Aral Sea Disaster: Moynaq – Uzbekistan

Backstory from 2015, when I visited the Moynaq (or Muynak) Ship Cemetery at the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan.

Where is the Moynaq Ship Cemetery located?

The Ship Cemetery is located in the town of Moynaq, around 200 km from Nukus, the capital of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, an autonomous republic in Uzbekistan.

I have added the Republic of Karakalpakstan to my countries and territories visited.

The Aral Sea was once one of the world’s largest lakes after the Caspian Sea, Lake Superior, and Lake Victoria.

The surface area of the Aral Sea before 1961 was 68,000 sq. km, and the water salinity was 10-11 g per litre. The marine and fishing industry used to have more than 500 ships.

​That was before the Soviets created this horrendous ecological and environmental disaster.

The ecological disaster in the Aral Sea was caused by the Soviets, who were hell-bent on making Uzbekistan one of the world’s largest producers of cotton.

They dug irrigation canals from the two main rivers that flowed into the lake to provide water for the cotton plantations, and in doing so, they created one of the largest environmental disasters of the 20th century.

The lake shrank rapidly, and the Aral Sea Fishing Industry was killed off.

Since 1979, there has been no maritime industry. By 1984, the Aral Sea had lost its industrial importance. Fish farms, fish factories and shipyards were closed down. More than 10,000 people became unemployed.

But it did far more lasting damage than just killing off the fishing industry.

The environmental consequences are staggering. As of January 2010, the Aral Sea was only 28,687 sq. km and water salinity was up to 110 g per litre.

Salt-sand storms throw out a massive 75 million tons of sand and salt, which cause health problems for those who remain here, not to mention the longer, colder winters and shorter, hotter summers.

In short, an environmental disaster on a horrendous scale.

Moynaq, a town that 50 years ago was a thriving fishing port, is now more than 150 km from the lakeshore.

Surprisingly, people still live here. It is the harshest place I have ever been.

On the edge of town, where there was once water, there are the rusting skeletons of abandoned ships. A ship graveyard. The Moynaq Ship Cemetery.

Photos from the Moynaq Ship Cemetery – Aral Sea in Uzbekistan:

Travel advisory:

I travelled there with SJ, my Korean lover. We took a shared taxi from the bus stand on Kungrad Road in Nukus to Moynaq for 10,000 Som.

The only hotel in town was the Oybek Hotel, but it looked like they hadn’t had guests in a very long time. Broken windows, rooms filled with rubble.

Our taxi driver called the homestay using the number listed in the Lonely Planet. We were driven to a house on a street parallel to the main street. 10 USD per night with AC. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner could be provided for an extra 5 USD.

We stayed for 2 nights and had breakfast and lunch. For the evening meal, we self-catered.

In the summer, temperatures hit 50 degrees C. After 9 am, it was simply too hot to be out. In the evening, we wandered the deserted streets picking up the usual Central Asian snacks: bread, salami, cheese, tomatoes, and of course, beer and vodka.