
From
United KingdomGreat location for daily activities around nature reserve. Some hiking doesn't even need transportation. You literally hike out starting from the guesthouse. The host would help organise activities. The key to keep price down is to join others, so the transportation cost is shared.
Get fed home-made healthy food three times a day (lunch box if out hiking). Dinner comes with starter, soup, main, fruit/dessert, and tea. For very English imperial stomach, there's a shop outside opening till 9pm. There are other shops in the village if you want freshs like fruits.
If you are price sensitive, I would suggest to get an updated price list from the host. Overall, I found price (accommodation, meals, activities) very reasonable compared to anywhere west of Warsaw/Budapest verticle. My bill had a detailed price break down.
Yes, WIFI is shlt. Only about two spots for clearer signal, but I've managed both uploading and downloading so it aren't that bad.
Yandex go directly from shymkent is about 13500 tenge. Or you can take marshrutka (from around Гипермаркет "GraMad") to Turar Rysqulov or Tyulkubas first for 2000 tenge(?). Could then contact the host to pick you up for a fee from those two places or get a (shared) taxi.
The above comments apply to my stay in August 2024.