Aiming to reveal the hidden wonders of the world through close-up, macro and micro photography, the Close-up Photographer of the Year (CUPOTY) has announced the winners and finalists of its annual competition
Life in Karakalpakstan: The 'stan within a stan'
27.12.2023 - 18:07 / bbc.com
Located in the heart of Central Asia, Karakalpakstan is the "stan within a stan", an autonomous state of the landlocked Republic of Uzbekistan that borders Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Home to the Indigenous Karakalpak people, the desert province was, until recently, dominated by the Aral Sea – a vast inland lake that has since shrunk to a fraction of its original size.
Considered one of the most serious environmental disasters of modern times, the Aral Sea's fast-disappearing waters have spurred on conservation efforts here, leading to a growing interest in Karakalpakstan as a destination for eco-tourism.
Those visitors have, in turn, started to seek out the region's cultural treasures, too. "The Khorezm desert fortresses and the Mizdarkhan necropolis here are amongst the most-impressive archaeological sites anywhere in Central Asia," said Sophie Ibbotson, co-author of the Bradt Guide to Karakalpakstan, the first-ever travel guide to the region. "Elsewhere, the Savitsky Museum in the capital Nukus is justifiably known as the 'Louvre of the Steppe'." (The museum contains the world's second-largest collection of Russian avant-garde art alongside Karakalpak archaeological and ethnographic galleries.) "For the intrepid traveller, this is a land of extraordinary variety, both in terms of landscapes and experiences."
Karakalpakstan was once part of a historic region known as Khorezm, whose people built great mud-brick fortresses along their frontiers as protection from nomadic raiders. More than 50 of their desert castles have survived, including Ayaz Kala, which dates to the 4th Century BCE and consists of two hilltop forts and a lower garrison. One notable discovery here was the remains of an ancient fire temple, believed to have been the altar of fire-worshipping Zoroastrians. (Zoroastrianism was practiced in Karakalpakstan before Islam arrived in the 8th Century.)
Until the early 20th Century, many Karakalpak families lived in yurts: portable tents that were ideal for the seasonal migration with their cattle between winter homes and summer grazing pastures. They consist of a lightweight wooden frame covered with animal skins and wool, the latter said to deter desert scorpions.
In the city of Chimbay, Azamat Turekeev is a third-generation yurt maker who builds around 18 yurts a year, the largest of which cost $3,500 (£2,800). Turekeev sells to some Kazakh and Kyrgyz nomads but mostly now to tourist yurt camps. "The rise in adventure tourism helps keep this ancient tradition alive," he said.
Founded in the 4th Century BCE, Mizdakhan is one of Karakalpakstan's oldest and holiest sites. According to local legend it's the burial place of Adam. (In the Islamic creation myth, Adam was the first human, the
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