World-renowned ace Kazakh mountaineer Maksut Zhumaev at Expo pavilion in destination promotion drive

Kazakhstan at the Expo 2020 Dubai celebrated National Day on December 16, 2021, leveraging the occasion to highlight the country’s eclectic tourism credentials and renown as a mountaineering destination.

The National Day was celebrated in the presence of ace Kazakh mountaineer and the goodwill ambassador, Maxut Zhumaev, who led a team of mountaineers this year to successfully climb 30 mountain peaks of the world to mark the country’s 30th anniversary of the independence.

Kazakhstan offers a diverse range of tourist attractions across its variegated terrain, but the most challenging opportunity the country presents is its mountains, promising an out of the box experience, even though these peaks only comprise 10 per cent of the landscape.

Every year Kazakhstani peaks attract a huge number of tourists from all over the world. The mountains have been attracting both amateurs and professionals alike like a magnet, triggering in them an irresistible desire to challenge and test themselves in the Tien Shan mountains or the Dzhungar Alatau, Degelena or Bayanaul, Altyn Shoky and Altai or on the ridges of the Karkaralinsky mountains.

The climbers of the Kazakh mountains are now facilitated to conquer the heights with the help of professional mountain guides experienced in the climbing routes.

As for Zhumaev, who is from Almaty and the leader of the national team, in a span of 10 years and 10 days, he climbed all 14 highest peaks in the world, including climbing Everest twice, that too without the use of additional oxygen or accompanied by Sherpas, or high-altitude carrier guides, hoisting Kazakhstan’s national flag at the world’s top peak.

Zhumaev always had links with the fraternity of global mountain climbers across various countries, particularly Americans, so much so that comparing the mountain resources of Kazakhstan and the United States has always been a topic of good conversation. It is no coincidence that some Kazakhstani locations, for example, the Charyn canyon, are called Kazakh Colorado, and the most ancient Ustyurt plateau with the Boszhira tract, which is included in the top 10 tourist destinations in Kazakhstan, is called Kazakh Arizona.

Both countries have the largest national parks, reserves and sanctuaries, many of which are protected by UNESCO as part of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Apart from the mountains, Kazakhstans natural abundance includes endless steppes, mesmerizing canyons, mystical gorges, emerald lakes, coniferous forests, blazing tulip fields and underground mosques.

These contrasts of the country’s picturesque landscapes continue to attract global visitors to Kazakhstan, which has a land area larger than Germany, Norway, Sweden, Finland, France and Spain.

Kazakhstan also has an illustrious history in world mountaineering, that the countrys team was the first to conquer all 14 peaks with a height of more than 8,000 meters.

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