The position of Kyzyl Kum in the ranking of the world’s deserts is not exactly outstanding: it occupies eleventh place in area. This could make one think that it is a modest surface and a “desert” to be at home. Nothing further from reality. It is 300,000 square kilometers of scorching wasteland (the size of Poland), a piece of land located between the mighty Amu Darya and Sir Darya rivers in Central Asia.
In the Uzbek fragment of the autonomous Republic of Karakalpakistan – although it may seem like a fairy tale name, it exists – there is a prodigious network of 50 fortresses built with the sand of the terrain itself that, despite their labile material, have remained standing since the 1st-5th centuries.
They are, logically, castles in different states of conservation. Perhaps the most impressive is Ayaz Qala. The outer wall is preserved almost entirely, crowning a mountain and adding with its ten meters high external wall a very characteristic silhouette to a desert that is distinguished by its undulating forms of compact earth rather than by the dunes that we usually imagine.
You can walk inside the fortification, completely surround the perimeter along the sentinels’ promenade and see up to ten of the structures, from wine warehouses to camel stables.
Kizil Qala is located 30 kilometers away from the previous one, and is one of the oldest, dating back to the first century AD. It has walls eight meters wide by 16 meters high, an invitation to avoid the siege. From the same period is Toprak Qala, which housed, according to archaeologists, a garrison of 2,500 people.
These fortresses and about fifty more were intended to defend the ancient kingdom of Chorasmia from attacks by nomadic desert tribes. Scientific studies support the existence of up to a thousand of these constructions, of which fifty have survived and can be visited by private vehicle following the route of the Golden Ring of Ancient Chorasmia proposed by UNESCO.
The fortresses of Chorasmia (Khorezm, in English, is how they are seen signposted along the main highway of Uzbekistan) were brought to light after centuries of being forgotten thanks to the Soviet archaeological expeditions of the 1930s. In the middle of the last century, excavations began and wonders such as Koy Krilgan Qala were discovered, in this case a defensive enclave with a circular plan that reaches 87 meters in diameter.
The frescoes found in Toprak Qala, of Zoroastrian and Greek style, were once taken to the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.
Today, overshadowed by the dazzling beauty of the caravan cities of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva, the sand castles of the Kyzyl Kum desert are a destination for the most daring travelers, who are not afraid of the area’s inclement temperatures (up to 50ºC in summer and -35ºC in winter). Solitude and the wind are the most common companions of the few who venture to know them.
The most efficient way to visit the fortresses is by hiring a taxi (you must agree on how many castles will be visited and in what order) or by hiring a tour organized by travel agencies in Khiva or Bukhara. These cities have better access to the Golden Ring – although the castles are formally in Karakalpak territory – than from Nukus.
