travel to turkmenistan www.kosmostrip.net Karakum Desert Tour: 8 days Day 1 Ashgabat Arrival (B) Early morning arrival in Ashgabat. Private transfer to hotel. Accommodation in hotel Grand Turkmen/Ak Altyn/Ashgabat.Breakfast at hotel. Late morning or early afternoon we begin the day with orientation tour of the city. We will see independence period parks and monuments, such as the Monument and Park of Independence (looking like a white-marble “Eiffel Tower” standing in a beautiful park) and a fountain-monument devoted to the 10th anniversary of independence (sculptural depiction of ten Akhal-Tekke horses placed on the top of a beautiful fountain), impressive Ertoghrul Ghazi mosque. We will also visit Kipchak village (10 km outside Ashgabat) to see an impressive complex of the biggest mosque in Turkmenistan and the family mausoleum of the first President. Finish the day with a tour of the National Museum of History (more than 327.000 objects on a display) exhibiting exclusive ancient artefacts from different historical & archaeological sites of Turkmenistan, such as Old Nisa, Ancient Merv, Kunya-Urgench & others. Overnight at hotel Grand Turkmen/Ak Altyn/Ashgabat. Day 2 Ashgabat – Darvaza (B, D-picnic) Breakfast at hotel. Morning free at leisure to rest before the off-road part and have some time to purchase souvenirs. Early afternoon travel inland through the Kara Kum desert with its moving sands and sparse vegetation of saksaul, acacia and kandym bushes. Arriving at the border between the northern and southern regions of Turkmenistan we turn off the main road for an exciting eight-kilometre desert drive. The drive over, we find ourselves a couple of hundred metres away from the Darvaza flaming crater, which, at daylight, seems more of an ordinary whole in the ground slightly smoked by fire. Having unpacked our vehicles, we go for a walk around the crater, while our drivers occupy themselves with gathering wood, arranging cosy accommodations of tents and sleeping bags, and spreading a “table” on the ground. By the time we notice the smell of a fire-cooked dinner, the simple whole of the crater turns into what may seem a front door of hell, a fire temple or any other mysteriously spectacular place that a romantic’s imagination may associate with fire. We finish the day tasting delicious nomadic food, pondering over the meaning of life in the serene atmosphere of beautiful evening sky and flickering lights of the “eternal” fire. Dinner & overnight in tents. Day 3 Darvaza – Damla (B-picnic, L-picnic, D-picnic) Breakfast in tents. We pack up our camp and head east, towards the very heart of the Karakum desert, the village of Damla. The road to Damla will take us over high sand dunes and across hard, dusty takyrs – plains of hard packed clay – revealing us the “naked” bed of the prehistoric Tethys sea, which once covered huge expanses of Eurasia, and of the fabled Uzboy River, one of the beds of the Amu-Darya (the Oxus) that flew across the desert into the Caspian Sea. Yellow dunes occasionally specked with dark spots of vegetation, low bushes and beautiful desert “Christmas trees” of saxaul (Lat. haloxylon), make the endless and waterless ocean of sand an unforgettable picture, which you will be recalling with an accompaniment of the music of the wind for many years to come. After 3 hours’ drive we will dive into a deep valley, accommodating Damla (whose name means “droplet of water”), appearing in front of us almost out of the blue. Lost in the sands, far away from ordinary travel-routes, Damla is one of the last abodes of the traditional pastoral life, sustained by cattle-breeding, mostly sheep, goats and camels, all the desert “kindly” yields to people. Overnight in a national house/yourt/tents (subject to availability). Day 4 Damla – Akmolla – Kirpichli (240 km) (B-picnic, L-picnic, D-picnic) After a hearty breakfast, we take some time to explore the Damla. The people in these oases are unique in their hospitable culture, traditions and dress. Most buildings in the Central Karakum settlements are flat roof and in summer yurts are pitched in front of every house. We continue our off-road drive in the late afternoon on a sweltering plateau cut to pieces by the advancing dunes, only meeting scattered shepherd families at the salt-water wells once every 50 km. After a 4-hour drive we reach the settlements of Akmolla and Murzechirla. In the cooler evening hours we will set up camp and make more new friends with the local tribe. Overnight in a national house/yourt/tents (subject to availability).

• published: 12 May 2015
• views: 0