This is the second and final post of Turkmenistan, being here for only 4 nights.
I couldn’t figure it out. My gout returned !!! Why ? I only had two bottles of wine in the last two days. Nothing mad. Again, I reckon it was the lack of water intake during yesterday’s Ashgabat tour. I was resolved to drink more. Leisurely sleep-in to 745am before our shopping spree at 9am to pick up supplies for bush camp number 3 – my cook group. Shopping was fun and cheap. I now realised just how cheap. $92AUD to buy enough groceries to feed 25 people for brekkie, lunch and dinner for one day – amazing. At 1130am we climbed aboard 3 mini-vans to take us to our truck on the outskirts of Ashgabat. The drive to the infamous Darvaza Gas Crater was 270km but took 13hrs given the really bad road that goes there. No more plateau like Iran – all flat fair at 100-300m. After the first 2hrs the landscape became the same – light yellow sand desert with salt scrub and flat. Then the dunes came along with many wild camels along the way. It reminded me of outback NSW between Tibooburra and Cameron Corner. It was burning hot and dry at 38C. The road was bitumen but full of holes and ridges slowing us down to 30km/h for the most part. This is the mighty Karakum Desert. The Karakum Desert is mainly shale-rich sand occupying about 70 percent, or roughly 350,000 km2 of Turkmenistan. The population is sparse, with an average of one person per 6.5 km2 (2.5 sq mi). Rainfall is also rare, ranging from 70 to 150 mm (3 to 6 in) per year. Many millions of years ago it was part of the Aral Sea but over time evaporated.
Approx 24km before the Darvaza Gas Crater lies another much larger and deeper crater filled with water hence the name “Water Crater”. We walked around its 82m diameter rim and peered down 43m into its gaping hole. This thing is huge as you will see from the photos below.
The last 7km was dirt road but smoother than the bitumen. At round 650pm (10min before sunset) the fiery glow of the Darvaza Crater emerged. We unloaded the truck and set up tents literally metres from the glowing crater. What a spot. The sun was setting and the moon was rising so I wasted no time and headed to the crater to snap up both. My personal view when I laid eyes on the fires inside the crater. I expected more flames. For me it was fire “piss-weak world”. There were flames coming out of several crevices with black marks above each crevice, much like a fireplace. The fact that there were also loads of other black marks around the crater but with no flame, indicating to me that there were 10 times as many flames in the past and that the gas is running out. Now, a little bit about the story of this man-made volcano crater…
The Darvaza gas crater is better known as “The Door to Hell” or “The Gate of Hell”. Why ? Because it is a giant crater with hundreds of fissure gas fires burning inside and around the rim since 1981 !!! The crater is about 260 kilometres (160 miles) north of Ashgabat and has a diameter of 60–70 metres (200–230 ft) and a depth of about 30 metres (98 ft). How was this formed you ask ? Great question. You will and will not believe the answer. The crater is located in the middle of the Karakum Desert which is rich in natural gas. In 1971, the site was drilled by Soviet engineers to extract the gas but collapsed within days, forming the crater and releasing large volumes of smelly poisonous gas. Soviet geologists could not cap the emissions as too many fissures had formed so they decided to burn it off and set it alight in 1981. The only issue was that they severely underestimated the volume of gas underneath which is why it has burning since 1981 !!! Imagine how much gas was and is there and what it would have been worth. Now it is a tourist attraction !!!
Once my tent was up in 5sec, I proceeded to take several photos and film from sunset to moonrise and beyond into darkness – you be the judge of what I saw !!!
Up at 530am. Too early to run. Gout toe too sore to run. You would have seen a sunrise photo of the crater above. By 7am we were rolling towards Konje-Urgench, the site of ancient ruins, a mighty 14hrs drive away just to cover 276km. Not much to report on landscape because we were still in the Karakum Desert which you have already seen above. The surprise along the way was a hot thermal column about 100m from the truck – it sucked up the yellow desert sand easily 200m high – what a sight. It was hot and tough going. The road was so bad that we only averaged 25km/h. It reminded me of my Ungowa Africa trip in 2015-2016. Fine yellow dust covered everything inside the truck. To pass the time after finishing my blogging, I watched TAKEN 1, 2 and 3 with Liam Neeson since I knew we would be more than 6hrs left. A good decision. By the time I finished the last one, we were still 80km from our second bush camp in a row.
We arrived at our bush campsite about 10km from the ruins at 845pm with plenty of daylight to set up camp and enjoy bush wine, cheese and olives !!! We visited the ruins of Konye-Urgench the next morning (Sun 11MAY) before heading to the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan border. The ruins are in fact a large Ancient Necropolis (Cemetery) built between 1100 and 1600AD. We visited the following structures: Turabek Hkanum Mausoleum, Seyit Ahemt Mausoleum, Minaret, Sultan Tekesh Mausoleum, Fakhrad-Din Razi Mausoleum, Portal / Gate. The best preserved is the Turabek Hkanum Mausoleum with a large mosaic tiled central dome. There was also an old town here called Gurgānj or Old Ürgenç (UNESCO listed). Old Ürgenç was situated on one of the most important medieval paths: the Silk Road, the crossroad of western and eastern civilisations. The architectural style of this town reached Iran, Afghanistan and even India.
Take a peek at this architecture for yourself…
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