The Karakum Desert

[lobelia321]

The Karakum Desert lies south of the Aral Sea in Turkmenistan. It is also known as the 'Black Sands' which, I think, is the meaning of its name.



Isn't it beautiful?










Burning gas crater:




It was on the silk route:


Pre-Islam, the inhabitants used to be Zoroastrians:


The Hungarian scholar and traveller Arminius Vámbéry said this about the Karakum Desert (1863):

"Our morning station bore the charming appellation of Adam-kyrylgan (which means 'the place where men perish'), and one needed only to cast a look at the horizon to convince himself how appropriate is that name. Let the reader picture to himself a sea of sand, extending as far as the eye can reach, on one side formed into high hills, like waves, lashed into that position by the furious storm; on the other side, again, like the smooth waters of a still lake, merely rippled by the west wind. Not a bird visible in the air, not a worm or beetle upon the earth; traces of nothing but departed life, in the bleaching bones of man or beast that has perished , collected by every passer-by in a heap, to serve to guide the march of future travellers!"




Discovered via a book from the Amnesty International Bookshop: Eric Newby, ed., A Book of Travellers' Tales

Comments

[junalele.livejournal.com]

Oh cool. Especially since I just put together two quotes about craving cool drinks in the Gobi. heh.

Also -
It is also known as the 'Black Sands' which, I think, is the meaning of its name.
Could very well be. "khar" is black in Mongolian and it is related to Turkish languages.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I was thinking of you when I found this desert! Very interesting re 'khar' -- I'm sure this is related.

[junalele.livejournal.com]

Heh. Awesome.

And yeah, it most probably is. I had another connected experience with it today. We read a text today where Genghis Khan re-names an enemy before killing him because the enemy is named Burkhan which means God in Mongolian. And seriously, you cannot kill "God" - not even as Genghis Khan. And then one of the student chuckled and told me that there are lots of Turkish called Burkhan and how, if seen in this context, it would be blasphemy because you cannot be named after any God by Allah.
I love my class this semester. Or rather the students in it.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I spent most of the day slouching around bookstores and reading up on the Mongol conquest. What is the funnest book to read on that??? I also discovered that Shahrukh Khan has a total hero name! The parents clearly named him after Shah Rukh, the fourth son of Tamerlane, and Khan is liek ultimate hero name. Also, I love the way Alexander is still alive in people's memories.

[junalele.livejournal.com]

Khan is king. So super hero.

I'll try to think of some fun book there. But right now I'm swallowed by preparing for an interview for a grad school so it might take a while.

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I have enjoyed this desert.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

You are welcome. I now very much want to go to this desert. Some German travellers went there with bicycles (as per photo above). Trust the Germans. But if they can do it...? I have googled this. Uzbekistan (with Samarkand and Tashkent, fabled places that I also want to visit) seems to have a thriving tourist industry with starred hotels and websites but Turkmenistan? Practically nothing! And what there is, has strange faded photos that look as if they were ripped out of a Soviet guidebooks c. 1959.

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Now I am reminded of a book I read last year. But I can't remember anything about it other than it was about a desert. And men in it. Doing things. And a desert. It was an okay book. But the desert, that was the neat thing.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Oh. Can you remember anything else about this book? Because, um, what you wrote does not sound googlable... But it is really intriguing! I very much want to go to this desert now.

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's gorgeous. And the gas crater is amazing.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Isn't that crater weird? What a wild place.