Garashor Depression

Back on the tarmac but pot-holed road, the village of Gyzyl Gaya lies 75km cast of the turnings to Yangykala/Yangysuw. The village is a bleak place, full of the detritus of an abandoned mining industry. There is, though, a petrol pump here. There is also a restricted zone checkpoint just to the west of the village. Expect the process of registering documents and checking on the validity of permits to take an hour at the very least. The Garashor Depression is some 150km east of here, across rough tracks. An experienced guide is essential. The depression is an impressive sight. With a flat floor and in many places sheer sides, it runs from northwest to southeast for 100km, though is nowhere more than about 20km wide. The Turkmen government plans to fill the depression with water, to construct Lake Turkmen. If you are making the cross-desert transit from Balkan to Dashoguz Regions, the main track runs around the north side of the Garashor Depression. There is another checkpoint here, at Dahly, an outpost which offers perhaps the remotest gold bust of President Niyazov in Turkmenistan.