Altyn-Emel Singing Dune

Altyn-Emel National Park, created in 1996, covers a vast area of desert and low mountains along the north bank of the Ili river, roughly 250 km north-east of Almaty. Its best-known feature is the Singing Dune, a single crescent of sand about 150 metres high and some 3 km long that sits isolated in a stony plain between the Big and Small Kalkan mountains. Winds blowing from opposite directions along the valley keep it in place rather than letting it drift away.

Why it sings

In dry weather, when sand slides down the steep lee face, the dune produces a deep, sustained hum, often compared to an organ or a distant aircraft. The effect, known from a handful of dunes around the world, comes from the friction of uniformly sized, very dry grains moving together in an avalanche. It does not happen every day: damp sand stays silent. Local legends explain the sound as the voice of a sleeping hero or of Genghis Khan buried beneath, stories best enjoyed as folklore.

The rest of the park

The park is also known for the Aktau mountains, eroded clay hills banded in white, red and ochre, and the darker volcanic Katutau hills, as well as for herds of goitered gazelle and kulan, the Asiatic wild ass, reintroduced here. A large Saka burial mound group, the Besshatyr kurgans, lies in the park too.

How to experience it

The climb up the dune is steep and slow in soft sand; allow 40 minutes or more to the crest, and try sliding a little sand down the face to hear it hum. Go in the morning or late afternoon; the sand is very hot in summer. Visits require a park permit bought in advance or at the park office in Basshi village, and distances inside the park are long, so most people stay overnight in Basshi to see both the dune and the Aktau hills.