Charyn Canyon is an 80km canyon in Kazakhstan on the Charyn River 200km east of Almaty close to the Chinese border. Known as Canyon of the Castles for its unusual rock formations, it is somewhat reminiscent of the Grand Canyon. Kazakhstan ( Kazakh: Қазақстан, Qazaqstan, IPA /qɑzɑqˈstɑn/; Russian: Казахстан, Kazakhstán, IPA /kɐzəxˈstɐn/), also spelled Kazakstan, is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of Asia, and a former republic of the now extinct USSR. A portion of its territory west of the Ural River is located in eastern-most Europe. ... Landsat satellite photo of Almaty Almaty (Алматы; formerly known as Alma-Ata, also Verny, Vyernyi (Верный) in Imperial Russia) is the biggest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of over 1,300,000 (9% of the population of Kazakhstan) citizens. ... The Grand Canyon is a colorful, steep-sided gorge, carved by the Colorado River, in northern Arizona. ...