Koshk Imaret near Abdullah Khan Kala and Akja Gala Caravanserai

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Koshk Imaret near Abdullah Khan Kala

   Merv was one of the great cities of the world, and today it is a field of mud-brick walls in the Karakum desert. At its height in the twelfth century, under the Seljuk sultan Sanjar, Merv was among the biggest cities on Earth, a Silk Road oasis with libraries, mosques, markets and an elaborate water system fed by canals from the Murghab river. The Mongols destroyed it in 1221, and although a later city grew nearby, the old centre never recovered. The ancient cities of Merv, which spread across a series of walled sites from the time of the Persians to the fifteenth century, were inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1999.

   Read the complete Koshk Imaret near Abdullah Khan Kala write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Koshk Imaret near Abdullah Khan Kala is where the day begins. Next is Takhirbaj Tepe.

2. 2. Takhirbaj Tepe

   The Murghab river flows out of the mountains of Afghanistan and dies in the sands of the Karakum desert, and where it fans out into a delta lies the oasis of Merv, in what is now southern Turkmenistan. For thousands of years people have farmed here, building cities one beside another as rivers shifted and empires came and went. Takhirbaj Tepe is one of the oldest of these settlements, a mound in the northern part of the oasis dating back to the Bronze and Iron Ages, long before the great medieval city that made Merv famous. It forms part of the State Historical and Cultural Park Ancient Merv, listed by UNESCO in 1999, alongside sites such as Yaz Tepe and Gobekli Tepe nearby.

   Read the complete Takhirbaj Tepe write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Takhirbaj Tepe comes up about 199 km into the recorded legs. Next is Akja Gala Caravanserai.

3. 3. 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

   about 389 km into the recorded legs you reach Akja Gala Caravanserai. Next is back through Takhirbaj Tepe.

4. 4. back through Takhirbaj Tepe

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Takhirbaj Tepe write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Takhirbaj Tepe, late in the day. Next is Koshk Imaret near Abdullah Khan Kala.

5. 5. Koshk Imaret near Abdullah Khan Kala

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Koshk Imaret near Abdullah Khan Kala write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Koshk Imaret near Abdullah Khan Kala. That is the ride.