Akja Gala Caravanserai and Amul Settlement

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Akja Gala Caravanserai

   The Silk Road across the Karakum was never a single road. It was a series of wells, forts and caravanserais, a day's travel apart, where camels could drink and merchants could sleep behind walls. Akja Gala is one of these shelters, a square brick building with a central courtyard and rooms around it, set in sand and saxaul scrub between Merv and the Amu Darya, the river called the Oxus by the Greeks.

   Read the complete Akja Gala Caravanserai write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Akja Gala Caravanserai is where the day begins. Next is Mansaf Caravanserai.

2. 2. Mansaf Caravanserai

   Out in the Karakum, the great black-sand desert that covers most of Turkmenistan, the old caravan route between Merv and Amul on the Amu Darya crossed some two hundred kilometres of sand, and along it, at intervals of a day's march, stood caravanserais where travellers could rest, water their animals and find shelter. The ruins of the Mansaf caravanserai lie on this route, a crumbling square of brick walls and gateways in an empty landscape of dunes and saxaul shrubs. They are part of the Silk Roads heritage of Central Asia, and the corridor is on Turkmenistan's list of sites proposed for UNESCO recognition.

   Read the complete Mansaf Caravanserai write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Mansaf Caravanserai comes up about 83 km into the recorded legs. Next is Repetek.

3. 3. Repetek

   Repetek has the reputation of being one of the hottest places in the former Soviet Union, and on a summer afternoon in the Karakum desert, standing among the dunes with the air shimmering, you will not doubt it. A desert research station was founded here in 1912, and the surrounding area became a nature reserve, later a biosphere reserve, protecting a typical stretch of the sandy desert of Turkmenistan. Scientists have studied the plants, animals and dunes here for over a century, and the station has been a pioneer in understanding how life survives in extreme heat and drought.

   Read the complete Repetek write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 262 km into the recorded legs you reach Repetek. Next is Amul Settlement.

4. 4. Amul Settlement

   Amul was the old name for the crossing that later became Türkmenabat, and the settlement sits only six kilometres from that modern city on the Amu Darya, the river the ancients called the Oxus. It is a flat, dusty place of low mounds and eroded walls, and you might drive past without noticing. What it marks is a ford on one of the great Silk Road routes, where caravans coming from Merv in the southwest met the river before heading on toward Bukhara.

   Read the complete Amul Settlement write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Amul Settlement, about halfway. Next is back through Repetek.

5. 5. back through Repetek

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Repetek write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Repetek sits at 593 km, about halfway. Next is back through Mansaf Caravanserai.

6. 6. back through Mansaf Caravanserai

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Mansaf Caravanserai write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Mansaf Caravanserai comes up about 804 km into the recorded legs. Next is Akja Gala Caravanserai.

7. 7. Akja Gala Caravanserai

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Akja Gala Caravanserai write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Akja Gala Caravanserai closes the day.