Tag Archives: Karakum Desert

Riding on the Edge of the Abyss

Our Land Rover sits a little too close for comfort on the very edge of one of the ‘mud holes’ at Dervaza (Turkic for “The Gate”) on the Turkmenistan/Uzbekistan border. These enormous sinkholes go down for hundreds of meters and open up into vast pools of molten earth. One has to take care of theContinue reading “Riding on the Edge of the Abyss”

Oasis of Sand

The ancient Silk Road city of Merv in the Karakum desert (Turkic for “Black Sand”) reminds me of a bit of the fate of ancient Carthage. Tracing its origins to the 3rd century BC, it was the largest city in the world in the 12th century only to be razed to the ground some 300Continue reading “Oasis of Sand”

Friday Evening Traffic Jam, Turkmenistan Style

Don’t you just hate it when you’re on your way to visit a ancient city that’s been abandoned for 500 years and you’re held up by a herd of camels? Yeah, me too. I mean who wouldn’t want to just gawk at these magnificent ‘ships of the desert’ as they slowly made their way alongContinue reading “Friday Evening Traffic Jam, Turkmenistan Style”

It’s not easy being Green in Ashgabat

If a visitor just stayed in Ashgabat and never left the city limits then they would never think that it is literally an oasis in the middle of the water parched Karakum Desert. Fountains are bursting out clean water and offer some much-needed relief from the heat.  The task of keeping the city and itsContinue reading “It’s not easy being Green in Ashgabat”