http://www.bradtguides.com/  Tension in the Bradt office preceding delivery of Paul Brummell's long awaited Kazakhstan guide exceeded even the strain in comic Kazakh character Borat Sagdiyev's eye-watering lycra mankini.

However, the reality of Kazakhstan, the world's ninth largest country, stretches the fiction of Borat beyond its elastic limit. Author, Paul Brummell, is Britain's

Ambassador to Kazakhstan, a position that sees him well placed to comment on a rapidly changing country, independent only since 1991.

In the past, vastness hid many of the Soviet era's dark deeds; Gulag labour camps testament to Joseph Stalin's tyranny, 453 nuclear explosions at the Semipalatinsk test site, bequeathing a bitter radioactive inheritance to new generations, and the Aral Sea's shrinking waters, evidence of collective acts of environmental vandalism.

However, from its furthest extent in the Tian Shan and Altai mountains, through endless steppes to the Caspian Sea, today's Kazakhstan is regaining its identity, and through new oil and mineral wealth, its confidence too.

As Brummell reports, ‘The varied natural environments of Kazakhstan offer excitement for ornithologists in search of the black lark or sociable lapwing, botanists looking for the richest diversity of wild tulips to be found anywhere and fishermen dreaming of 200lb catfish.'

As well as nature, Bradt's new guide explores culture too, from sushi bars, eclectic restaurants, and modern architecture in Astana and Almaty to the nomadic heritage of yurt-dwelling Ethnic Kazaks amongst the rolling steppes. Be informed regarding what's hot in the dombra-fusion top 20 playlist, expound on the off-side rule as applied to kokpar (polo played with a headless goat carcass) and appreciate the impact of terroir on camel's milk versus mare's milk. As Brummell confidently states, ‘The exoticism of this fascinating land makes itself most clear.'

Paul Brummell is a career diplomat and British Ambassador to Kazakhstan, and non-resident Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic. He has served in Islamabad and Rome, and as British Ambassador to Turkmenistan (2002-2005). He was shortlisted for the 1999 Shiva Naipal Memorial Prize for an article on the San Remo Song Festival.