A Day in the Life of a Central Asian Tortoise

Осы мақаланың қазақша нұсқасын оқыңыз.

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The vast Ustyurt Plateau in western Kazakhstan is home to the Central Asian tortoise, Tasbaqa in Kazakh. Human activity represents the main threat for this and other species in the region. Tortoises are traded or unintentionally killed or trapped in cattle trenches.

British director Saxon Bosworth recently completed his newest film TASBAQA, a short documentary about the life of the threatened Central Asian tortoise.

Yuliya Zaugg, the director of the Tasbaqa Fund, an environmental conservation organization focusing on Central Asian tortoises, said the film gives tortoises a voice.

“Saxon’s film captures how a tortoise is meant to live, a way of life that might stop soon because its ecosystem is being threatened by human activity,” Zaugg told Vlast.

In July, Bosworth presented TASBAQA at the Royal Geographical Society in London.

Vlast interviewed Bosworth about the film and the significance of the topic.

What inspired you to make this film?

There isn’t a lot of film or media on the biodiversity of the plateau. I only discovered the Ustyurt Plateau when I came face to face with it in 2020. I was on the Karakalpak side in Uzbekistan, driving alongside the steep ridges on the way to the Aral Sea to document the last living species of the South Aral, the artemia brine shrimp.

I was stunned by the 21-23 million year old layers of rock that form the “chinks” (cliffs) and “sors” (valleys) of the mighty Ustyurt. A few years later, I started to imagine a project that would investigate the biodiversity of the plateau. Through long dialogue with local researchers, I discovered and then focused on the unique story of the wild Central Asian tortoise. 

What is the film about?

The viewer follows a day in the life of the tortoise, which too represents the entirety of the two-to-three month active window in the life of a tortoise of the Ustyurt. It emerges in late March, it mates and feeds, and then in May returns to its very long hibernation. I wanted to show the Central Asian tortoise living its true, bold, wild life, because it's something that I don’t feel to be very commonly understood or perhaps easy to imagine, and that certainly includes for myself too. What does a wild tortoise's life look like? What makes up their day-to-day? And how has their life adapted to a place so extreme and vast as the Ustyurt Plateau?

It is this age-old relationship between species and ecosystem. This is something I find really entrancing. The film is very much about the symbiosis of the plateau and the tortoise - a relationship more than 1 million years old. To me, this is where the film lies. We know that tortoises hibernate for a long time, but the Tasbaqa of the Ustyurt sleeps for up to 10 months. This is highly adapted, this is exceptional.

How does the dombra play into this?

From the beginning, I was set on recording Kazakh music for the soundtrack of the film. Friends introduced me to Kosaman Saparbayev and Ali Akyltai, and there it was: the soundtrack came together very naturally.

The dombra has such an emotional depth. While it looks like a simple two-string instrument, the combination of technical skill, emotional intelligence, and depth of character makes it so powerful. I only play the role of curator, the album is made by two dombra masters, Kosaman from Zhanaozen in Mangystau in the west, and Ali from Almaty in the east, who both come with their respective regional styles of playing dombra.

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Kosaman plays Tokpe kuy and Ali plays Shertpe kuy. The two different styles come together beautifully. In “TASBAQA”, you have scenes like the tortoise waking up, gently going about its business where the more soft, tender dombra is played by Ali, and then you have a battle sequence where the more dramatic, epic piece is being played by Kosaman. Uniting their forces and styles covers the emotional landscape of the short film.

What do you hope that people will take from the film?

I like the idea that a viewer can watch and make up their own mind, that they can see and understand elements perhaps even that I as its creator cannot.

Yuliya from the Tasbaqa Fund has said, “these humble tortoises don’t have a voice in the world we are building. But through this film they get one for a moment and speak not only for themselves, but for others too.”

I would be delighted if the film does indeed offer a voice for voiceless creatures. I would recommend people to explore the work of the Tasbaqa Fund, a key objective of the project is to raise awareness for the tortoise. Presenting the bold life of a wild Central Asian tortoise is certainly a way in which the conservation efforts and film’s narrative are deeply entwined.

I deeply wish that a product of this film and impact campaign is for both the tortoise itself and the Tasbaqa Fund to have more allies and friends looking out for them, standing by them, and supporting them for years to come.

The director plans to show TASBAQA (2025, run time 11 min.) in Kazakhstan soon. The documentary's soundtrack is available on music streaming platforms (live performance, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube).