Altynai over Hindukus (Friday October 22, 2004)
Altynai left her stop in the southern Kazakhstan on Sunday and flew about 1200 kilometers during 6 days. She passed Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan without a single rest day, and she's over Afghanistan. She found herself in the most dangerous part of her journey where the flight over Hindukus and, most of all, hunters (both in Afghanistan and Pakistan) can threaten her.
Comparing the course of her last year's and this year's journey to the wintering grounds, we'll find that (1) her traces strongly differed over Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan (because she was staying in more western part of southern Kazakhstan), but now they are almost equal, that (2) she took rest near Amudaria for 5 days last year while not a single day this year and that (3) compared to the last year, she's got 10 day lead now (she left her nest approximately the same period earlier).
Chingiz and Tuya are still staying at the same places near Huang He in China - see http://capi.fido.cz/map/new_select.php.