The North Aral Sea

The Aral shrank through the second half of the twentieth century as the rivers feeding it were diverted for irrigation, and by the 2000s the sea had split and the Kazakh port of Aralsk stood many kilometres from any water. The Kok-Aral dam, completed in 2005, closed the channel to the southern basin and allowed the Syr Darya to refill the northern part: the level rose, salinity fell, fish returned, and a fishing industry restarted at Aralsk and the villages along the shore. The water is now some way from the town but a good deal closer than it was. Visits are made by four-wheel drive from Aralsk to the shore, the fishing villages and the dam, with a museum in town on the sea's history.

History

A large site of Oligocene fossils was found near Akespe on the northern shore in 1925. The sea began to shrink in the 1960s, when the Amu Darya and Syr Darya were diverted to irrigate cotton and food crops, split in two in 1987 to 1988, and the northern lake grew from 30 m deep and 2,550 square kilometres in 2003 to 42 m and 3,300 square kilometres in 2008 (Wikipedia, North Aral Sea).

What you'll find

• The returned water - the northern basin refilled behind the dam.
• The Kok-Aral dam - the barrier that made the recovery possible.
• Fishing villages - the settlements working the restored fishery.
• The Aralsk museum - the record of the sea's decline and partial return.

When to go

May to June and September to October; summer is extremely hot and dusty and winter severely cold. The shore tracks are impassable after rain and in spring thaw. Transport must be arranged in Aralsk.

Good to know

This is not a beach destination; the interest is the environmental story and the landscape of a drained seabed. Reaching the water requires hired four-wheel drive and hours of rough track. Accommodation in Aralsk is very basic. Dust storms from the dry bed are frequent.

Nearby

Aralsk is the base; Baikonur lies southeast.

Key facts