Off-Road Expedition around the Northern Aral

Kyzylorda is a city located on the bank of the main Kazakhstan river - Syr Darya. Compared to the largest rivers in the world, Syr Darya River is not very long: its length is 2212 km. But for the desert area where Kyzylorda is located this is a real Great River. Historians claim that in ancient times a real oasis was created near the Syr Darya, and tigers came there to drink water. Now on the banks of the Kazakhstan river you can only find camels. Fishermen from all over the world come to fish on the Syr Darya; even American actor Keanu Reeves fished here. The city itself has preserved many pre-war and even pre-revolutionary buildings. The only Orthodox church in the whole region - the Holy Kazan Church - was built here in 1886. 

Yangikent (this name of the city was also used in ancient times) appeared in the first centuries AD. In written sources it is mentioned from the X century as a major trading center on the caravan route from Central Kazakhstan to Khorezm and Volga region. The heyday of this fortress city falls on the Middle Ages. In X-XI centuries it was the capital (winter location) of the Oghuz state. In Yangikent there was a palace (jabgu) and a large Oghuz garrison, large markets and temples. The city began to decline rapidly in the XII century after the Mongol invasion, and by the XV century was completely abandoned. Yangikent was first examined in 1867 by Russian archaeologists Lerkh and Priorov, who conducted excavations and made the plan of the settlement. Excavations and study of the ancient settlement continue to this day.

Aral-Asar is a conventional name given by archaeologists to a large settlement dating back to the XIV century and once adjacent to extensive rice fields and a very remarkable necropolis. The archaeologists have found there many household items - millstones, ceramics, iron and bronze products, as well as two gold coins from the period of the Golden Horde.
Kerder Mausoleum, found by archaeologists on the exposed bottom of the Aral Sea in 2001, dates back to X-XIII centuries. Nowadays, the ruins of the mausoleum are an oval mound just over two meters high and 42 by 30 meters in size. One of the most interesting finds here was two gold earrings decorated with leopard heads.

Barsakelmes Island is not only the flora and fauna under state protection within the reserve, but it is also a huge number of stories, partly fantastic and often incredible. Probably, that is because of its name, meaning from Kazakh - "you will go - you will not come back". A lot of things is told about Barsakelmes: someone thinks that it is a zone with violation of space-time continuum (they say that people who went to Barsakelmes, returned after many years, being as young as at the moment of their departure), someone said about unidentified flying objects, allegedly loved this abnormal zone. And many people often confuse Barsakelmes with Vozrozhdenye Island, which once housed the biochemical testing ground "Barkhan", which conducted tests of bacteriological weapons. In short, the remoteness of the place, combined with the lack of information about it, gives rise to rumors and tall tales, attracting all kinds of seekers of the paranormal.

t the end of 80s of XX century due to shallowing of the Aral Sea its northern part was separated from the southern part. Water flowed from the Small Aral to the Big Aral through the narrow channel left between them. Two attempts were made to build a dam overlapping this channel. he first one, sandy, was built in 1992, but in the spring of 1993 it was destroyed due to rising of water level. Local construction companies and executive authorities found funds to build a new dam, and in the spring of 1997 the second dam, also a sandy one, was finished, on which a spillway was built. In 1998, it was reinforced with concrete slabs. But in 1999, due to rising water level, this dam was destroyed by a storm. In 2001, the government of Kazakhstan applied to the World Bank for a loan to build a full-fledged dam. The dam construction works were completed in August 2005.

The village of Akespe fishing village described by people as "covered with sand", is located in the Aral region on the shore of Butakov Bay. On the place of a small village there used to be a large village, where life was boiling from day to day, but with the drying up of the sea the situation in the village sharply deteriorated. It is extremely difficult to reach it, as there is no road to the village for a long time, only an off-road vehicle can drive by the winding steppe road. The time of stay in the village is not easy to endure. Dead silence, which is only rarely broken by the sounds of life and speech of people living here. One and a half kilometers from the village there is a radon spring, where hot water beats directly from the ground. It is considered healing, so people from different regions come here for therapeutic purposes.

Fort Raim, also known as the Aral Fortification, was built in 1847 by a military engineer Guern, becoming the first Russian military fortification in the Aral region. In 1848 the schooner "Konstantin" was delivered to the area of the fort. It is noteworthy that the schooner's crew consisted of Private Taras Shevchenko, thanks to the drawing of which we know what the fortification looked like. In 1851 a gradual transfer of the fort population to Kazalinsk began, but for several more years the port functioned here. Fort Raim was officially abolished in 1854.

In 1980 in the southern part of Kazakhstan a unique memorial complex appeared in honor of Korkyt, the famous and legendary Turkic poet and composer of the IX century. Not only the architect, but also the physicist-acoustic worked on the creation of the original monument. As a result, they managed to magically recall the merits of the famous ancient musician. The physicist-acoustic and architect combined their efforts and created a real masterpiece, which immortalized the creation of Korkyt. When the wind blows, you can hear the pleasant sounds of a kobyz in this place - a magical performance is available to everyone. Korkyt was a man who was not ready to accept the rapidity of life - and his people gave him fame and saved his music and his creation for so many centuries.

Once the Aral Sea was the pearl of Kazakhstan: the water expanse, which appeared 17 million years ago, comparable to the territory of Ireland, rich in underwater fauna and vegetation, the harmony of creation of man and nature. Numerous ports along the shores of this beautiful sea and the rapid development of fishing have become an integral part of the country's economy. Now the landscape of the Aral Sea is more like the surface of Mars. Nevertheless, the Aral Sea is often the object of tourists' visit because it is truly picturesque and at the same time frightening place. But people who want to visit an ecological disaster site need to be extremely careful, as it is forbidden to stay on the seashore for more than 24 hours.