Aralsk

Aralsk was the main port of the Aral Sea and now stands twenty kilometres from any water, with its quay, its cranes and its empty harbour basin left in place. What makes it worth the journey is that the water is coming back. The Kokaral dam raised the northern basin, fish returned to it, and fishing villages along the new shore are working again, which is the opposite of the story on the Uzbek side. The famous ships in the sand have mostly been cut up for scrap, and only a couple of hulls remain near Zhalanash. The town museum keeps photographs of the harbour from when it still held ships.