Everyone says the Aral Sea is gone — too salty, too polluted, lifeless. But beneath the morning sun, I couldn’t resist the chance to swim in its surreal, silent waters. Floating in the salt, laughing alone, it became an unexpected moment of joy and wonder.
The Oxus Expedition resumes, tracing the river’s final path to the vanished Aral Sea.A journey through dust, decline, and resilience ends with a glimpse of unexpected beauty. Where water once ruled, silence and memory now remain.
Karakalpakstan is booming and buzzing, but it’s on a verge of a water disaster. Is there a way to avoid it, or is the only option is to slow it down?
The Lower Amudarya Biosphere Reserve (LABR) is an oasis in the desert, the river bringing life to all manner of species within the tugai forest. But the future of the reserve is in jeopardy due to drought.
What happens to a city that loses its water?
The ruins of caravanserais are dotted along the Silk Roads, but one of the best preserved examples is Dayakhatyn in Turkmenistan. It was built by the Seljuks in the 12th century and still stands almost intact, overlooking the Oxus in the distance.
Rising above the landscape on the southern outskirts of the modern settlement of Turkmenabat is a prominent flat-topped hill. It looks as if it could be a mesa, a landform typical of the deserts of North America.It is, in fact, what remains of one of the most significant settlements on the Oxus/Amu Darya River and a key trading post on the Silk Route. It is Amul.
There were always going to be two countries on the Oxus Expedition route which would be logistically and bureaucratically challenging: Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. I entered Turkmenistan in September 2024, the country had not long since re-opened after its COVID-19 lockdown. Read more on how the country has changed since!
It is always unnerving when Google Maps says that it’ll take six and a half hours to your destination, 22 km away. Is the road really that bad, or is it a glitch in the mapping algorithm? Follow us to Takht-i Sangin and the Temple of the Oxus!
Follow us to Khorog, the city on the Roof of the World.
How do you lose a city? Ever wondered that too?
Without doubt, driving the Pamir Highway is one of the world’s greatest road trips. And it’s impossible to avoid some challenges along the way.