It may seem a paradox to visit a huge lake, so huge that it was actually called a Sea, that basically does not exist anymore. A place so desolate that the Far West seems like a civilized place, where water is not potable, the gust winds bring debilitating salt/dust storms and sickness (especially in the spring), and where there is no telephone coverage, no electricity and, it has to be said, no espresso coffee...
But some people are a little paradoxal and I definitely count among them when I travel. Reading that Nukus, the capital of the region, is one of “the least appealing cities” in Uz sounded like music to my ears, although at first I thought that Karakalpakstan (or Qaraqalpaqstan) was a joke, the place where the local Borat (of neighboring Kazakhstan) lives!

But Karapalkakstan, where the Aral Sea was, really exists, and is the poorest semi autonomous republic in Uzbekistan; a once thriving region that has since the drying of the Aral Sea become a depressed place, with dying towns and blighted landscapes. No more Silk Road, and no more flourishing fishing industry. Literally Nothing remains of the former prosperous delta. The capital Nukus is nothing but a big façade, one main road and then nothing; huge boulevards soviet-wise, because space there is, a few shops and many poor but kind people. But I think desolation is visitable and didactic, and if you need to see where our planet is heading, based on a true story, head first to Karakalpakstan. Indulge in the magnificent scenery, sleep in a yurt, and yes, think… The surrounding hopelessness may help you understand where we are heading, and in between photo shots of the photogenic abandoned ships in Moynaq please try to imagine how bleak the future can become: Moynaq, an island some years ago, is today 200km far from the remaining water...

In order to get to the Aral Sea you need to get first to Nukus, the capital of Karakalpakstan, preferably by plane (airplane fares are very cheap in Uzbekistan). You will probably need to spend one night in Nukus (visit the Savitsky museum, with art collections from the former Soviet Union, one of the best in its kind, although frankly not a life-changing experience). Next day have a 4WD drive you to Moynaq and then enter the Aral Sea, and think that all those hours of bumpy and frantic driving to your yurt camp is done on the seabed of the Aral Sea. In the beginning you will pass gas extraction installations and ghost villages, but soon it is going to be just you and your driver, who hopefully has an intimate knowledge of this totally flat area, no marks whatsoever, just mirages to guide you…

By the end of the day, when your very own Mad Max movie comes to an end, you will find yourself in a yurt camp, with nothing but the very basic facilities. But be up by dawn and don’t miss on the sight of the sun setting over the Aral lake! It is the sight of a lifetime!

Later you can try swimming in the Aral lake, if you don’t get stuck in the mud that is… The sea is very salty (actually has become it since the volume of the water was so seriously reduced) and they say it can keep afloat a brick… But getting near it can be tricky and dirty, both because of the muck and because frankly, it is very polluted. The plateaus near the camps are much more interesting and photogenic, as are the abandoned fishing villages nearby. Some forgotten people still fish. As far as I could understand, their only consolation is smoking.