How we verify data
Where the figures on this site come from, what the check date means, and why we sometimes write that we do not know.
Verified: 2026-08
Everything we publish falls into three categories: verified, verified as of a date, and unknown. They must not be mixed, so we mark each one.
What “Verified: month year” means
The mark at the top of a page means that in that month we checked its factual content against a primary source. It is not the publication date and not the date of the last edit.
We apply it to every page carrying data that can go stale: prices, tariffs, timetables, rules, opening hours, document requirements.
Sources, in descending order of reliability
1. Legal instruments. Government resolutions, ministerial orders, decisions of local authorities, the Tax Code. We cite the number and date so you can verify independently.
2. Official institutional publications. Materials from protected-area administrations. We state which period they belong to: departmental affiliation and rules change.
3. On-site verification. Our own observations, dated.
4. Specialist media. Used as an indication that something happened, but we always look for the primary source and link to that.
What we do not treat as a source: other guidebooks and aggregators, agency copy without a document reference, anything undated.
The problem of prices that drift
Tariffs for protected areas in Kazakhstan are set not in tenge but in fractions of a Monthly Calculation Index. The index is revised each January by the budget law, so the tenge amount changes automatically.
Any article quoting a price without a year goes stale within months, and the author is not to blame. We solve it by publishing the formula, not just the result: “0.2 MCI per pedestrian” alongside “865 tenge”, with the current index and its year.
When sources contradict
We neither average them nor pick the prettier figure.
Example from this site: the height of the canyon walls. Reference sources give 150–300 metres, park materials say up to 370 metres at certain points. We publish both with attribution rather than an average that matches no source at all.
Why we write that we do not know
Pages here carry explicit gaps: “not verified yet”, “we are checking”.
This is deliberate. A plausible invented figure looks credible and is therefore more dangerous than empty space. A gap is visible and can be closed — by a phone call, a question, a check on site. A wrong number is taken on trust and plans are built on it.
We would rather look less complete and be accurate.
Working with the previous site’s material
The domain previously belonged to the park administration. From archived copies we extracted factual information: areas, resolution numbers, zoning, species lists, visiting rules, tariffs.
- We use facts, not wording. Numbers, dates and document references are not covered by copyright. Specific texts are, and we do not carry them over.
- We check for staleness. In older material the park is listed under the Ministry of Agriculture — the department has changed since. We correct such places rather than copy them.
- We do not use the photographs. Rights to images do not transfer with a domain and remain with their authors. Some archived photographs carry the watermarks of other photographers and sites — that is someone else’s work.