Where the Sea Departed

Muynak

A former fishing port turned to desert in half a century. The most powerful image of the 20th-century ecological disaster — and one of the most unusual places on the planet.

1,200 km

Distance from Tashkent

~ 12

Ships at graveyard

23 m

Sea level drop

Nukus → Muynak

Best route

Iconic places

The face of Muynak

Ship graveyard — rusting vessels in the salt desert

A port turned to desert

Half a century ago Muynak was a port — fishing boats left from here, thousands worked at the canning factory, zander and carp were caught. Today the sea lies 200 km away across desert, and the port has become an open-air museum where twelve rusting ships stand on the former seabed.

Remnants of the Aral Sea — once the world's fourth-largest lake

A 20th-century disaster

The Aral Sea dried up because Soviet planners diverted the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers to irrigate cotton. Over thirty years the level dropped 23 metres and the sea split into several lakes. It is the 20th century's largest man-made ecological disaster.

Ustyurt Desert — canyons and plateaus of the former seabed

Across the Ustyurt plateau

Today Muynak draws those who want to see planetary-scale human impact. Jeep routes lead from town to the Ustyurt plateau with its 200-metre cliffs, to open-air glamping camps and to the remnants of the Greater Aral.

Practical info