The Aral Sea (Aral) is a drainless salt lake in Central Asia, on the territory of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. The sea was named for its size, because before the beginning of shallowing the Aral was the fourth largest lake on the planet (68 thousand sq. Km.) But neither the vast expanses of the magically beautiful water surface nor the natural diversity of the ecosystem could make the Aral Sea one of the most famous in the whole world! Alas, the Aral has a sad glory connected with human activity, which has led to the fact that from the early 60s of the 20th century the once beautiful natural oasis is dying. At present, the lake is in danger of being completely extinct.

Certainly, the Aral Sea disaster adds a sorrowful attraction to the already beautiful landscapes, sunsets and sunrises, an arid, lifeless desert . This is what attracts tourists here who want to experience a mixture of delight from the incredible beauty of the "Martian" landscapes of the Aralkum Desert and the Ustyurt Plateau with an involuntary sadness from being involved in the tragedy of the dying corner of the mother earth . and the Aral Sea means to reflect on the question: "Who are we on this planet and what will the unreasonable activity of man lead to nature"? .

History of the Aral Sea

Data of observations over the Aral Sea, which started from 19 century, show that until the 1950s the lake level remained unchanged. In the middle of the 20th century, the Aral Sea was the fourth largest lake in the world. Since the 30s, active construction of the irrigation system in Central Asia began. It reached its peak in the early 1960s

But the sea began to grow steadily in 1989 year turned into two separate lakes - Northern and Southern . In 2003 the Aral area was a quarter of a century old and the water volume was only 10 percent . Last years there are expensive projects for saving parts of the Aral Sea with the attraction of large monetary resources Kazakhstan and Russia . For example, a channel for transferring the waters of the Ob River to the Aral Sea basin could potentially improve the economy of the region and partially revive the Aral Sea . However, these projects remain only on paper, and all studies show that to save the Aral, even completely refusing to take water from the Amudarya and Syr Darya, it is impossible .

How to get to the Aral Sea

If the purpose of the trip is exclusively the Aral Sea area, then it is more expedient and faster to fly immediately to the city of Nukus, since almost all the proposed jeep tours of Uzbek and Moscow firms start from this city . However, tours are usually calculated for 2-3 days, and it is extremely unfortunate to limit your impression of Uzbekistan only these days and not to visit the ancient city of Samarkand . As an option , first you can fly to Samarkand, and then take a train ticket to Tashkent - Kungrad to Nukus city . In summer, the temperature reaches 50-55 degrees Celsius, so we highly recommend the air-conditioned compartment .

• Nukus International Airport tel. 998 612 220322
• Samarkand International Airport tel. 998 662 308686
• Samarkand railway station tel. 998 662 291532

Natural attractions of the Aral Sea area

You can ask what exactly the Aral Sea tourists can attract now, when its surface is reduced four times , the ecology has deteriorated significantly, and the flora and fauna have noticeably become impoverished? The answer is simple - the consequences of the described catastrophe . For example, that sandy-solonchak desert that was formed on the site of the dried up part of the lake . This sandy beach even got its name - Aralkum . And of course, by the Aral Sea itself! It has a turquoise color and it seems like a mirage, surrounded by a vast desert . The path to the water runs through three meters of bottom sea mud, which has medicinal properties .

Lovers of active and extreme recreation, extraordinary natural beauties of the desert, as well as historical excursions can include Aralkum and the Aral Sea in a fascinating jeep tour that also passes through the Kyzylkum desert, the Ustyurt plateau and the tourist cities of Uzbekistan.

Further, there is a large fresh lake Sudoche and an abandoned fishing village, sometimes called the "city of the dead." The lake feeds on springs and groundwater, it is rich in various kinds of fish, and before that there was a large fishing artel.

Cemetery of ships

Mandatory place of visit is the former port city of Muynak, located on the Uzbek shore of dried Aral. They have not fish for a long time, the sea has irretrievably gone. But tourists are attracted by the so-called "ship graveyard". What is so fond of shooting in fantasy films about post-apocalypse, for Muynak a harsh reality.

However, the rapid drying of the lake, the growth of the coastline, and most importantly - the authorities' indifference to the dying city, have led to what seems to be absolute nonsense. About the ships in the port of Munaq simply forgotten! So they stand in the desert, from which the water goes farther and farther, for kilometers and kilometers.

This is the history of the cemetery of the forgotten ships, one of the main attractions of the Aral Sea and the whole of Karakalpakstan. Numerous tourists come here for the amazing spectacle, which can cause with nothing incomparable delight, because these are not scenery for the film, but real abandoned "sea giants."

Excursions and museums of Nukus

Traditionally jeep tours begin in the city of Nukus, the main sightseeing attraction of which is the IV Savitsky Museum of Art. The museum exhibits one of the grandiose world collections of Russian avant-garde art, as well as the largest collection of samples of applied art in Central Asia. Also there are the canvases devoted to the Aral Sea, whose authors Rafael Matevosyan and Faim Madgazin.

Fans of the history of Central Asia will undoubtedly be interested to visit the Khodjeyli settlement in the suburb of Nukus where the medieval mausoleums of Nazlumkhan Sulu, Shamun Nabi, Khalfa Erezhep Madrasah, Karavan saray Belaya Khanaka, and the ancient fortress Gyaur kala, destroyed in the times of Genghis Khan, were preserved.