June 23rd : Aral Sea > The Disaster

Today is an important day for us and we are expecting the moment to see the boat cemetery like kids eating some candies :)

We heard and read a lot about the Aral Sea tragedy and we want to see the reality from our own eyes !

Fist of all, a little bit of story and what is happening here !

The name translates as `Sea of Islands` referring to over 1100 islands who used to be counted in the past. The Aral Sea has been steadily shrinking since the 1960s after the rivers that fed it were diverted by Soviet irrigation projects. By 2007, it had declined to 10% of its original size, splitting into four lakes.

The shrinking of the Aral Sea has been called "one of the planet's worst environmental disasters".The region's once-prosperous fishing industry has been essentially destroyed, bringing unemployment and economic hardship. 

People says, the land around the Aral Sea is heavily polluted, and the people living in the area are suffering from a lack of fresh water and health problem.

From Kungrad, we took a taxi to reach Moynak and try to find those wrecked boats. The entrance of the city (cf picture below) shows a fish as his emblem. The current port is from now on a boat cemetery standing at 150km from the water :(

Most of those boats are here for more than 20 years.

Whats remains of Moynaq`s fishing fleet lies rusting on the sand, beside depressions marking the town.

Nico got some nice shoots here and there...Its a pretty sad sensation and you feel something is wrong here !