We left Nukus in the morning, heading with a driver to the Turkmen border where we were dropped off in safe distance to the border post. Checking out of Uzbekistan was surprisingly quick, and after a short walk through the no man’s land between the countries we could finally make use of the last visa on this trip- after a somehow lengthy customs procedure...

Konye-Urgench offered us a few sights from the times when the Mongols were here and a lunch break before heading off to Darvaza Gas crater. There, we arrived in the early evening after almost 300 km on a grueling road mostly consisting of potholes.

Darvaza Gas Crater is a special place indeed: It started as an oil drilling site in the 1970s, but instead a gas cavern was found under crumbling ground. The rest is mystery and legends, but the gas coming from the bottom of this 70m diameter crater has been burning since then...