Nature of Uzbekistan

Kyzylkum Desert became in a way the scene of a ‘geographical miracle’: in waterless desolate wilderness there appeared a lake whose water surface exceeded 2300 square kilometers in area! The lake resulted from overflow of the Syrdarya river, when the surplus drain water in Jizak Steppe had to be sent to the Aydar inland basin. The drain water from the neighboring Golodnaya Steppe was also sent there. Thus came into being the blue Aydarkul Lake, with its waters full of fish and its beaches attractive to holiday-makers.
The south-east Kyzylkums are plains whose landscape is transformed by irrigation. Formerly it was a desert area traditionally called ‘steppes’ – Golodnaya Steppe and Jizak Steppe. Karshi Steppe to the south of the Gissar-Alay looks the same. These steppes are not arid deserts anymore. Today these are carefully cultivated plains with boundless cotton and wheat fields, orchards and gardens, mechanized farms and industrial towns.
One of the distinct features of Uzbekistan is its location in the very heart of the Asian continent, thousands kilometers away from the nearest seas; Uzbekistan has no coastlines except for the 420-kilometer-long Aral Sea shore line.
A dramatic fate was meant for the Aral Sea. For the past decades the sea has shrunk fivefold; in some places its waters have gone 80 kilometers away from the shoreline. In cooperation with the neighboring countries, supported by the international community, the government of Uzbekistan is now taking emergency measures to save the Aral Sea.
It is not without reasons that the climate of Uzbekistan is called ‘extreme’: day as well as year temperatures are characterised by sharp drops. One can experience these ‘temperature extremes’ particularly in the mountainous areas where during the day the heat is really scorching but after sunset the puddles get covered with ice crusts. In summer it is hot and dry here. Winters are short, relatively mild, yet with occasional frosts that are too hard for the latitude. Springs, on the contrary, slip by, with constant showers and thunderstorms – as if nature tries to hasten the blossoming time. And finally, there comes the autumn – the pleasant season in the country: the heat gradually goes away, decreasing by 1°C a day; the sun in the cloudless sky is shining gently; the stalls in the bazaars are crammed with fruits and vegetables.
In the tugai woods along the banks of the