Unknown part of the Silk Road

Indeed, an unknown part of he Silk Road! Not much is known about this, but recent excavations indicate that Mangyshlak has been an important center for trading, especially an excavation site in its northeast called Kyzylkara, founded in the second half of the 10th century and with a size of 50 hectares.
Kyzylkara is situated close to the Caspian Sea, while from Kyzylkara tracks have been found in northwestern direction. And, because between the 5th and 14th centuries the sealevel of the Caspian was 7 meters lower, it's very probable that the caravans travelled across the Caspian Sea bed in nortwestern direction to the Russian town of Itil at the Volga!
More about this fascinating theory can be found in the German scientific magazine Scinexx (04.04.2008).

A tour for pioneers! This part of Kazakhstan has seen very few tourists, except of course the new oil town of Aktau on the Caspian Sea.

As soon as you have left Aktau behind you enter an entirely different world - which sometimes feels like a different planet, considering the bizarre landscapes that you'll encounter.

Still, the emptyness you have entered is deceptive; in these lands a lot has happened and many people have crossed it, signs and remains of which you will be reminded of on this tour. Remains of old caravanserai, caves where Sufism was practiced, old necropolises etc. This part of the Silk Road stretched from the east to the Caspian Sea and onwards though it, when the water level was 7-12 meters lower some 1,000 years ago! Onwards to the Russian city of Astrakhan in the north. Signs of old settlements in the Caspian Sea can still be detected from above in a plane! 

All of this in natural emptyness and surreal landscapes.
On this tour you'll mostly be accomodated in tents (there's nothing else available), in contrast with three luxuruous nights in a hotel in Aktau.

You'll hike on and around rocks and mountains, while for larger transfers will be made by 4WD.