Talking Turkmenistan
A travel ban, a visa knock back, a presidential cookbook and a recipe for fish pilaf from the shores of the Caspian Sea
It’s a bumper Journeys Beyond Borders newsletter this week, digging into the personal, the political and the newsworthy. Thank you as ever for reading and I’d love your comments below if you’ve something to add.
Turkmenistan has been in the news not once but twice already this month.
Firstly, the United States announced in early June that the Central Asian country was among seven other nations that would be subject to the partial US travel ban, meaning stricter requirements and more trouble in obtaining visas for potential visitors.
The reasons are opaque but it seems overstaying visas is the cause. However, given the minuscule percentage of Turkmen who leave the country—at all or indeed ever—this does feel unwarranted.
Then, around the same time, the British tabloids began excitedly reporting that the desert gas fire that has been burning for half a century at a site dubbed the “Gateway to Hell”, or the Darvaza gas crater, may finally go out.
The flaming crater has been ablaze ever since Soviet scientists accidentally drilled into an underground pocket of gas and then ignited it.
For many years, this phenomenon in the Karakum (Black Sands) desert was a draw for the few determined tourists who make it to Turkmenistan. In fact, back in 2017 Lonely Planet listed Darvaza as one of its top 50 natural wonders of the world. But scientists now say that the gateway is finally closing or at least significantly shrinking.
Witnessing this flaming phenomenon, especially at night, would be quite something but of course there is an environmental toll and it would be better for it to cease.
Now onto news of a more personal nature: whatever happens to the fiery crater, it is unlikely that I will ever get to see it…