BY: JESSICA BEUKER  

The Aralkum desert was not always a desert—dry and rugged, not a single soul roving its surface, with violent dust storms when the wind picks up the salty sand that covers the ground. In fact, it was once the fourth-largest lake in the world.

The sea was home to a fishing industry that produced 50,000 tons of fish and fed over 100,000 people across nine different countries.

Fifty years ago, the Aralkum desert was known as the Aral Sea—a lake half the size of England that sat between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The sea was home to a fishing industry that produced 50,000 tons of fish and fed over 100,000 people across nine different countries.

Canals were intended to sustain large-scale agriculture in the desert

In 1960, the sea began to change. Two campaigns, Joseph Stalin’s “Great Plan for the Transformation of Nature” and Nikita Khrushchev’s “Virgin Lands Campaign”, were put into effect and involved digging irrigation canals from Uzbekistan to Turkmenistan. Fed by the Amu Darya and Syr Darya Rivers, the canals were intended to sustain large-scale agriculture in the desert. According to Sometimes Interesting, two major canals were constructed that diverted 25 per cent of the Amu Darya’s waters. The system ended up being inefficient and the Amu Darya lost so much of its flow that it could no longer reach the Aral Sea. The rate of water being diverted was greater than the inflow of water, and the Aral Sea began to shrink.

The rate of water being diverted was greater than the inflow of water, and the Aral Sea began to shrink, leaving behind the corpses of corroded ships

As the water level decreased, the salinity and toxicity increased. Hundred year-old fishing economies were left stranded far away from water. The ecosystem collapsed, ships ran aground and the residents fled, leaving only behind the corpses of corroded ships, buried in sand.

The ships serve as shelter for nomadic scavengers, or travelers passing through who need to escape from the harsh heat of the desert sun.

Since then, scavengers have stripped the vessels of their valuables and goods, leaving them with nothing. Today, they sit partially above ground, their bows peeking out of the cracked earth. The ships serve as shelter for nomadic scavengers, or travelers passing through who need to escape from the harsh heat of the desert sun.