Ancient forts of Khwarezm

Remembering that we are actually still traveling along the ancient Silk Road, Boris and I headed out to the visit see some of the ancient forts in the desert. The ancient highway running from Southern Europe to China is quite amazing: so many goods, religious and cultural ideas, and scientific knowledge have traveled along it. Silk and the art of paper making traveled from China to Europe, while horses, Buddhism and Mediterranean colored glass traveled from West to East.

In the middle of the ancient super highway lays the Khwarezm, a large region south of the Aral Sea bordered by the Kyzylkum desert and Karakum desert. Khwarezm is desert like, very hot and dry but it is full of small oases. They made it possible to travel through this region. A number of forts were operated here in order to provide nightly shelter and security for the travelers on the Silk Road. They were constructed around every 40km as this is the distance a camel can travel in one day.

Today the ruins of numerous forts and the castles of ancient kingdoms can be visited. Boris and I took a taxi from Khiva and drove around in the area for some hours, spotting not only ancient ruins, but also quite some wildlife. Even tough this region seems so life-forbidding we are able to sneak up on lizards, bugs and birds (or they sneak up on us). This little lizard was particularly cheeky. Full of self-confidence he rand towards us, stopped and bounced up and down standing only on his forelegs, and showing of his frightening black-and-white tail. Some of the ruins today provide ideal nesting for wonderfully colored birds. For us this little excursion was a welcoming change from traveling between the ancient towns of Khiva and Bukhara.