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Kazakhstan : Batys Qazaqstan

9.1 km (5.7 miles) NNW of Beysterek, Batys Qazaqstan, Kazakhstan
Approx. altitude: 2 m (6 ft)
([?] maps: Google MapQuest OpenStreetMap ConfluenceNavigator)
Antipode: 50°S 130°W

Accuracy: 5 m (16 ft)
Quality: good

Click on any of the images for the full-sized picture.

#2: Looking at 50/50 #3: iPad at 50/50 #4: Nearby #5: Soil

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  50°N 50°E (visit #1) (secondary) 

#1: Taken at 50.00000/50.00000

(visited by Alfred Fuchs)

01-Jul-2014 – I decided to spend my 50th birthday at "fifty-fifty". Three possibilities are in the oceans, the fourth is in West Kazakhstan, but west of the Ural-river, therefore geographically it belongs to Europe.

I went there with my mobile home from Austria via Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia. It happens that the European road E50 roughly goes into that direction and part of the trip I spent on it.

After extremely adventurous roads in Russia – not least at one point the whole steppe around me was on fire – the roads in Kazakhstan were new and ok.

Of course they do not lead to that peculiar spot, from A31 you have to go some km on a dirt track to Beysterek and beyond. The last 500 meters or so I walked, guided by my iPad.

I arrived shortly after sunrise, ca. 50 hours ahead of plan and actually celebrated later near E50 in Privolnoje, that's the Russian village where Gorbachev was born.

At 50°N 50°E there is no human being or building in sight (maybe a tower on the horizon?), no agriculture, just plain steppe with sandy soil, dry grass and some thorny plants. There is no sign that this location is special and I did not leave one. In summer it is hot and I'd rather not go there in a wet season.

But it is not the end of the world. On the dusty way back I came across the lonely hut of a shepherd and it did have a satellite dish. Do not expect mobile Internet coverage though.

Definitively one of the most surprising and interesting corners of Europe. I drove 13000 km and it was worth it.


 All pictures
#1: Taken at 50.00000/50.00000
#2: Looking at 50/50
#3: iPad at 50/50
#4: Nearby
#5: Soil
ALL: All pictures on one page