Lake Aydarkul

The desert sea that appeared by accident

Aydarkul is a huge lake in the middle of the Kyzylkum Desert — but 60 years ago it didn't exist! In 1969 there was a great flood, and the water of the Syr Darya poured into a hollow in the desert — and a lake the size of a sea appeared. Today fishermen work there, pelicans and flamingos nest, and children swim. People call it the 'Uzbek sea'.

The Aydar-Arnasay lake system covers 4,000 km² (Uzbekistan's largest lake) and formed in 1969, when an emergency release from the Chardara reservoir sent 21 km³ of Syr Darya water into the Arnasay depression; surplus water kept being diverted and by the 1990s the lake reached its present size. Its salinity is low (2 g/l), so it counts as freshwater; 2,000 tonnes of fish a year (carp, pikeperch, grass carp). Protected under the Ramsar Convention since 2008 — more than 100 bird species: Dalmatian pelican, flamingo, swan. It appeared at the same time as the Aral Sea dried up — two faces of water management in Central Asia. An ecotourism centre (yurt camps, camel safaris).

Fun facts

• Aydarkul didn't exist before 1969 — one flood created a sea in the desert.
• The lake appeared as the Aral Sea dried — the water 'moved' from there to here.
• Pelicans nest on Aydarkul — in the middle of a desert!