2-day Aral Sea Tour from Nukus
ITINERARY & DETAILS
Two days Aral Sea trip gives an opportunity to visit Kungrat district which used to be one of the trading center on the Silk Road, Usturt Plateau desert shared by Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, Sudochie Lake used to be freshwater lake in the Amu Darya (known to the ancient Greeks as the Oxus) delta, Aral Sea, Muynak— a former fishing village where once there was a shore of currently dried Aral Sea and the guests will have chance to stay in a traditional felt yurt.
Day 1.Nukus— Muynak—Usturt Plateau—Aral Sea
The sights to see:
Muynak— (“Mo’ynoq” in Uzbek) used to be harbor town. In just 60 years it has gone from being a wealthy fishing port to a small town where skeleton ships lie broken in the desert.
Ship Cemetery, Muynak
The ship cemetery of Muynak, once a vital port on the Aral Sea, now presents a haunting tableau that tells the story of environmental devastation. As one approaches the site, the image of rusting vessels emerges from the horizon, silhouetted against the parched, endless landscape. These stranded relics evoke an eerie sense of abandonment and loss, mere shadows of their former lives at sea. Over a dozen ships line the shoreline, their hulls twisted and corroded, testaments to a maritime past that flourished before the ecological tragedy unfolded.
Usturt Plateau (a Central Asian plateau in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, lying between the Aral Sea and the Amu Darya (river) delta in the east and the Mangyshlak (Tupqarghan) Plateau and the Kara-Bogaz-Gol (Garabogazköl; an inlet of the Caspian Sea) in the west. It extends roughly 200,000 km² (77,000 square miles), with an average elevation of 150 meters (about 500 feet), and consists primarily of stony desert).
Canyons (stop to take a picture of marvelous view of Canyons).
Aral Sea— the Aral Sea has appeared in the Turan plain in Post Pliocene age (Pleistocene). This sea was called Aral for the first time in the works of Ibn Rusta the Arabic scientist in 903. The total size of Aral Sea without islands before 1961 was 66,1 thousand square kilometers the greatest depth was 69 meters. But the present day the size of the Sea is less than 12 thousand square kilometers and the Sea has gone from initial shores to 150-170 km.
Yurt stay— in olden days along the Silk Road, from the Kazakh steppe to the high Pamir and on into Xinjiang and Mongolia, one can see curious felt houses known as yurts. Yurts are relatively portable, warm and spacious and made from raw material. Yurts can be constructed or taken down easily and quickly and carried away on the back of three camels.
Day 2.Aral Sea— Sudochie Lake— Kungrad—Mizdakhan Necropolis—Nukus
The sights to see:
Sudochie Lake— used to be freshwater lake in the Amu Darya (known to the ancient Greeks as the Oxus) delta. The present day the size of the Sudochie Lake is less than 330 square kilometers and average depth 1,5 meters.
Urga (fishing village)— ruined Urga fishing village at the shore of Sudochie lake part of former Aral sea.
Mizdakhan Necropolis (IV century BC— XIV century AD) is a huge complex of age-diverse antiquities and includes one of the most ancient cemeteries in Central Asia.
Guar Kala III century BC— VIII century (“Fort of Unbelievers”) this name was given by Arabs who conquered fortress in VIII century.
Tours to Aral Sea:
2-day Aral Sea Tour from Nukus
