Into Kazakhstan (Autumn 2004)

Known jokingly locally as the 'Chechen' due to his rich stubble, Oralkhan became a great friend during the horse hunting in Pugachevo village He works at the deer farm in the mountains and shot a couple of wild pigs for us one night.

This village elder in Pugachevo threw my saddle into the mud and told me to f*** off (excuse the language but its true) after I tried to bargain with him about his horse Eventually we made peace and I bought his horse - a beautiful black 11 year old.

This Kazak elder is 70 and gets up on his horse every day, working his animals on the steppe from dawn till dusk We stayed with him one night and he stepped outside at 3am to howl like a dog in order to scare the wolves away from his herd.

Tim sits happily on his newly acquired horse on the way to the deer farm in the lower Altai hills 15km from Pugachevo.

The view from the true starting point of the Kazak leg of the journey From here high in teh Altai the land angles down to steppe...and continues pretty much like that all the way to Hungary.

A view as we climb up into the Altai mountains to start the Kazakhstan leg of the journey.

Tim's two newly acquired Kazak horses tied up outside the workers hut at the deer farm in the lower Altai mountains.

Pugachevo is the village where the road ends in far eastern Kazakstan It was here that Tim bought his first two horses and set out on the Kazakstan leg of the journey.

Tim poses with locals and Ruslan in Pugachevo after a long and hard horse buying process

Oralkhan, Nurkhan, and Ruslan, all noew great friends Oralkhan and Nurkhan are from the deer farm nar Pugachevo and helped greatly with finding horses

The horses and dogs in blizzard conditions

Akim, the commisioner of the Kopa region stands proud with his meat room I stayed with him and his family for three luxurious days.

Tim Heading out onto the arod steppe nearing lake balkhash The horse at the rear is carrying 50kg of crushed wheat.