Turkmenistan                                          2015

The Dani of Papua

From Houston to Sydney 2013

 

Most of Turkmenistan (about 70%) comprises the arid terrain of the Karakum Desert, and today we headed north into that desert (also spelt Kara-Kum or Gara-Gum).

We had a fleet of six 4WD vehicles, so after buying some supplies at a small local supermarket, our first stop was at a petrol station for several of the vehicles to refuel.  There we were able to observe at first hand the cheap petrol prices enjoyed by Turkmenistan’s drivers.  Fuel costs just 1 manat per litre, which is about 30 cents.  In 2006, I recall fuel cost just 3 cents per litre.

Driving through the Karakum Desert is not unlike driving across Australia’s Nullabor Plain or Death Valley in the USA – a full bladder is about the only reason you ever need to stop.  And thus, apart from a few short roadside stops, our first major stop was for lunch at a so-called semi-nomadic yurt on the outskirts of Bokurdak, a small town about 100 kilometres north of Ashgabat (also spelt Bokhurdak and Bahardok).

We were greeted by the matriarch of the household, and elegant Turkmen woman who has ten children (I think it was 10; maybe it was 12).  One of her daughters demonstrated deep frying small diamond-shaped batter and serving it to us before we saw a demonstration of bread making using a small earthenware outside oven.  We were then taken to inspect the family’s camels (including some adorable newborn calves), after which she demonstrated making string from camel fur and grinding millet using revolving stones.  This was followed by lunch, which was served to us while sitting on the floor of their yurt – good food but a poor seating position would be my summary.

A little to the north of Bokurdak we crossed an unnamed lake that was created as an unintended consequence of mismanagement of the Karakum Canal, Turkmenistan’s largest irrigation canal that stretches almost the width of the country.  Then, after another three hours driving over a distance of just over 170 kilometres, we arrived at our destination – the flaming Darvaza gas crater, where we were to camp for the night.

Although I had camped at Darvaza (also known as Derweze) in 2006, at which time Andrew, the driver and I were the only ones there (perhaps because it was the height of summer!), I was still in awe of this phenomenon – it never loses its majesty.  The crater is a man-made feature, formed in the early 1970s when Soviet engineers were drilling for oil.  They didn’t find any oil, but they found a huge reserve of natural gas.  Unfortunately, their drilling resulted in a collapse of the land to form a crater with leaking gas.  The gas began to kill the surrounding wildlife, so the Soviet engineers set fire to a rubber tyre which they rolled into the crater.  The resulting fire has been burning ever since – more than four decades so far.

Sometimes referred to as the “Doorway to Hell” or the “Mouth of Hell”, the crater is 30 metres deep and has a diameter of 70 metres.  In the overcast conditions of the late afternoon, there was already a glow and shimmering heat emanating from the fires of the crater, but as the sun went down, the glow brightened and intensified.  By nightfall, the crater appeared as a raging torrent of fire surrounded by the total blackness of the dark desert sands.

It was impossible to get too close to the edge of the crater (which has no safety fencing whatsoever), at least on the downwind side, because of the intensity of the heat and the strength of the updraught caused by the flames.  The crater comprises thousands of small fires and several huge ones, accompanied by a whooshing sound that is a cross between a high pressure gas valve and a jet engine.  I know that people (rightly) worry about global warming and are diligent in turning off light bulbs or walking instead of driving, but anything an individual can do seems to pale into insignificance when compared to the impact and fury of this huge gas-burning crater – over 40 years of intense heat blowing up into the atmosphere from a crater 70 metres in diameter.

When I visited in 2006, I was told that the government sees no reason to try and stop the flow of gas “because we have so much natural gas”.   More recently, the government has discussed extinguishing the flames because it the crater is seen as an embarrassment, but no-one has yet worked out how to do so.  Whether or not the crater’s fires are extinguished, there is also talk of closing the area to visitors, something that I think would be a great pity – assuming that it has to continue burning and warming up our atmosphere, that is.


Day 3 - Ashgabat to Darvaza

Monday

11 May 2015