Fintan had said "It's a shame we don't get to go to the Aral Sea, that would've been cool"... perhaps I'm too honest - I did tell him we would be close to an old fishing town when we were at Nukus. Moynaq, one of the two major fishing towns on the old Aral Sea, is about 200 km from Nukus... so off we went.

Again, the road was rough and long... a 4 hour drive to the site of the rusting fishing boats, sat sadly in the sand... but on the way the area seemed surprisingly green. Yep, the irrigation channels are still being used! It's almost unbelievable that the practises that caused this disaster are still being implimented. But then again, think about where you are...

On the drive up I read more about the disaster and read a section on Vozrozhdeniye island. Once isolated by the vast Aral Sea... no slowly becoming part of the mainland. Guess what they did there? Biological warfare testing site!! Anthrax and plague?! There was a mention of the death of half a million antelope within an hour!! Ok, so we'll just pop up and have a nose around then?! Another note stated that recently a 600 year old mausuleum had been identified on the sea floor - indicating that the sea had been dry historically... not sure this justifies the current situation though.

We drove around and took a few photos. There were some local kids swimming, we weren't that brave. I had thuoght it would be a deserted town, and arid and dry. But due to the continued irrigation it remains green and the area is still populated.

A long days driving, but worth seeing with our own eyes.