The pantheon
Six sun-headed figures on one rock.
Ron Van Oers — CC BY-SA 3.0 igo · Kiwiodysee — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Ninaras — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ken and Nyetta — CC BY 2.0 · Kiwiodysee — CC BY-SA 3.0
About 5,000 rock carvings, with settlements, burials and probable altars, are spread over 48 complexes in a green, spring-fed gorge of the arid Chu-Ili mountains, 170 km north-west of Almaty by road. Long known as Tamgaly, the site joined the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2004 and since 2021 has been listed as Tanbaly, Kazakh for marked place. Andronovo-culture herders pecked the oldest images into dark, varnished rock around the 14th–13th centuries BC: large, deeply cut bulls, horses, masked figures and sun-headed deities, human forms with rayed heads. UNESCO singles out their size and quality. Saka nomads later added animal-style beasts; Old Turkic runes, Oirat Buddhist prayers and Kazakh carvings followed. An archaeological team led by Anna Maksimova found them in 1957. Signposted trails link the car park to five main groups. Group II holds 432 of the oldest carvings, including a masked archer; Group V has over 1,000, with chariots and a camel-drawn cart. In Group IV, the heart of the sanctuary, the canyon's tallest rock bears the pantheon: six sun-headed figures 52 to 74 cm tall, and below them ten warriors dancing with axes. No bus serves the site; by car or day tour, Almaty is about three hours away. The reserve's visitor centre is in Karabastau, about 4 km south-east as the crow flies; a 2025 visitor report advises stopping there first, even if it looks closed. Allow one to three hours on the trails. Tamgaly-Tas, often confused with it, is a separate rock-art site on the Ili River, 120 km east in a straight line.
Six sun-headed figures on one rock.
Large, deeply cut Bronze Age figures.
Turkic runes and Oirat Buddhist prayers.
Near Karabastau village, Zhambyl District, Almaty Region
Not necessarily, per a November 2025 visitor report: signposted trails with information boards lead to the five main groups, though a guide points out carvings you would miss. The reserve's price list gives 2,000 tenge an hour for tours in Kazakh, Russian or English, and English-speaking guides are best booked ahead.
Spring and autumn, from April to May and September to October, when daytime highs average about 15 to 23 °C; summer is very hot and dry, with July highs averaging over 30 °C, and the gorge has almost no shade. In spring the reserve's rare flowers bloom, among them Regel's tulip from late March to mid-April, and morning or late-afternoon light shows the carvings better than the midday sun.