Ridder is located in the northeastern part of Kazakhstan, in the foothill of Ivanovskiy ridge (Altai Mountains), in intermountain cavity at an altitude of 700 to 900 meters above sea level. It is the land of contrasts: raging rivers and majestic green forests, wonderful lakes like mirrors, and meadow valleys.
Climate here is sharply continental; in summer temperature goes up to 35,4Cº; in winter goes down to 41,3Cº.
Rivers: Gromatukha, Tikhaya, Zhuravlikha, Bystrukha and Filippovka rivers, merging together, form Ulba River. If you are full of energy and look for exciting adventures, then there is an opportunity to go rafting on White and Black Uba rivers.
West-Altai state nature reserve (WASNR) is in the highest category of “Strictly protected natural areas”. Climatic conditions of the reserve show all the specific features of South Siberian taiga. Flora is represented by 880 species, out of which 96 are rare species in need of special protection, including 27 species that are recorded into The Red Book of Kazakhstan. Fauna consists of 150 species of birds, 55 species of mammals, and about 10 thousand species of invertebrates, including 8 species, which are recorder into The Red Book.
Services and costs on ecological sights of Ridder
| Populated area (Village) | Ridder, Poperechnoye, bee farm in the woods |
 | 1 guest house in the Ridder for 8 places, 1 bee farm for 8 places, 5 guest houses in Poperechnoe (4 - 6 places) |
 | Oskemen (airport, train station – 200 km), Ridder (train, bus) |
| Season of stay | 6-10, 12-3 months |
 | 4000 - 5000 KZT, facilities are inside (town) and outside (bee farm) the house |
 | West Altai Reserve: mountain forests, lakes, geological phenomena |
 | City Ridder as a typical soviet city of miners, old wooden dam of a reservoir |
 | No |
 | Hiking and skiing tours, snowmobile tours, rafting, climbing |
 | +7 777 9939375 (bee farm, Gennady Zhukov)
+7 705 2397721 kyz_rid@mail.ru (V. Kusnetsov)
+7 777 7421761 (Tatyana Butvilene)
|
How to get there
It is easy to get to Ridder from Ust-Kamenogorsk
From Almaty it is better to get by train from Almaty to Semipalatinsk and to ZhangizTobe train station; then by taxi you can get to Ust-Kamenogorsk.
Route: Almaty-ZnangizTobe
Train from Almaty to Semipalatinsk departs from Almaty-2 train station every day at 19:50, and arrives to ZhangizTobe station the next day at 11:28.
From Almaty-1 station train from Almaty to Novosibirsk departs at 13:30 and arrives to ZhangizTobe station at 8:17 the next morning.
Route: ZhangizTobe – Ust-Kamenogorsk
There are taxis standing near the station, which will get you to Ust-Kamenogorsk, or you can take a bus.
Route: Ust-Kamenogorsk - Ridder
You can take a taxi from Ust-Kamenogorsk to Ridder, or there is a bus, which departs from bus station every hour (travel time is 3 hours).
You can plan and book your trip to Ridder in advance through ecotourism Informational resource center: ecocentre.kz@gmail.com.
