It pushes you to your limits and expands your perspective. It allows you to get in touch with yourself and teaches you how to appreciate life.
But the most addictive and beautiful thing about travelling is being able to learn about and experience new cultures. And with 195 different countries in the world and thousands of different cultures, the opportunities to lose yourself in a different culture are limitless.
Some of them have captured the world’s imagination in films and books, while others are mysterious and completely isolated from the modern world.
The Kazakhs are a semi-nomadic tribe who have been travelling through the mountains and valleys of Kazakhstan since the 15th century. They are descendants of Mongols and other nomadic tribes of Central Asia and still hold onto traditions that are centuries old.
The diet consisted largely of milk products supplemented by mutton. Fermented mare’s milk (koumiss) and horse flesh were highly esteemed but usually available only to the prosperous. Felt made the tent snug inside and out and was used for cloaks.
The annual Golden Eagle Festival sees wolf-skin clad Kazakhs take to the mountains on horseback and golden eagles soar into the skies in celebration of this unique heritage.
Their nomadic life was gradually curtailed by the encroachment of settled agriculture on the pasturelands. In the 19th century an increasing number of Kazakhs along the borders began to plant some crops.
