One of the most beautiful natural sites within the province, about 150 km from Aktau, on the western slopes of Karatau mountain ridge, is unique because of its cascade waterfall on a drinking water stream and little lakes. The canyon is a very popular destination of tourists, particularly from Aktau, with a reputation of an oasis in the middle of the deserted landscape.
Visitors often come by microbuses, private cars or regular buses and sometimes even whole classes of schoolchildren come to have a rest and make picnics in the canyon. They are neither used to collect their waste and to take it back to the city with them, nor at least to use the bins at the entrance to the canyon, and therefore the whole place is full of garbage.
On 7th of May 2012, Eko Mangystau called together their volunteers, hired two microbuses and carried out waste collection in Samal. About 30 people participated, including some children from the school No. 23 with their teachers. In 2 hours, about 50 large bags of waste were collected and put to the bin and the canyon entrance. Most common items were plastic bottles, followed by glass bottles, various food packaging, plastic bags, but also guts and skins of animals, paper, etc. It is surprising that people do not mind to have a picnic literally at a waste dump created by previous visitors, and feel no remorse for throwing their waste around as well.
Eko Mangystau organizes this kind of volunteer action several times a year. One of the objectives is to teach the school kids that collecting waste is important, and slowly change common behavior. Eco Mangystau also convinced the communal service to put a waste bin at the entrance to the canyon, but very few people use it.
