Kazakhstan: Peril in the Steppe | Roads of the impossible

00:00 This new Impossible Road takes us to Kazakhstan. In this Central Asian country, located on the borders of China and Russia, and as big as France, everything is harsh: the climate, the monotony of the steppe dotted with oil wells, and even the characteristics of its inhabitants, descendants of the Mongols of Genghis Khan, and cut to face all the challenges of nature.
03:43 Kazakhstan is subject to a very difficult climate
05:00 This storm in the steppe created a traffic jam blocking all travelers on site
10:50 Kazakh farmers are known for herding camels
22:33 The snowstorm blocking the steppes also paralyzed the town of Jennings
30:45 Meanwhile southern cities celebrate the arrival of spring
32:23 The Aral Sea, completely dried up by overexploitation, has today given way to a sandy desert
38:28 When the storm ends, some get stuck in the mud left by the snow
43:30 Very few taxis travel in the Kazakh desert
46:28 17th world oil producer, the territory has become very polluted
Shot at the end of winter, this film takes us in the middle of a snowstorm, with thousands of travelers stuck in a monster traffic jam, and whose most unlucky ones end up stuck in the mud, surprised by a sudden thaw. We are also going to meet these farmers, camel herders, who cling to an ungrateful land. Or, on the edge of what was once the Aral Sea, completely dried up by the overexploitation of the waters of the river that fed it, during the Soviet period. It has now given way to a desert of sand and salt whose inhabitants breathe toxic dust. An extreme journey, in the company of endearing characters, whose galleys never undermine their courage and dignity. Once again, the Route de l'Impossible shows us, without bluntness and without pathos, how men live, on the other side of the world.
Director: Philippe Lafaix