Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
east flow into the Pamir Alay range. This
isolated, rocky and forested terrain makes
up an important habitat for the bear, lynx,
bustard, mountain goat and even the elusive
snow leopard.
To the west of the well-watered moun-
tains are vast plains of desert or steppe.
The Amu-Darya (Oxus river) drops out of
Tajikistan and winds its way westward along
the Turkmen border for more than 2000km
before petering out short of Moynaq, cleav-
ing the landscape into two halves: the Kara-
kum (White Sands) desert and the Ustyurt
Plateau to the west; and the Kyzylkum (Red
Sands) desert to the east. Despite its bleak-
ness, this land is far from dead; the desert
is home to the gazelle, various raptors and
other critters you'd expect to find - moni-
tors, scorpions and venomous snakes.
There are some 15 nature reserves in Uz-
bekistan, the largest of which is the Hissar
Nature Reserve (750 sq km), due east of Sha-
khrisabz.
Much of this protected territory is threat-
ened by Uzbekistan's lacklustre environmen-
tal protection laws and the deterioration of
its national park system, which lacks the
funds to prevent illegal logging and poach-
ing. The faltering of the reserves, however,
pales in comparison to the Aral Sea disaster,
which has been dubbed by some experts as
the 'greatest man-made environmental dis-
aster in history'.
Arts
Traditional art, music and architecture -
evolving over centuries - were placed in a
neat little box for preservation following
the Soviet creation of the Uzbek SSR. But
somehow, in the years to follow, two major
centres of progressive art were still allowed
to develop: Igor Savitsky's collection of lost
art from the 1930s, stashed away in Nukus'
Savitsky Museum, and the life stories told
inside the late Mark Weil's legendary Ilkhom
Theatre in Tashkent.
Contemporary art is, like the media, tight-
ly controlled by the state. Renegade artists
who push buttons, such as Weil and photog-
rapher Umida Ahmedova, find themselves
in trouble. Ahmedova, whose work captures
the lives and traditions of ordinary Uzbeks,
drew international attention in 2009 when
she was arrested and convicted of 'slander-
ing the Uzbek nation' for a series that even-
tually ran on the BBC website.
While Karimov pardoned her, a glance
at the seemingly harmless photos reveals
much about the president's artistic ideal:
Uzbekistan should be portrayed as clean,
orderly, prosperous and modern. This ideal
has also had an impact on urban planning -
witness the makeover of Samarkand, where
planners have cordoned off the old town
from tourists' view, and the demolition of
Amir Timur maydoni in Tashkent.
Similar laws were invoked in 2013, when
five totally unthreatening pop acts were
banned from giving live performances in Uz-
bekistan for the crime of failing to 'praise the
motherland, our people and their happiness'
in their musical output. Indeed, Uzbeks love
Turkish pop, and their own music reflects
that. The country's most famous singer is
actually President Karimov's politician/
socialite/business mogul/Harvard alumni/
pop star daughter Gulnara, better known to
some by her stage name, Googoosha. Check
out her wonderfully awful duet with Gérard
Depardieu on YouTube.
Food & Drink
Plov,
a Central Asian pilaf consisting of rice
and fried vegetables, is the national staple
and every region prepares its own distinct
version. Every region also has its own vari-
ation of
non
bread, commonly known by its
Russian name,
lepyoshka;
the raised rim of
Kokand's speciality makes it a particularly
fine shashlyk plate. Samarkand's
non
resem-
bles a giant bagel without the hole.
Regional staples such as
laghman
(long,
flat noodles),
beshbarmak
(noodles with
horse meat and broth),
halim
(porridge of
boiled meat and wheat) and
naryn
(horse
meat sausage with cold noodles) are all
popular.
Moshkichiri
and
moshhurda
are
meat and mung-bean gruels, respectively.
Dimlama
(also called
bosma
) is meat, pota-
toes, onions and vegetables braised slowly in
a little fat and their own juices; the meatless
version is
sabzavotli
dimlama
.
Buglama
kovok
(steamed pumpkin) is a light treat.
Environment
Uzbekistan spans several ecosystems, and
topographic and geographic shifts. Its east-
ern fringes tilt upwards in a knot of rugged
mountains - Tashkent's Chatkal and Pskem
Mountains run into the western Tian Shan
range, and Samarkand's Zarafshon Moun-
tains and a mass of ranges in the south-
