Sarygamysh Lake

Sarygamysh fills a depression on the Turkmen-Uzbek border that has flooded and dried repeatedly over the centuries as the Amu Darya shifted course, and its present body of water is the result of drainage from cotton irrigation running into it through the twentieth century. It is saline and rising and falling with the flow. Fish were introduced and a fishery operates. Waterbirds use it in numbers on migration, and the shores are bare.

What you actually see

• The lake - a large body of water in a depression that has filled and dried repeatedly.
• The drainage origin - the present lake formed from irrigation runoff.
• The migratory birds - the waterfowl using the lake on passage.
• The bare shores - salt flats and desert running down to the water.

When to go

April to May and September to October have the best conditions and the bird passage. Summer heat is extreme with no shade. Winter is cold and windy.

Honest expectations

The lake sits in a border zone and permits may be required. There are no facilities anywhere on the shore. Water quality is poor and the salinity is high.

Nearby

Dashoguz is southeast, and Konye-Urgench is south.