Airakty-Shomanay is a valley of rock outliers that Taras Shevchenko named the Valley of Castles in 1851. The cliffs are slowly eroding: geologists say this stone city will be gone in five to seven thousand years.
Airakty-Shomanay is a system of rock outliers 130 kilometres from Aktau. These are the last fragments of ancient strata: wind and water have carved them into silhouettes you instantly read as towers, walls and battlements — hence the valley's other name, the Valley of Castles.
Taras Shevchenko came here in 1851. Exiled to the Novopetrovsk fortification, he joined a geological expedition and made several sketches of Airakty. Those drawings preserved the look of mid-19th-century Mangystau — and gave the valley the name it still carries.
Petroglyphs are found across the valley: animals and symbols left by nomads. Every turn opens a new composition, and at sunset the whole stone city warms to honey-coloured light — the best hour both for walking and for photography.
Honest numbers before you take the wheel. We are not selling an adventure — we are explaining what you would be dealing with.
Driving here yourself requires four-wheel drive and a water supply: there are no fuel stations or services on the route.
Shots from our trips — click to enlarge
Leave the logistics to people who drive here all year round: prepared vehicles, satellite communication and a guide who knows where the ground holds and where it does not.
Torysh Valley of Stone Balls → Kok-Kala → Mount Sherkala and 1 more stop
Kapamsay Canyon → The Shakpak-Ata mosque → Shakpak-Ata Sai and 5 more stops
