Off-Road Through the Wildest Part of Kazakhstan ????????

???? Our medical kit: http://ltcreed.com/— 10% off with code NEXTMERIDIAN
The Get Home Alive trauma kit we carry in Albatross. None of us are medics,
which is exactly why we have it.

Kazakhstan off-road: 140 km from Saty village to the Assy Plateau — a track we
were told would take 10 hours. It took us three days.

⏱️ CHAPTERS
02:00 The Saty–Assy mountain track
06:00 Into the mountains
12:00 Reaching the plateau
18:00 Life in the herders’ valleys
24:00 The river crossing
30:00 Time to get out
38:00 The long way to Almaty
43:00 Kazakh hospitality
48:00 Discovering Almaty
53:00 Mathilde’s birthday

With @overlandthemap and @transcontitroopytravellers-n7u

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Our Kazakh friends head back towards Almaty while our convoy of French and Australian adventurers prepares to tackle one of the most remote tracks we’ve attempted in Kazakhstan. From Saty to Assy, the route cuts straight through the mountains, with no real roads, no guarantees and only seasonal herders living up there.

The track immediately throws rocks, steep climbs and narrow trails at us. After hours of climbing, we finally reach the plateau — and the landscape completely transforms. Endless grass, huge skies and valleys where horses, sheep and cattle roam freely.

Then comes one of the most unexpected moments of the journey. A young herder arrives on horseback at our camp asking for Wi-Fi, and before long we’re riding horses across the river at sunset. These are the moments we travel for.

But the weather is changing. More rain is coming, the river has doubled in size, and staying in the valley could mean being trapped for days. We decide it’s time to move.
What follows is a long and increasingly stressful push through mud, steep hills and swollen rivers. Progress is painfully slow, the sun disappears, and eventually we find ourselves descending into the darkness with a rope connecting the vehicles. Then, finally, we hit a normal road — and drive for hours into Almaty, arriving around 2 a.m.

But even after an exhausting night, Kazakh hospitality has one more surprise waiting for us. Vladimir and Nika, friends we’ve known online for years, welcome us into Almaty and help us find somewhere to recover.
We discover a completely different side of Kazakhstan: cafés, restaurants, modern development and a vibrant multicultural city, while still feeling deeply connected to the Central Asian, Turkic and Russian cultures that shape Almaty.

We reunite with our Kazakh off-road friends, celebrate Mathilde’s birthday, and somehow manage to throw one last big party before leaving the city.
This is Kazakhstan — wild mountains, unexpected friendships, impossible tracks and hospitality we’ll never forget.

Thanks for coming along for the ride. ????????
Nick & Mathilde

///
Episode 200 | Filmed August 2026 | East Kazakhstan

→ WANT MORE FROM US: Join the Patreon family: https://patreon.com/NextMeridian

→ OUR WEBSITE: https://nextmeridianexpedition.live

///

WHO ARE WE?

Join us as we travel the world on an expedition throughout the 7 continents, crossing about 88 countries, making new friends, meeting the locals, exploring cultures, traditions, foods and every corners of the continents. Join us!
We are traveling in our Land Rover Defender, our tiny home on wheels for the next 5 years.

5 Years | 88 Countries | 7 Continents | 300 000km
Nick; 32 y/o, French/Italian. ????‍♂️????????????????
Mathilde; 33 y/o, French.????‍♀️????????
Albatross; 14 y/o, UK. ????????????

We are incredibly grateful to be able to continue doing something we love every day. ???????????? Thank you to everyone who has been a part of our journey!

@NextMeridian.Expedition

Music from Epidemic Sound