Ustyurt Plateau

The plateau

The Ustyurt is a desert plateau in western Central Asia, between the Mangyshlak peninsula and Kara-Bogaz-Gol bay to the west and the Aral Sea and Amu Darya delta to the east, covering about 200,000 km². Its name comes from the Turkic üst, “top”. The Karabaur ridge rises in the middle, and geologists regard the plateau as the floor of an ancient Cenozoic sea.

Uzbekistan holds the eastern part, in the Qo‘ng‘irot and Moynaq districts of Karakalpakstan. Sheer cliffs called chinks rim the plateau; the eastern chink stands like a wall above Lake Sudochye and the dried-out Aral shore, and the view from its edge is the highlight of any Ustyurt trip.

Nature

Clay desert of wormwood and saltwort dominates, giving way to gravelly desert in the southeast. Rain is scarce, summers scorching and winters cold and windy. Until the mid-20th century the plateau held Ustyurt urial, goitered gazelle, caracal, honey badger, marbled polecat and cheetah, though the cheetah had disappeared by then. Today it is key habitat for the saiga antelope, protected on the Uzbek side by the Saigachiy reserve (1991, 628,300 ha) and the South Ustyurt National Park (2020).

History

Mesolithic and Neolithic sites of the Aydabol culture have been identified here, and in the 6th–7th centuries the plateau was part of the Jetyasar-Kerder cultural area. Ancient hunters left the “Ustyurt arrows” — vast stone-lined structures that look like arrowheads from the air and are thought to have been traps for wild ungulates.

In the Middle Ages a caravan road from Khorezm to the Volga crossed the plateau, with way stations such as the Beleuli caravanserai; today the Kungrad–Beyneu railway runs across it.

Getting there

Most visitors come by 4×4 from Nukus or Moynaq on a two-day trip to the Aral Sea, passing Sudochye, abandoned fishing villages, chink viewpoints and canyons. Settlements, fuel and phone signal are scarce, so independent travel is not advised.