Uzbekistan Travel Photos – Muynak and Aral Sea Edition
Mo’ynoq in Uzbek, or Muynak/Муйнак in Russian, was a fantastic detour from my silk road itinerary. This is a mostly-dead settlement on the Aral Sea, far away from civilization. Moynak used to be a booming place of commerce few decades ago; that is, until Soviet planners diverted water from the Amu darya and Sir darya rivers feeding into the Aral Sea to irrigate cotton fields in the eastern regions. This led to the shrinking of the Aral Sea to less than 10% of what it was, and created one of the biggest and staggering environmental disasters in the world. Now, aside from the locals trying to make out a living in the “Aral Desert”, this place is just a graveyard of rusting ships.
And what a graveyard it is!
Muynak is a day trip conveniently arranged from Nukus, Urgench, or Khiva. No point staying here unless you intend to venture out on a multi-day trip into the Aral Sea desert.
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