Aulie is a Kazakh word, borrowed from Arabic, that means holy or saintly, and it attaches to many places in the steppe where a shrine, a spring or a grave has drawn pilgrims for centuries. At the northern edge of the Aksu-Jabagly reserve, thirty kilometres from the village of Bayzhansay, the name marks the second of the reserve's approaches, and it opens onto a quieter side of the Talas Alatau, where the foothills climb through juniper and wild apple toward bare grey summits.
Wild apples and walnuts are a quiet claim to fame in this part of the Tien Shan, a region often named as the ancestral home of the cultivated apple. The wild apple forests of the mountains still hold trees with fruit of every shape and size, and the genetic diversity that survives in places like this has been a resource for breeders for a century. In autumn, the slopes smell of fermenting fruit, and bears come down to feed, which is a good reason to keep voices up on a walk.
Local life is pastoral. Families move their herds of horses, sheep and cattle up to summer pastures in June and bring them down in September, and you will see felt yurts, smoke rising from small fires and young riders on horseback. If you meet herders, greetings are formal, with a handshake and a question about the health of the herd, and an invitation to tea is not to be refused lightly. Fermented mare's milk, kumis, is drunk in summer, and the first taste is an acquired one.
Roads in this region are poor. Tracks to the reserve cross streams and loose stones, turn to mud after rain and may be blocked by snow or rockfall. Distances are long and phone signals are weak, so tell someone your route, and take spare fuel, a tow rope and a repair kit. The nearest town with reliable fuel is far away, and the larger city of Shymkent is the place to stock up. A permit is needed for the reserve and the border zone.
Late spring and early summer bring wildflowers, and September has crisp air, golden light and ripe fruit.