivers who accompany load our luggage into the minivans and take the road to our hotel perched at 2500m, just above the Chimbulak ski resort located at 2h00 drive from the airport, where we will spend the first three days of our flora adventure. After Chimbulak, the beautiful road gives way to a wide rocky track full of ruts almost impassable and driving becomes a permanent maneuvers. Arriving at 4 a.m. we take possession of our rooms. Exhausted, I sleep like a log.

1^st part: Chimbulak

1^st day: Chimbulak – Tuyuk–Su

Every day the breakfast will be served at 8:30 and the departure will be at 9:00. We leave this morning for a 2 or 3 hours walk until Tuyuk Su Gate at the base of the sheer mountain rock faces. Anna Ivaschenko, the botanist, joined us at the breakfast and will not leave us anymore during our journey, identifying the plants with an impressive insurance, explaining us, by using some English words what differs this plant from this another one however quite similar to us. Anna will be of a great help to us, as she officiates in her “garden”, a magnifying glass around her neck to observe some details, the ice axe in one hand to take a sample for study after dinner when we elaborate the lists of plants encountered during the day, and of course her notebook on which she reports the name of all plants she can see or that the members of the group have observed or taken a picture she identified.

Anna has published numerous books on the flora of Kazakhstan and has a very good reputation. She will retire soon but she always has a great marvel to the plants and shows a strong physical resistance that impresses us all.

We have hardly walked a couple of a hundred meters that the flora is already imposing, excessive: Leontopodium fedtschenkoanum on the path side, Rhodiola coccineum, R. linearifolium, Tulipa heterophylla, Dracocephalum grandiflorum, Sedum ewersii not yet in bloom, Cortusa brother, Callianthemum alatavicum with a beautiful bluish foliage similar to the one of Corydalis melanochlora, Primula algida, Viola altaica, Pedicularis pubiflora, Thermopsis alpinum, Erigeron aurantiacum, Atragene (Clematis) sibirica with its white bells interlaced in the Lonicera hispida with white flowers too or in the Lonicera karelinii with pink flowers growing just a few meters from there, Papaver croceum 30cm high, with its orange yellow crumpled petals. In the meadows we can see: Trollius songaricus, T. lilacina, Allium atrosanguineum, Aquilegia atrovinosa, wonderful, a mixture of its little sister from the Alps: Aquilegia atrata, and of Aquilegia olympica; Hedysarum neglectum, Aconitum leucostomum, Saxifraga sibirica, Geranium albiflorum. Near a trickle: Primula nivalis var. colorata 30cm high and dark pink with clumps of Cortusa brotheri that always have the feet in wet places, Dactylorhiza umbrosa in small colonies. On the rocks, rosettes of Rosularia alpestris with white pinkish flowers resembling a Sempervivum, Draba subamplexicaulis with a white blooming as well as Gagea filiformis and G. emarginata. On the path side are growing Erysimum croceum 35cm and Hieracium aurantiacum, both with a pure orange blooming.

We are now close to 3000m. The slope is steeply and we progress hardly in the rockeries we must go through, but here we are walking on carpets of Tulipa heterophylla, of white Eritrichium tianshanicum  and of Gentiana uniflora. At the bottom of the rocky face, our reward is here: a hundreds of clumps of Paraquilegia anemonoides all in blooms, growing in the cliffs with 50cm wide cushions! I have the feeling of a fresco!

A small drizzle is beginning to fall but for nothing I will go down without having seen this spectacle, and despite the difficulty to approach those wonders, for only some photographs, I’m ready to brave all dangers. We are now going down to our chalets of our hotel. I am happy. I’ve many flowers in my head and nice photos. The trip is truly starting well.

2^nd day: Chimbulak – Tolgar Pass.

This morning we take the road down until the ski station. One kilometer far from the ski station Vladimir let stop the 4wd and we continue on foot. On the roadside we can see Geranium rectum, Polemonium caeruleum, Rosa alberti, with its white and perfumed blooming, Aconitum leucostomum and still the wonderful Aquilegia atrovinosa and always Cortusa brotheri. As soon as we arrive at Chimbulak ski station we take 2 lines of chairlifts to reach Tolgar Pass located at an elevation of about 2900m. We climb a little bit more until the unstable rockeries where our progression becomes quite hard, but in this universe of mineralogical chaos the small plants are numerous: Draba sibirica with bright yellow flowers and very green foliage, Chorispora bungeana a small bracicaceae with very wide lilac prostrate flowers and jagged leaves, Primula nivalis, dark pink and 25cm tall, Lloydia serotina, the white Eritrichium tianshanicum, the bright yellow Saxifraga macrocalyx, Androsace akbaitalensisnot yet in buds, another Draba only in leaves, Saxifraga cernua and once more at about 4000m Paraquilegia anemonoides in wide blooming clumps embedded in the clefts of the dark rock face. It’s a sight unique, almost surrealistic as I cannot see any other plant growing on those faces exposed to the north.

3^rd day: Chimbulak – Medeo – Dzabaghly.

We are going to Medeo for the morning. Medeo is the site of the famous old ice-skating speed ring situated at half way of our hotel and Chimbulak. The alpine meadows are covered with millions of flowers: Dracocephalum integrifolium, the yellow Eremurus altaicus, hundreds of Codonopsis clematidea, Lithospermum arvense, Potentilla orientalis, Oxytopis almaatensis an endemic, Sedum hybridum, Scutellaria transiliensis with its bright yellow flowers. On a hummock are growing: Thymus tianschanicus, Alyssum turkestanicum, Allium caesium of a lovely pale blue, Sedum ewersii only in leaves. By going down the slope towards the road, one can see: Aquilegia atrovinosa, Polygonum poryarium, Rosa albertii and R. platyacantha yellow and scented too, Oxytropis baissanensis with pale purple flowers, Tulipa ostrowskianum in seed, Polemonium caeruleum, Dianthus tianschanicus, Aconitum nemorum, Stachyopsis lamiiflora and Campanula glomerata.

It’s now time to go back to our hotel for lunch. This afternoon we have to pack our luggage and to go down to Almaty to take the night train. Our destination: the West at 600 km far from here in the National Natural Reserve of Aksu-Dzabaghly, still in the Tien Shan range that extends on1250 km in the South-East of Kazakhstan forming a natural frontier with its natural neighbours like China, Kyrgystan and Uzbekistan.

The journey will last 11 hours and it is warm in spite of a semblance of air conditioning. Until the sunset we contemplate the landscapes of the steppe and the thousands of coloured birds. After a night quite without sleeping, we arrive in the early morning at Tülkibas station where our host Yevgueny Belousev is waiting for us to bring us to the village of Dzabaghly where we will have an accommodation for a couple of days. Just to take the time to make ourselves comfortable, to have a shower, and to take a generous breakfast and we are all ready for our first contact with the “black mountains” of the Kara-tau (the black mountains because they never have snow in summer).

2^nd part: the Karatau mountains

4^th day: the mountains of the Kara-tau: Kuyuk Pass, Karasay Gorge, Ber-kara, Ters Lake.

The old dilapidated brand “GAZ” bus that is usually used for the village school service, an authentic relic of the Soviet era, is running at breakneck speed in a worrying roar on the dusty road and with all windows open. The sun is already beating down. First stop, Vladimir has located Delphinium semibarbatum (D. Zalil) growing in the steppe on right side of the road. We all go out. In this desert place, we can see hundreds of pale yellow Delphiniums. This tuberous plant which is quite rare in catalogs (it can be found on the catalog of Janis Ruksans) needs a summer rest as many bulbs. In some places grows Centaurea depressa and everywhere Tulipa orthopoda in seeds.

We start again. The temperature has still risen. After half an hour we reach Kuyuk Pass on the Karatau range, an old eroded and low massif contrary to the Tien Shan range which is young with summits that reach 5000m and even 7000m for some of them. This is a desert oppressive place. On the other side of the road, there are Eremurus tianshanicus with their superb white spikes. Here and there grow some Delphinium semibarbatum with their creamy yellow flowers. In the dark and burning loose stones, one can see Astragalus krauseanus, Haplophyllum perforatum, Prangos uloptera, Phlomis salicifolia, Saligeria allioides, Centaurea depressa, Acanthophyllum pungensa small caryophyllaceae in spiky gray blue cushions which looks like an Acantholimon of which a species is just growing closely, Acantholimon aulieatense that is unfortunately still not in flowers and overall we can see spiky cushions of Cousinia karatavica, a lovely asteraceae with brilliant yellow flowers ending in the purple blue. The brightness is so intense in this mineral universe that it is very difficult to distinct the vegetation. Some plants are already in seeds: Tulipa orthopoda, T. bifloriformis, Korolkowia sewersowii, Iris (Juno) kuschakewiczii, Meniocus linifolius a brassicaceae with yellow flowers, Alyssum petiolatum and A. stenostachyum.

We leave this place and go on. We reach Ters Lake, a vast damp area in the middle of nowhere. Not a tree at all kilometers around, everything is flat and what a heat! It is 12h30, and we are taking our lunch. It is 47C Deg. in the bus. Everyone is eating quickly and drinks much water but also warm tea. We observe birds that have adopted this lake of hundreds of hectares. We go on again with all open windows to Karasay Gorge. After 15mn walking we enter in the gorges. This is an eroded mineral world that brings beneficial shadow and especially many opportunities of nesting to the dozens of birds species. We come close to the nest of some birds of prey without disturbing them.

We go on the road to Berkara, the worldwide known valley for its bulbs. This woody valley brings us a welcome shadow. One can see Malus sieversii, Rosa kokanica with its yellow blooming, Rubus caesium, Spiraea hypericifolia, Capparis herbacea, Salix albus, Acer semenovii and Fraxinus sogdiana.

At the trees feet or growing on the slopes, hundreds of Iris (Junos) kuschakewiczii, orchioides, Korolkovia seversowii(syn. Fritillaria seversowia), Rhinopetalum stenantherum (syn. Fritillaria stenanthera), Tulipa turkestanica have passed over and are all in seeds. In some places Ixiolirion tataricum let us benefit their showy blue flowering.

Under a blazing sun we go on again the road or rather the track as there is no more asphalt. There is not a tree for kilometres around. After a tenth kilometres Vladimir let stop the bus. Our stock of water has quite dried up. Our bottles are burning and the water too. Along the road side a small source will bring us very cool water to stand the 2 hours driving to reach our hotel in Dzhabagly. It is 18h00 and the temperature is still 28 deg. C.

5^th day: Tuyuk Pass and Koksai Gorge.

This morning our itinerary must lead us to an immense rift called Koksai Gorge or Koksai Canyon. It links the Karatau range to the Tien Shan creating thus favorable conditions to some species. We stop a first time to observe tens of birds of prey standing a few hundred meters far away. Alongside the path is growing Rosa persica a dwarf rosebush very short and very spiny but holding wonderful red heart deep bright yellow flowers. We now stop at Tuyuk Pass and the group scatters on the same road side towards a large lake, I choose the opposite road side. On a few square meters I can see Onosma dichroanthum, Dianthus tetralepis and two metres far from it Dianthus karataviensis, Aster canescens 40cm, Sedum albertii with white flowers, Convolvulus linneatus in grey silvery rosettes. The sky is cloudy, it is less warm and that’s fine, but the wind is strong and dry and even a little bit cold but overall it disturbs me to take photographs while the flowers are moving. We have gone again the road. The bus is now driving on a land path for more than 10km and we can look at wonderful Gentiana olivieri patches. We now are on the brink of the rift. It’s very impressive. The lunch is served and quickly swallowed, and after a last cup of tea I begin to prospect. This steppe landscape seems to be desolated, it is; but not its flora as this one is rich, very rich. Here is the property of Gentiana olivieri that does not leave us from this morning. Its flowers are sublime. Alliums growing by tens of thousands and among them Allium barsczewskii rose carmine and its albino variety, the pale blue A. caesium, A. trachyscordum and A. oreophyllum both pink. Orobanches, Astragales, Eremurus: Eremurus tianshanicus, E. fuscus, E. cristatus, snakes or rather vipers which, in places, are swarming by tens per square meter. Briefly, a paradise….On a slope of the canyon, I find a very dwarf Astragalus 2 or 3cm tall. I take a sample for identification. Anna will succeed to identify this Astragalus. Its name is Astragalus kronenbuergii, but nothing to see with the beer, unfortunately, because with this heat it should be welcome. Eremostachys speciosa, Oxytropis spinosissima, Hyoscyamus niger about 1.30m tall, a superb plant with veined maroon flowers.

After more than 2 hours driving we arrive at our hotel, tired but happy. After the dinner we update the plant list as well as the bird and animal lists. This work takes one or two hours each evening and everyone does it very seriously under the authority of A       nna Ivaschenko for plants and Vladimir Kolbintsev for mammals, the whole washed down with some bottles of vodka. For me it’s not easy to hear the Latin names pronounced with the English accent and yet I speak English quite all day long in my job. On this point of view I understand better Anna or Vladimir as their pronunciation is the same as ours.

Tomorrow we will leave for the National Natural Reserve of Aksu-Dzhabagly at about 15km far from the South of the village, on the Northwestern extremity of the Tien Shan range. This reserve was created in 1926 and is one of the oldest in Central Asia and the largest, too with an 85.57 square km area. It is counted 239 birds species, 52 mammals species of which the bare and the discreet snow leopard which lives at an altitude of near 5000m, 11 species reptiles and 5000 species insects. There’s still to the botanist not less than 1280 plant species, in short there’s enough to keep one busy! For the record our group will identify more than 800 plant species during this trip, which is not so bad.

3^rd part: Dzhabagly National Reserve

 6^th day: the National Natural Reserve of Aksu-Dzhabagly

At 9 o’clock our bus drives us to the Reserve house-guard at the Park entrance. There, we will change our bus for a horse and will continue all day long with 3 stops until the mountain house. In the reserve there are only 2 mountain houses of which the first one is really small, the second one that is bigger is at 2050m. None of them has electricity or running water but a brook is flowing close to each of them. These Spartan buildings are equipped with a stove and one or two beds and are used by the scientists who study the nature and by the rangers who travel the park or by the groups of tourists in possession of an official authorization.

Our horses are former army horses. A local television team preparing a doc on the park is following and filming us during 2 hours. At the first stop we all dismount. To stretch one’s legs a bit is not a bad thing. I’m looking around at the plants on the path side: Campanula glomerata, Gentiana olivieri, Tulipa gregii, Eremurus regelii, Allium caesium of a pale blue colour, A. hymenorrhizum pink both about 50cm tall, Ixiolirion tataricum, Iris sogdiana sometimes white and yellow sometimes pale blue and purple, Aconitum talassicum, Delphinium confusum, Linum olgae with big pink flowers, superb, Scabiosa songorica. In the middle of the path Convolvulus pseudocantabrica grows with C. lineatus in silvery grey rosettes of about 10cm. Around 12:30 we stop for the lunch at the first mountain house. We take our meal in a shady place, a cup of coffee or a tea and some of us are starting a siesta. Around the mountain house I find Rosularia turkestanica growing on rocks and a few meters further and not easily seeable among the grass of the embankment Acantholimon alberti, and in the shadow Asyneuma argutum (syn. Phyteuma argutum) a high campanula of 70cm with lovely pale blue starring flowers. A few meters away we can see Morina kokanica, a poisonous clump with however wonderful rose and white flowers. When reaching the brink of the Dzhabagly river gorge that flows 300m deeper, Vladimir shows us some clumps of the rare Campanula alberti hung in the fissures of the sheer cliffs. Fortunately a clump is just a few meters behind me but it is not easy to photograph and I have to take risks, and always this wind which is blowing.

We have started again but my horse seems to be very nervous. I have noticed that it does not accept to be overtaken by other horses. Suddenly it sets off at a gallop and runs to the brook. I stopped it but I finally think it stopped itself when finding again its fellow creatures. After having let it drink we ride again. After about twenty minutes, my horse that has just eaten a tuft of grass alongside the path makes rear up by neighing and starts for a gallop outside the path. I hold on so-so, pulling the reins to stop it, but it doesn’t want to know anything and even tries to unseat me several times. I resist like at rodeo. How many seconds, I don’t know but it’s quite long. Suddenly I see that my feet have gone out of the stirrups, the horse is kicking and I guess I will pass over and I’m frightened, so I decide to jump by projecting me on the left side. There are no rocks, I do it. I fall down correctly and sweep on the grass on a few meters. I try to stand up but my arm refuses. My left wrist has become swollen, probably when it knocked the ground and my watch didn’t help matters. I take it off quickly. My ribs and my kidney are awfully painful. My camera bag has opened and a lens is lying intact close to me. Somebody helps me to stand up. I believe my wrist is fractured, but the horse’s owner helps me to mount another horse and I feel I’m fainting but I try to resist. The pain is awful. A few minutes later I meet the rest of the group. Joan and Liam make me an immobilization splint and a bandage. My aid bag is particularly well filled and I take a tablet against the pain. I drink a lot. Paul Green, the Greentour’s leader decides to stay with me. The group continues on one’s way to the mountain house. We will wait here in the nature for 4 hours till the lorry that had driven up in the morning with the yurts goes down. I’m quite fainting at each rut. It takes us more than one hour to reach our hotel in Dzhabagly. At around 21h30 we leave for the Taraz Regional Hospital at about half an hour car driving. The hospital looks like an old one from the USSR era and that it is but the personnel is truly very nice. After an anti pain injection, an X-ray and a plaster we go back - without having been charged of any expense - to the hotel where we are served a generous dinner and go the to bed.

7^th day: Dzhabagly Village

Today we stay in the village. Paul convinced me it is more reasonable that I rest a little bit but I’m happy as the doc at the hospital told us I have nothing serious.

In the afternoon, Yevgueni, the proprietary of the hotel offers us to drive us to the mountain house in the late afternoon. I immediately accept and we leave around 17h00 with a 4WD. I’m so happy to follow my adventure.

Everybody is happy to see each one and everybody comes for news.

8^th day: Dzhabagly Reserve – Ulken Kaindy Pass

At nine, Paul and I leave on foot for Ulken Kaindy Valley. The group was there yesterday but on horse. We are walking across the fields covered with Allium, Iris sogdiana, Tulipas, Delphinium, Trollius and with numerous other plants. In some places the ground has been turned over by the bears and the bulbs of Allium and Tulipa are lying on the ground. I take some and go ahead, but the slope is steep and I’ve difficulties to move forward. My rips terribly hurt when I breathe. We often stop and I drink very much. The sun beats down and we are loaded. We decide to optimize our burden. To-morrow Paul will take my rucksack. We will pool what is absolutely necessary: my aid is certainly the best filled. My binoculars too are very light but extremely powerful. Paul’s ones are heavy and take space. Paul will no more leave my binoculars during the trip. Today Paul will carry my rucksack and I will carry my photo equipment, a stick and water for the day.

After having crossed the meadows, we reach the loose stones that we begin to struggle up. The stones are rolling under our feet at each foot. Suddenly Paul sees a wonderful Tulipa greigii of a brilliant red and higher, besides a snow patch, a carpet of Tulipa kaufmanniana and T. dasystemonoides are still flowering and among all these tulips hundreds of Corydalis ledebouriana, one of my preferred genus. I’m in seventh heaven. Then, a few meters further, we find out Iris (Juno) kuschakewiczii, a lovely pale blue plant with bright green foliage. Just two meters farther, a superb yellow and white Iris (Juno) orchioides. We do not see any others around and this plant will be the only one that we will see in bloom.

We can see our friends in the distance who are riding along the ridges. Paul and I are progressing quite slowly. The sun is now burning a lot and we must find a shady place where to rest and have lunch. The descent will be difficult due to the snow patches that we will have to cross without any equipment. We settle down under a cool rocky overhang but the ground is sloping. While Paul is taking out our lunches, I can see at less than a meter a tuft of campanulas: Campanula capusii (syn. C. lehmanniana) and just close to it Stephanocaryum olgae that looks like a Myosotis or an Eritrichium.

A few centimeters far from these plants, a tuft of a wonderful Paraquilegia caespitosa is growing quite identical to P. anemonoides but with a downy foliage. On the rocks, in full sun we can see 50cm mat of Androsace sericea in full blooming, white and closely, Primula minkwitziae, a lovely dark pink Primula 10 to 13cm tall accompanied by Viola biflora. I’m sweeping about ten meters down. Fortunately my plaster protects my arm but not my leg. It’s not serious. I’m trying to climb so-so to take my pictures.

After a one hour’s rest, we are starting on our way down. For me it’s nightmarish as there is no way. We have to hurtle down the slopes, the rockeries and overall to cross the deep snow patches that frighten me. My shoes sweep on the iced snow. I’m planting my stick on the right sloppy side and Paul helps me not to fall. It will take us 20 minutes for crossing the snow patch and reach the other side. We can see the Corydalis ledebouriana we have already seen this morning, growing by hundreds among Junos, Rhodiola heterodonta and Tulipa dasystemonoides and T. kaufmanniana.

Then by reaching the meadows, the way down becomes faster and we will arrive at the mountain house before the horse riders. After a beneficial shower, I’m showing the pictures I have taken and I’m surprised that no one has seen yesterday the Juno orchioides. Paul and I are proud to add this wonderful plant to our credit. Our friends admit that when horse riding it is not easy to distinguish the plants that are confusing with the mineral element.

9^th day: Dzhabagly: Kshi Kaindy Valley

Today we are walking on trail of the horse riders but after 3 hours we will go back. In fact I cannot go ahead. Each breath is painful and the vegetation is tall – 1.20m about – and the slopes are steep and always this stifling heat. We cross a stream quite easily but on the next time it has begun a torrent. It will take Paul almost one hour to build a way so that I can cross the stream the more safely as possible.

We can look at our friends that have arrived at the gathering point for lunch. We yield to the evidence we should need 2 hours more at least to reach them. I’m suffering too much. I ask Paul to go back. So close to the goal it’s hard. We go back to the river to find some shade and have a rest. A ranger arrives a few minutes later, gives us our lunches and some bottles of water and sets off at a gallop. A few meters away we can see Allium karataviense, passed over, on the right side of the path, is growing on only a few steep stony square meters. In fact we walked less than a meter from them when climbing before without seeing them as it is so difficult to see the plants among in the rockeries. Near the stream Paul lacks to walk on a tuft of Lomatogonium carinthiacum a lovely pale blue Gentianaceae but in buds. All horsemen have ridden closely without seeing it, and it is rare in the region.

10^th day: Dzhabagly – Baidaksai Valley.

This morning Paul and I are starting to the Baidaksai Valley. The weather is gloomy. The sky is cloudy and grey and the wind is cold and violent. I have not taken any warm clothe for the first time. It does not matter I will be cold all day long. During a couple of hours the rain will also be with us. I have well slept last night and I am in a better form. We go away at a good pace and walk quickly through the high grasses. As we arrive on the crest we go to the left where prehistoric carvings may be seen. We take the opportunity to rest and to take some pictures of the Acantholimon alberti in flower for our pleasure. We go ahead by crossing the meadows. Finally we join the group that has left on horse-back for the lunch. In the rocks we can see Arenaria griffittii, Rosularia alpestris, Pyrethrum tianschanicum. In the meadows one can see Inula rhizocephala, the orange Trollius altaica, the wonderfull Lindelofia tchimganica, Rosularia alpestris, Dianthus hoelzerii and still the lovely Allium barczewskii.

This is our last day in the reserve that we will leave to-morrow morning.

11^th day: Departure from the Aksu Dzhabagly Reserve

At 9h00 we all leave the Mountain House and start the going down. On a rockery, marmots do not even seem to be disturbed by us. We are now crossing meadows covered by millions of flowers until the chest: Codonopsis clematidea, Allium drobovii 70cm tall and greenish-white, A. caesium, A. oreophyllum, A. filifolium, Iris sogdiana. After a 2h walk we are now reaching the Juniperus Forest: Juniperus semiglobosa, J. seravschanica and J. turkestanica.

We stop for waiting the latecomers and have a rest in the shadow. On the path side Orobanche uralensis and O. kotschyi, Campanula glomerata and its white form, Cortusa tianschanica in the undergrowth, Convolvulus linearis and Codonopsis clematidea in the glades. We are now walking along the brink of the precipice that overhangs the Dzhabagly River Gorge. The stony embankments alongside the way allow us to see many cushions of Acantholimon alberti and plants of irises (Juno) and Fritillaria seversowii dry and in seed. Around noon we stop for lunch in a small glade. The rangers have already dressed the tablecloths, the lunches, the drinks and the place settings. The horses are attached under the trees. Everyone will leave again afterwards on horse-back with the exception of Paul and myself as well as Pat Bundy who does not bear any longer the rides. We make ourselves comfortable and begin to eat. Since this morning the walking is very pleasant though we are walking across the meadows covered with tall vegetation, but it is so beautiful that it is a pleasure. And we have time! So many flowers, so many scents and a so beautiful landscape! After the lunch and some cups of coffee and tea, the group starts again on horse-back. The relief is very steep. We first have to cross a brook. Paul and I give a look at a possible way for crossing without any difficulty. With my plaster I have not much balance and can fall on the sweeping rocks. I began to walk on a trunk lying across the brook. A dead branch helps me to cross but unfortunately it breaks just in the middle of my crossing and I fall down. All is right I only have my feet wet. We help Pat. She preferred to take off her shoes to cross the brook. We climb quickly the steeply slope by the narrow path. The rest of the group that started after us, but on horse-back, is already overtaking us. We are reaching the main track and stop to look at them passing. It is not too warm but for Pat who has chosen to make this walk with us, we must slacken our pace, what allow us to take good pictures. On the path sides one can see Dianthus hoelzeri, Campanula glomerata as well as a pretty pink variety and still the very beautiful Gentiana olivieri that follows us imperturbably. On the central part of the track, grow rosettes of Convolvulus linearis and Iris sogdiana. On the slope side, plants of Rhinopetalum stenantherum (Fritillaria stenanthera), a wonderful 30cm tall plant with pale rose bells unfortunately in seed.

12^th day: Aksu Canyon and Irsu village.

Our bus is driving at breakneck speed on the bad road that leads from Dzhabagly Village till Aksu Canyon. The heath is scorching and after having left the road for a bad track, we must stop as the bus can’t take anymore. It must have a rest and overall it must drink very much. We all take this opportunity to scatter during a little hour, the necessary time for the engine to have a siesta.

On the rocks I can see Acantholimon alberti in loose cushions and some carpets of Thymus turkestanicus, Cousinia umbrosa, Sedum ewersii, Rosularia turkestanica. We go on the twisty track. Some kilometres after, we finally drive on flat road and reach the Aksu Canyon.

We begin to go down in the Canyon. Wonderful tufts of the rare Campanula serguiei are incrusted in the cracks of the rock faces. A few metres farther and merging with the colour of the ground and rocks, is growing Ungernia severzovii, a magnificent bulbous plant from the Amaryllidaceae family, with its orangey flowers, quite ochre like the rocks. Under an overhang and in the shadow the beautiful Scutellaria virginica has taken refuge so that we can admire its dress of a so pale yellow that we believe it is white. It is a pure marvel. Lower, some pink Allium oreophyllum and Ixiolirion tataricum are still blooming. We stop on a promontory and will not go down further in the gorge the access of which is difficult but Anna is still there. I don’t know how she does but she impresses us all.

By climbing back the path we encounter Alochusa gypsophylloides and Sedum pentapetalum on the rocks. It is hot but bearable. We come back to the bus and sit down under the trees to have our lunch. After that, some of us even have a siesta and then we drive back to Dzhabagly. As we reach the valley our driver stops in the small village of Irsu. A typical village where the life seems not to have changed for a long time, even if one can notice some antennas basically set up. In those remote regions where roads are not so numerous and bad, and the cars still rare, the TV is most of time the first act of modernity. For moving the horse remains the best human’s friend and is anyway ecological.

By seeing us the children’s faces brighten. Think, it’s not every day that a bus of tourists stops here. We ask them their agreement to take some images of them, and it’s with much pleasure they accept. And this is also ours. We come back to the hotel for packing our luggage and drive to the station of Tülkibas to take the night train to Almaty. It will be there the last part of our trip in the Tien Shan.

4^th part: Gaish Observatory, Cosmos Station, Big Almaty Lake.

13^th day: Gaish Observatory

At 8h30 we arrive at the Almaty Central Station. Despite my plaster I succeeded to sleep a little bit. I drink a cup of coffee and have just time enough to go out the train with my luggage. Our 3 Russian drivers of the first three days of the trip are already at work and have picked up my huge bag. Comfortably sitting in the cars we cross Almaty, a sprawling city where the traffic is already difficult in spite of the then lane roads and the brand new highways. We have now left the town and are driving straight to the South. After one hour we begin the driving up. The mountain is splendid and wild. We stop, it is 11h00. Everyone scatters. Under the pines one can see the beautiful Aquilegia atrovinosa, Cortusa brotherii and Moneses uniflora a small white pyrolaceae. We start again. The road is bad and becomes soon a terrible track of rocks and ruts only frequentable by 4-wheel drives which is the case of our cars.

After 2 hours of this menu, we arrive at Gaish Observatory at 3000m elevation. Impressive, unreal, maybe it’s a place that has been used to the shooting of a fiction, I don’t know. This site is a former observatory from the Soviet era, equipped with its telescope, flanked by immense radio waves captors and with thousands square metres of solar panels, the whole being abandoned, rusty, partly dismantled except the dome and its telescope that is proposed to the tourists for night observations and a handful of dollars. The huge building that was occupied by the scientists in the past is now converted in hotel (zero stars without playing on words). The comfort is Spartan, but anyway we will stay here 3 days only.

After a good lunch, we are ready for a walk around the station.

In the short grass close to the path we can see Leontopodium fedtschenkoanum and L. ochroleucum, Papaver croceum, Aster alpinus,Dracocephalum grandiflorum, Erigeron aurantiacum. In the screes are growing Thymus tianschanicus, Chorispora bungeana with large lilac flowers setting on the ground and Gentiana karelini. We are beginning to climb the slope when we suddenly fall on a wonderful plant: Schmalhausenia nidulans, a fantastic plant with huge purplish flowers with translucent foliage. Higher, Corydalis gortschakovii is growing in the bushes with its 40 to 60cm tall and golden yellow flowers. On the rocks some Draba sibirica with yellow flowers and brilliant green leaves. On this altitude, the night is falling quickly and the air becomes cooler and we must go back to the hotel. On the foot of a pine, Vladimir let us see some superb feet of pale pink Corydalis glaucescens. What a nice day. Obviously we still have not seen everything.

14^th day: Cosmos Station

After a very good night as I did not have for a couple of days, I am on form. This morning we go to Cosmos Station at an elevation of 3500m. After one hour of bumpy driving up, slow and sometimes perilous along the gullies, we finally reach our destination. We climb up the last two or three hundred metres on feet. We are walking on hundred species of plants: Androsace akbajtalensis, Saxifraga macrocephala with its shiny yellow petals, Smelowskia calycina, a beautiful brassicaceae with a rounded white flowering, more frequent to the North of the Rocky Mountains, Oxygraphis glacialis, Eritrichium tianschanicum, pure white, Leontopodium fedtschenkoanum and L. ochroleucum smaller, Rhodiola coccinea of a so beautiful red colour, Viola tianschanica. Between the rocks the yellow Saxifraga hirculus and the white S. siberica, Androsace fedtschenkoi, 6 cm with small white corymbous flowers, very close is growing the yellow Draba sibirica, Saussurea supina, superb and slightly blue, the pale bluish Oxytropis chuonobis accompanied by Pedicularis oederii yellow with a maroon flowers extremity. On the shady rocks large cushions of slightly faded deep pink Saxifraga oppositifolia are growing. In the screes, we can see some tufts of Cisticorydalis fedtschenkoana showing their beautiful blue grey foliage but unfortunately the plants are not blooming. On the rock faces, the Paraquilegia anemonoides spread out their rich flowers keeping just a little place to the hummocks of Tylacospermum caespitosum (that closely resembles Minuartia stellata) and to Sieboldia hexandra. While descending I can see a small colony of Primula tianschanica with their feet in a small stream.

15^th day: Big Almaty Lake

The going down is once more a test. Steeply slopes, gigantic ruts, rocks, and worrying tips and after 3 or 4 km we reach the lake. We are now walking the path along the dam. At the extremity we can see some Eremurus altaicus and still Codonopsis clematidea.

We are reaching the dry part of the lake and go ahead. The lake is dry on more than a third of its area. We only are mid June, it’s rather incredible. Maybe it is a consequence of the warming up (lasting?).

We can see Parnassia laxmannii, Astragalus alatavicus, Dracocephalum stamineum, Semenovia transiliensis, Papaver croceum and just nearby Glaucium squamigerum another papaveracea that bears long pending seed pods but its flowers are orange yellow too, Dracocephalum nutans, Allium amblyophyllum, Thymus tianschanicus, Polygonum viviparum, the pale light blue Gentiana karelini, Mycaria squamosa a kind of a low pink Tamaris, Gentiana (Gentianella) turkestanorum near Gentiana falcata. Just near a stream grows a wonderful Pedicularis rhinantoides and closely I notice a clump of Gentiana kaufmanniana in the middle of a dandelion. Epilobiums show their superb dark pink blossoms. On the rocks there is a creeping plant: Koenigia icelandica that is more common in boreal regions.

We now go up back slowly to our vehicles under a blazing sun. After the lunch and our afternoon being free, Paul and I decide to go back down to the lake with Hanna and Alf but by going round it by the ridges. One of the drivers takes us and drives us to the lake where we can start our ascension. On the path sides we can see Erysimum croceum, Epilobium latifolium, Gentiana turkestanorum and a wonderful clump of Dianthus kushakewiczii. On the rocks there are cushions of Draba amplexicaulis and Sedum. Under an overhang grows a small colony of Viola biflora. By descending and by walking alongside a tumultuous stream I am surprised by a splendid clump of Dracocephalum imberbe of a sublime blue. The sun is going down, I try a photo without the flash and then another one with it, one will see.

To-morrow we will leave in the early afternoon for Almaty. We will pass the night at the Kazhol hotel, a four stars right in the centre. This will be an opportunity for us all to be together and also to get a contact again with the comfort that we have lost quite a little since the beginning of our adventure.

16^th day: Gaish Observatory and return to Almaty

This morning we go out for a short walk around the station, the last one before our departure. After a couple of hundred metres, we already can see Allium platyspathum, A. schoenoprosoides, A.atrosanguineum and some Tulipa heterophylla. On a rock there is a small Gagea, Gagea michaelis. We continue our walk in the meadow rounded here and there by rocky parts forming mounds. Suddenly Anna Ivaschenko calls us. She just found a huge clump of Astragalus hemiphracia 40cm tall and of a lovely pink colour. A few  metres far, one of these mounds looks like a true small alpine garden of a hundred species: Callianthemum alatavicum, Pulsatilla campanella, Ranunculus alberti, Minuartia kryloviana, Sedum ewersii and S. alberti, Rosularia alpestris and Rhodiola coccinea, Chorispora bungeana, Artemisia aschurbajewii, Alchemilla sibirica, and Potentilla impolita, desertorum, orientalis,evestita, asiatica and still others and always Astragalus alatavicus, Oxytropis recognita with yellow flowers, Geranium saxatile, Polygala hybrid, Euphorbia tianschanica, Viola altaica, Eritrichium tianschanicum, Aster alpinus, Myosotis asiatica, Dracocephalum grandiflorum and D. nutans both beautiful without forgetting Taraxacum pseudoroseum. But let stop here our list that seems without any end and that makes us feel dizzy. I certainly forget many.

We now reach a stream the bed of which is approximately between 10 and 20m wide at some points but is completely dry maybe a consequence of the warming up. Vladimir told us that it snows less and less every year.

In the shadow of the rocks, alongside the bank, one can see Saxifraga sibirica and just close to it Paropyrum anemonoides, a 25cm tall Ranunculaceae with white flowers. On the other side of the river, a large cushion of Thylacospermum caespitosum covers a fully sun exposed rock.

We now go back for lunch and to prepare our luggage.

After two hours of a perilous way down we finally reach the asphalted road to Almaty and its traffic. We arrive at the Kazhol hotel and take possession of our rooms. It is good to take a shower and to shave my 8 days growth of beard!

We meet all at one of the terraces of the hotel for dinner. We are all happy and sad at the same time but discussions are lively. The dinner is excellent and the kazhakstanian red wine is not unpleasant. Some of us are focusing on their next trip but we are all unanimous, this trip is fantastic, the landscapes are sublime and the flora, I just have described it quite in full to you. Anna Ivaschenko has brought a couple of books on the flora of Kazhakstan of which she is the author. I buy her one that she kindly autographs me and kisses me. I promise Anna to transmit her friendship to her friend Alexandra Berkutenko, a well known Russian botanist and like Anna of Ukrainian origin. It’s now late we must go to bed.

17^th day: departure for London and Paris.

This morning we fly back to London. Paul decided to accompany me to help me to carry my luggage until the Airport terminal where I will take the correspondence for Paris Airport.

It has been a very beautiful trip, exceptional, in a country where the population is very welcoming. The landscapes are sumptuous and unfortunately we only saw a little part of them. It could be interesting to spend some time at higher elevation in the mountain around 4500 – 4800m. The bulbs enthusiasts must absolutely come in April or in May. At this period the ground is covered with millions of tulips in flowers (8 or 10 species), Junos (6 species), frits, lloydias, gageas (9 species) and many more.

For those of you that should hesitate, please know that I definitely appreciated the food (and I’m French!) and that in spite of our spartan conditions of our stay of 6 days in the Dzhabagly National Park (no running water), none of us has been ill.

I want here to thank Vladimir Kolbintsev, now Greentours tour leader, for his professionalism in the organisation and for making our stay always pleasant and also to have us shown so many rich sites of exceptional plants. My thanks go to Anna Ivaschenko too, an outstanding botanist who has spent all her life in the wild and whose face still lights up with happiness at the mere sight of a Leontopodium, an Eritrichium or a Dracocephalum. A happiness she knows to share with others. Her help, her great skill and experience were a great help for us all and to give this trip a botanical higher dimension, almost scientific. Thank you to Paul Green always in good mood and who helped me after my accident.     

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