And there is good reason! I just completed one of my rare longer-distance rides. The story begins with Alan Bessen, a young ecologist and activist who would like to accomplish in Akkol, Kazakhstan, what the Green Mountain Club did in Vermont almost a century ago. Before it is overrun by development and the leftover pollution from Soviet times, Alan wants to clean up the lakes, forests, and hills around Akkol and make them a destination for those who love ecologically friendly outdoor pursuits. One of his projects is the first blazed, marked trail in Kazakhstan that will take the hiker on a 30-km loop hike through the hills and forests around Akkol.
When Alan visited the U.S. Embassy some three weeks ago, he invited me to a conference in Akkol on April 29 that would highlight the projects he envisions with the goal of attracting attention and investment. I knew in a moment I would go and that I wouldn't let anything get in my way.
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| February Snowshoe Hike in Akkol |
You see, I already knew about and loved Akkol. It is a favorite destination for our informal international hiking club. It's only an hour's drive to the north of Astana, and I was there for the first time a few months after my arrival in Kazakhstan. We go snow shoeing there in the winter, and we go on day hikes in the summer. The last time we went snow shoeing in February, I thought to myself what a great destination Akkol would be by bicycle. "It's only 100+ km from Astana," I thought. "Surely I can manage that, can't I?" I started to think that I would ride up on a long weekend in May or June, rest for a day, and then ride back. Alan's telling me of the April 29 conference moved up that plan by at least a month. More than that, I would represent the U.S. Embassy at the conference and set a green example for all who were there.
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| Arriving in Akkol Under a Threatening Sky |
And so it was that I headed out around 11am on Thursday morning. The road north from Astana is one of the best in Kazakhstan, but it was still cool, only in the upper 0s or lower 10s C. There was a breeze blowing from the north. The coolness together with the breeze had me wondering. I'm not in the physical shape I once was. I had biked through the winter indoors on rollers, but my riding was minimal, just enough to keep me from falling apart completely. I had done a 30-mile a month ago and a 24-mile ride the previous week, but 125km (77+ miles), was something I had done only once the previous summer . . . and that only because I had gotten lost. As I got closer to Akkol, the Sun disappeared behind clouds and rain threatened even as I found myself stopping every 5 miles for a short rest.
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| Lake House |
At long last I coasted into Akkol at 6:30pm with hardly any strength left in my legs. Alan and visiting Almaty -based ecologist and activist Zhanar Sambetova met me on the main street, and we walked the final ten minutes to Lake House, Alan's rustic home on town's main lake. By the time we got there I could barely move my fingers. Zhanar had to help me take off my gloves and jacket. I was that cold and tired!
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| Alan Bessen |
But from that point onward it was a weekend of warmth and magic. Alan already had a fire going in the wood stove. He and Zhanar commanded me to sit and revive myself as the two of them got dinner on the table. With the wood fire and Alexandra the cat on my lap, I began to come back to life. The rest of the evening was spent in talking about the events planned for the next two days.
Friday's conference, Wake Up Akkol, was a modest affair at the town's civic center, but a number of speakers had traveled some distance to participate. Dressed very unofficially in my travel clothes, I had the pleasure of telling the hall how much Astana's diplomatic community already loves Akkol for hiking and snow shoeing and how much more we will like it if Alan succeeds in his plans to clean the lakes and woods and create a marked hiking trail. I found a number of microphones in my face afterward as local news correspondents asked for interviews. This was one of those rare instances in my life as a Foreign Service Officer where I felt I was doing positive good just by showing up . . . and showing up, moreover, by bicycle.
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| Zhanar Sambetova Takes Me on a Bike Tour |
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| Akkol Lake |
After the conference Zhanar led me on a bicycle tour around Akkol. There are two lakes right in and outside of town that would be ideal destinations for kayakers, canoers, and campers if only the trash that litters the lake shores and surrounding wetlands could be cleaned up. As Alan later told me, the lakes themselves are in need of help. Soviet methods continue in Akkol, and that includes the dumping of trash and raw sewage into the lakes. As Zhanar, Alan, and I watched a beautiful red sunset over the lake that evening, however, I could see why Alan is so passionate. As the Sun hung on the horizon, the trash dropped from view, replaced by birds drifting on a peaceful lake.
Alan's plan for Saturday was a day hike. The meeting point for the hike was the town square, but we were surprised when we got there to see that the square was filling rapidly with students who, we surmised, were not coming for a hike. Then we remembered that the next day would be May 1, which is still a national holiday in Kazakhstan. The students had come to rehearse their May Day procession. Still, somehow we hikers managed to find each other.
The first part of the hike was through city streets to the outskirts of town. The houses we passed were of a typical Russian-style wood construction, some of them perhaps a hundred years old. Many leaned in one direction or another in response to decades of brutal winds and long winters.
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| Hilltop View |
Finally out of the town, we headed first into grassland and then up a forest road to a low hill. The altitude was likely not more than 300m, but the panoramic view from the top showed just how rich the region is in hills and forests. Before long we had a fire going and prepared a picnic lunch, sharing around what each person had brought. Stories were told as we basked under a warm Sun and a clear blue sky.
We finished up the day back at Alan's Lake House. Zhanar, our new friend Raisa, and I cooked dinner in the kitchen making use of whatever we could find and doing what we could in a kitchen with no running water and only the wood stove and a hot plate for cooking. We ended up with what we called Meat ala Akkol, a mixture of beef and vegetables that on that evening tasted better than any restaurant meal we could imagine.
Zhanar and Raisa caught early trains the next morning while Alan and I lingered long over tea and breakfast. Then I was on the bike again, feeling much stronger and happier than when I had set out on Thursday. The previous day's clear, warm weather continued, and warm memories of the preceding two days replayed in my mind. In Alan and Zhanar I felt I had met kindred spirits who love the outdoors and nature as much as I do. The environmental movement in Kazakhstan is small and new, but it is growing. Alan and Zhanar know what they want to achieve in Akkol, and is is my ardent wish to see them succeed. With those thoughts in my mind, I made good time and was home in just over six hours . . . with a smile on my face for the people I had met and their vision for a Kazakhstan where nature is valued and nurtured as a gift to future generations.
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