Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
photos, some imaginative oil paintings and
around 15 jars preserving different Aral Sea
fish species - all now again present in the
North Aral except for the sturgeon. There's
also a large diorama depicting a battle be-
tween Bolshevik and White forces near
Aralsk in 1919.
4 ¨Sleeping¨&¨Eating
Homestays¨ HOmESTAY $
(per person incl breakfast/3 meals 3000/4500T)
Aral Tenizi (p91) offers clean and comfort-
able host-family accommodation in two
Aralsk homes with hot showers. It can
also arrange more basic homestays (out-
side toilets, no showers) in Tastubek and
other villages for around 3000T per per-
son including meals, but note that there's
an extra 10,000T driver's fee on any over-
night trips.
Aral¨Hotel¨ HOTEL $
( % 2 14 79; makataev 14; r 4000-7000T; a ) Ar-
alsk's only hotel stands between the former
harbour and the Aral Tenizi NGO office.
It's basic and a bit dilapidated, but the two
7000T rooms do have hot showers (the
others have no showers at all, just a toilet
and cold-water washbasin).
Chin-Son¨ KAZAKH, KOREAN $
(makataev; mains 500-1000T; h 11am-midnight)
Chin-Son, opposite the Aral Tenizi NGO
office, is the best eating option, with Kazakh,
Russian and spicy Korean dishes.
8 Getting¨There¨&¨Around
Aralsk's train station ( % 9 50 72), called
Aralskoe more, is 1km northeast of the central
square. There are at least four daily departures
northwest to Aktobe (2890T to 5700T, 10 to
11½ hours) and southeast to Kyzylorda (2390T
to 4790T, seven to 10 hours), Turkistan (3215T
to 5920T, 13 to 19 hours), Shymkent (3820T to
6950T, 16 to 22 hours) and Almaty (5960T to
6480T, 30 to 37 hours), plus trains to Tashkent
(11,890T to 23,670T, 21 to 24 hours) and
Bishkek (17,000T to 17,910T, 30 hours) ive or
six days a week.
In July and August tickets often sell out a
week ahead: buy your onward or return tickets
in advance.
THE¨ARAL¨SEA:¨ON¨ITS¨WAY¨BACK¨TO¨ARALSK
Four decades after they lat saw the Aral Sea in their harbour, the people of Aralsk have
real hope that it will be back soon.
Helped by international aid and lending agencies, Kazakhtan has revived the north-
ern Aral by building the 14km-long Kok-Aral Dam, completed in 2005, across the lat
channel connecting the northern and southern parts of the sea. With no outlet to the
south, the North Aral has risen again with water from the Syr-Darya. Rehabilitated wa-
terworks along the river have helped by increasing the water low into the sea, and by
2012 the North Aral had crept back to within 18km of Aralsk.
Now, a second dyke, 4m higher than the Kok-Aral Dam, is to be built across the
mouth of Saryshyganak Bay, the sea's northeatern arm which used to reach Aralsk.
At the same time a new channel will be cut from the Syr-Darya to feed water into Sary-
shyganak Bay. It's hoped the new dyke will be ready by 2016, and that the waters will
reach Aralsk in 2017.
In the 1990s the ishing catch in the North Aral was limited to lounder, the only
species able to survive the sea's extreme salinity then. Since 2005, at leat 15 types of
freshwater ish have returned to the North Aral via the Syr-Darya. Fishers travel from
their villages, often now 25km or 30km from the shore, to take out small boats from
which they catch carp, catish, pike and the valuable pike-perch, which is exported to
Russia and Poland. The total annual catch is up to around 4800 tonnes (about a quarter
of what the Aral provided in its heyday). Four ish-processing plants are operating again
around the North Aral, with more expected to open.
Locals also hope that revival of the North Aral and Saryshyganak Bay will help reduce
the noxious sandy, salty windtorms that plague communities such as Aralsk.
The Kok-Aral Dam has condemned the supersaline, ishless remnants of the South
Aral to accelerated evaporation, but mot experts consider that already a lot cause,
with no hope of more water from its main source, the Amu-Darya, which lows through
Turkmenitan and Uzbekitan.
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