Caravanistan

Hello everyone!
I have one more question concerning my plans for a bike trip in Almaty Region.

So far I was under the impression that the only way to see Altyn Emel is with some kind of licensed local tour operator, and that is fairly expensive most of the time. I am operating on a restrictive budget. But my hopes were stirred by this one sentence on the Caravanistan Altyn Emel page: If you come by bicyle, you do not need a guide.

I couldn't find anything helpful in English, and my very basic Russian doesn't allow for further research on the matter. Is it really true, that I can just go to Basshi, pay the entrance fee, and go cycling in Altyn Emel? Any experiences, or knowledge on the current situation?

Kind regards, Martin

That is what I have heard from other cyclists who did it and camped for free in the park.

When are you going there? We are about two days away from the park, and we hope to cycle through it too. We can let you know once we exit the park and have internet access.

Just cycled out of park. We had to pay 1027 T per person entrance fee, and nothing else. We didn't have to hire a guide, and camped by ranger station inside the park at no extra cost. We were only allowed to cycle to Singing Dune and back though. Initially we planed to cycle through the park, enter at Basshi, exit through west entrance, but they didn't let us. Either way beautiful park, tough to cycle. Really, really badly corrugated road. Hope that info helps.