TOURISM IN TURKMENISTAN
Turkmenistan is a country in South-Central Asia with a population of about 5 million, and an area around half a million square kilometres, or almost the size of Spain.
Neighbouring countries are Iran and Afghanistan to the South, and Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to the North. It is across from Azerbaijan via the Caspian Sea but is otherwise landlocked. Nearly 80% of the country is considered part of the Karakum Desert.
The traditional life of the Turkmen is that of nomadic shepherds, though some have been settled in towns for centuries. The country is known for its fine carpets (one is even featured in its flag) and horses.
Turkmenistan is a country with large potential for an expanded tourism industry. Many of its Central Asian cities were main points of trade on the Silk Road, linking Eastern and Western civilizations.
There are three World Heritage Sites in Turkmenistan, namely the cities of Merv, Nisa and Kunya-Urgench. The latter two were ancient capitals of Parthia and Khorezm respectively, while the former was a major Silk Road post.
Merv, formerly an Achaemenid Satrapy of Margiana, and later Alexandria and Antiochia in Margiana, was a major oasis-city in Central Asia, on the historical Silk Road, located near today’s Mary.
Several cities have existed on this site, which is significant for the interchange of culture and politics at a site of major strategic value. It is claimed that Merv was briefly the largest city in the world in the 12th century. Nisa (also Parthaunisa) was an ancient city, located near modern-day Bagyr, a neighbourhood in Ashgabat 18 km southwest of downtown.
Nisa is described by some as one of the first capitals of the Parthians. It is traditionally assumed to have been founded by Arsaces I (reigned c. 250 BC-211 BC), and was reputedly the royal necropolis of the Parthian kings, although it has not been established that the fortress at Nisa was either a royal residence or a mausoleum.
Konye-Urgench is a municipality of about 30,000 inhabitants in north-eastern Turkmenistan, just south out the border with Uzbekistan. It is the site of the ancient town of Ürgenç, which contains the unexcavated ruins of the 12th-century capital of Khwarezm. Since 2005, the ruins of Old Urgench have been protected by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
The Caspian Sea coast of Turkmenistan is the site of a number of popular sea resorts, including the Awaza National Resort Zone. In June 2009, the opening ceremony of the first facilities of the Avaza National Tourist Zone took place on the Caspian coast.
The “Avaza” project initiated by President of Turkmenistan occupies a special place in the strategic plans of the country over the next decade and, therefore, is dedicated to accumulate all of the most advanced achievements of world architecture, engineering, technical design and creative ideas.
Year after year, all new facilities supplement the infrastructure of a modern international class seaside resort. It offers high-quality hotels, children’s health resorts, cottage villages, health and recreation centers. Particular attention was paid to the creation of a fullscale recreation and entertainment complex – the construction of a water park, yacht and sports clubs, restaurants, campgrounds, all sorts of attractions, shopping centers.
Badkhyz Reserve
Badkhyz Reserve is located in Mary velayat in the south of Turkmenistan. The area of the reserve is 877 square km. It was created in 1941 to protect the ecosystems of the Badkhyz plateau between the Kushka and Tejen rivers. Average annual rainfall is about 280 mm, with a maximum of 420 mm and a minimum of 130 mm. Short spring gives way to long hot summer.
The Badkhyz Reserve is rich in a unique natural complex that has no equal on the territory of Central Asia. Badkhyz Reserve has attracted the attention of scientists since early times, because of which it was explored by geographers, soil scientists, botanists and zoologists.
Some consider Badkhyz a desert, which is not true, and at the same time, it cannot be called a steppe. Badkhyz Nature Reserve is a semi-desert with hills. The Karakum Desert adjoins the Badkhyz Reserve from the north. Moreover, the hills are located in the eastern part of the reserve, located singly and in groups. The height of the hills ranges from 20 to 200 meters. In the north, the hills turn into the Duzenkyr and Ellibir uplands, in the south-west it reaches up to 800 m above sea level, and becomes mountainous.
The huge drainless depression Yeroylanduz is an interesting part of the reserve. The depression is 20 km long from east to west and approximately 10 km wide. The depth of this basin with a salt lake reaches 500 m. Also in the south of the Badkhyz reserve, in addition to the Yeroylanduz depression, there are other, small-sized depressions – Kagazly, Tekeduz, Nemeksar.
The Gyzyljar tract is located at the eastern borders of the reserve; it is a very deep and wide ravine, the length of which reaches 18 km. The edges of the ravine have steep and sheer slopes with ledges, as well as large rubble-sand dumps. The height of these steep walls reaches several tens of meters.
Boyadag
In the west of Turkmenistan there are about 30 mud volcanoes. They are of various forms and exteriors. Periodically they throw up a mixture of mud masses, gases, waters and oil on the surface.
The most ancient is the Boyadag mud volcano.
Boyadag is a mountain of colors. It is impossible to pass by such beauty, which nature has endowed this place with. For many tens of kilometers, one can see the pillar – like peak of this mountain – Karaburun – a stock of petrified breccia, which has frozen with all its mass in the volcano’s mouth. Tha salk-soaked, bitumen-impregnated breccia turned out to be stronger than the material of the cone, which collapsed, and the petrified vent with a height of over 40m remained a majestic monument to the grandiose eruptions of a large volcano. In the chain of volcanoes, it is one of the largest, which has functioned for almost five million years. Currently Boyadag is a highly dissected upland.
The slopes of Boyadag are painted in thick red-brown tones with unusually bright colors.
Kopegdag
Not far from the plateau of the Dinosaurs (Khodjapil tracts) there is a beautiful and amazing gorge Umbar Dere with a waterfall of 27 meter high. The gorge in the mountains og Koitendag, Turkmenistan (in translation from Turkmen “impassable mountains”).
When the snow melts and the spring waters calm down, you can take walk to the Umbar waterfall. It should be visited until September, as in September the waterfall dries up. It takes a walk through the valley between the two mountain ranges to get to the narrow gorge Umbar Dere.
Kow Ata
Welcome to the sulphurous subterranean world of Kow Ata underground lake. Here is the place that you could never come across elsewhere in Central Asia. It is a brilliant opportunity to rest for a while on the way to the Balkanabat from the Ashgabat. The cave is only 60 km far from Ashgabat.The lake is 65 meter inside of the well-known Bakharden cave. Its fame is connected rather with the healing properties of water, than the beauty of this underground nature.
The therapeutic water of the Kowata underground lake includes 38 elements such as iodine, magnesium, iron, bromine, potassium, sodium, sulphate, and others. The lake depth varies from 8 to 14m. Swimming in Kowata underground lake is highly recommended for stricken people to improve blood circulation, help control rheumatism, skin disorder and kidney diseases, and ease the nervous system. The water is naturally heated to about 36°C and recommended swimming time is nearly 20 minutes due to the sulphur.
Moon Mountains
For many years, tourism enterprises of Turkmenistan have been offering travelers to include in the program of visiting the tourist route “Journey to the moon mountains”. For those who are in Turkmenistan for the first time, an unforgettable trip will be a visit to the Turkmen subtropics – the Makhtumkuli etrap (formerly Karakala) of the Balkan region. You will see that this is one of the few places in the world that gives a fantastic feeling of unreality. Travelers are simply breathtaking from what they have seen. You will see real “Moon mountains”, vast landscapes in this part of the Western Turkmenistan seems to have descended from the canvases of the most daring surrealist artists. A traveler can really it seems that he somehow miraculously ended up on the Moon or another celestial planet – the surrounding landscape is so unusual and diverse.
The mountains are multicolored majolica – blue, gray, brown, green, while devoid of any vegetation, truly this is a moon landscape that nature began to form millions of years ago. These mountains have rounded, swollen shapes, small in size, with a height of one to eight meters.
Nokhur
Nokhur is a village in the Akhal velayat of Turkmenistan. Located in the west of the Kopetdag ridge, in the mountains, at an altitude of 1000-1100 meters above sea level. Moreover, it is the first place you must see if you are interested in places isolated from the modern life. The village of Nokhur was included in the list of “100 most romantic places in the world”.
According to legend, the name Nokhur comes from the name of the prophet Noah, whose ark, after a forty-day voyage, moored to Mount Manoman. The local old-timers tell a legend explaining the richness of the flora and fauna of Nokhur. It is believed that in time immemorial, Noah released all animals and birds in these mountains and planted all the seeds that were stored on the ark.
Nokhur mountain tribe, who have preserved their culture, traditional crafts and architecture, inhabit the village of Nokhur. The villages of Old and New Nokhur on a mountain plateau are two-storey houses of original architecture, laid out on the slopes of mountain stone, among vineyards, almond and pomegranate trees. Highlanders cultivate vegetable gardens and orchards in hard-to-reach places, narrow gorges and on mountaintops, at an altitude of 1600-1800 meters above sea level.
Karakum
The Karakum is a sand desert stretching for 350.000 km2 from the Caspian Sea to Pamir foothills and from Amu Darya to Kopetdag ridge. Its name is translated as “black sands” (“kara” – black, “kum” – sand). The desert corresponds to its gloomy name, because some of its parts were previously completely waterless for hundreds of kilometers, and anyone who tried to cross it, found a terrible death under the scorching sun of Asia.
The Karakum climet is very severe. Summer temperature can reach +50oC, while the soil can run hot as high as +80oC. Winter features strong frosts up to -30oC. Rainfall is very scanty, and precipitates mainly in November and April.
Yangikala Canyons
Amazing natural sites – Yangikala Canyons are located in the North-West of Turkmenistan in the Balkan velayat (region). Among the Turkmens Yangi-kala is known as fiery fortresses. The canyons got this name because of the predominant red color of the rocks, which are composed of mountains and cliffs. There are similar mountains in Xinjiang, China and they are also called “fiery (flaming) mountains”.
The canyons are incredibly stunning. Leaving Balkanabat through a lifeless flat desert, you suddenly find yourself at steep cliffs, going hundreds of meters deep. Once upon a time, the waters of the ancient sea splashed here (and now from many points one can see the waters of the Karabagazkol, which was formerly part of the Caspian Sea). The sea has left, revealing steep shores and huge hills. Waves, wind and rains have created quaint castles, towers, walls here. The colors of the rocks, from pure white to fiery red, create a magical beauty. And the mountains change its colors right away depending on the time of a day and lighting. And they are extremely beautiful at sunset, when everything is surrounded by fiery tones.