Moynaq
Uzbekistan · Karakalpakstan · 60 m
Description
Moynaq was a fishing port on an island in the Aral Sea and now stands about a hundred and fifty kilometres from any water, which makes it the clearest thing to look at in the whole story of what happened to that sea. A dozen rusting trawlers sit on the sand below the former shoreline, arranged as a memorial, and the cannery that employed the town is a shell. The salt blows off the dry bed and the dust storms carry it into the lungs of whoever stayed. There is nothing here that is not the disaster, and the town treats it as the thing it has to show.
Length of stay
Recommended length of stay: 1 to 2 days (optimal 1 day)
Travel season
Best time to visit: May or September – October
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Highlights
- Ship graveyard on the dry seabed
- Aral Sea memorial above the old shore
- Moynaq museum of the fishery
- Abandoned cannery buildings
- Drive out onto the Aralkum salt plain
- Yurt camp on the former seabed
- Night sky over the salt flats
- Remaining water of the southern Aral(Multi-day trip)
- Ustyurt plateau escarpment west of town(Multi-day trip)
Getting there
- Nearest airports:
- NCU