Water on the Silk Roads mini photo essays

Water On Silk Roads Maymester traveled from Bukhara to Khiva today! Along the way we stopped at a rest stop that had camels and a donkey. Bactrian camels are native to Central Asia, and often found along the Silk Road.

While driving, it started to rain. Late May is typically a very dry period, so it is unusual to see rain at this time of the year. However, we have been told by our guides that spring-like weather has lasted longer this year.

After we arrived in Khiva we rested and then went to dinner. We ate a few dishes traditional to Khiva, including: shivit oshi, green noodles with beef stew and yogurt, as well as yumurta barak, egg dumplings eaten with yogurt. We also had pumpkin, beef, and spinach dumplings. It was delicious!

By Angie Zamora

Today, our journey to the Aral Sea through Uzbekistan cities continues, and we are in Khiva!

Khiva is an ancient city (over 2,500 years old!) in the Khorazm Region. Throughout its history, it held the status of a capital of science and religion, and later, of the Khiva Khanate.

Today, most of the highlights are located within the Walls of the historic part of the city, a walkable area with a bazaar with locally produced souvenirs, the mausoleum of Pahlavon Mahmud, the Juma mosque, and multiple minarets, including the famous unfinished minaret Kaltaminor.

We also visited a unique agricultural site that implements ecological knowledge in practice, and ripens seeds for their own waste-free production of oil.

By Salavat Giniiatov

Today we traveled to Nukus! On the way, we passed through Ellikkala, or “50 fortresses.” We visited Ayez-kala, Toprak-kala, and Chilpik-kala and could still see the layout of the 4,000 BCE fortresses.
A local professor told us the landscape looked vastly different ten thousand years ago. The fortress hills were volcanoes and the Amu Darya flowed here. There are lion and antelope bones, which supports the idea this was a savannah ten thousand years ago.
Our final stop before Nukus was the Lower Amu Darya State Biosphere Reserve. We saw Amu Darya’s growing banks due to exploitative irrigation practices. This reserve houses the greatest variety in species of flora in the country and their main preservation focuses are on the Turang’a (Euphrates Poplar) and Bukhara deer.

By Shannen Alack

Today for the Water on the Silk Roads program, we drove across the Republic of Karakalpakstan from Nukus to the remaining portions of the Aral Sea. 

Along the way, we made a number of stops, beginning with a necropolis outside of Nukus. The necropolis had multiple decorated mausoleums, and the supposed tomb of the prophet Shamun-Nabi. We also passed through Moynaq, and saw the Regional History and Aral Sea Museum and boat graveyard.

After a lengthy drive through the dry Aral Seabed, where we witnessed stunning views of where the sea’s water formerly extended, we finally reached the sea itself. We will be sleeping in yurts within view of the water for the next two nights.

By Malcolm Powell

Water on the Silk Roads Maymester had such a great day! We headed to the canyons on the Ustyurt Plateau and spent the morning hiking and climbing. Each layer of the canyon is a different color, this is caused by fluctuating water levels, sediment deposits, and mineral precipitation.

We then went to the Aral Sea for a swim, however it was more of a float. It’s very hard to swim in the sea because of the high salinity levels. Since freshwater no longer flows in, the salt is concentrated into a smaller space, which causes salinity levels to rise. The only organism that is able to survive in high salinity is Artemia. While swimming in the sea, we were able to hold Artemia!

We then returned to our yurt camp for dinner. And ended the night with a hike to see the stars. We saw the Big Dipper, the Milky Way, and Jupiter!

By Angie Zamora

In our last day of the journey in the Aral Sea region, we visited the Barsa-Kelmes saline land, a place that feels like a different planet. There, we walked on the salt plain, like in an Interstellar movie.

We saw the Sudochie lake, which has reed islands in it, and also serves as home for birds who immigrated to a warmer region.

The Urga settlement, right next to Sudochie, although abandoned, has important archaeological sights — ruins of the ancient village, and the large soviet-time ice house where fishers stored their fish.

By Salavat Giniiatov

This morning we walked to the Karakalpak UNDP office and toured their pilot projects. We saw innovative water sanitation, aquaculture, beekeeping, hydroponics, and plant adaptation concepts. A common theme we identified is the repurposing of waste to create environmentally sustainable income for local farmers.

Our second stop of the day was the Karakalpak branch of the Academy of Sciences. The researchers we met with focus on extreme atmospheric dust, phytomelioration and artificial precipitation technologies. This research encapsulates the primary environmental issues in Uzbekistan: water security and air quality.

We ended the exciting day with karaoke at a restaurant where we sang US hits.

By Shannen Alack

Today the Water on the Silk Roads Maymester went on our journey back to Tashkent from Nukus! Before departing, we met with Oktyabr Dospanov, the Head of Archeology at the State Museum of Arts named after I.V. Savitsky. He is very passionate about his studies and contextualized many of the archeological sites we’ve visited along our journey so far. He also emphasized the importance of relics in understanding the social structure of ancient societies.

We later boarded a sleeper train taking us all the way from Nukus back to Tashkent on a 16 hour journey! This route is popular among locals to travel across the country as the train is convenient, affordable, and environmentally friendly. At the end of each train car, there’s a hot water tank for making tea and ramen!

We also brought Pigodi we purchased from a Nukus market onto the train for dinner. It’s a delicious Korean-Uzbek snack composed of a steamed bun filled with cabbage, carrots, cucumber, and various other ingredients.

By Sam Hosea