Lebap Province in north-east Turkmenistan is as remote as it gets in this Least Visited Country. Filled with moonscapes, a dinosaur plateau scalloped with around a couple of hundred, 150-million-year-old footprints of Megalosaurians during the Jurassic Period, deep canyons, and grottoes dedicated to saints and wishes, it is untouched by tourism. No-one speaks English here either.

To put things in context, Turkmenistan does not allow tourists to travel independently through the country. Neither can one simply travel to any random part of the country that tickles one’s fancy. There are designated places one is allowed to explore, and when out of Ashgabat, one must be accompanied with a licensed local guide.

Not many people visit Turkmenistan. The average number is less than 10,000 annually excluding the 3-to-7-day transit visas. Even fewer make it to its remote north-east. One of those rare ones was me. 😀

Here is my photo diary on this part of the world. I hope it inspires you to take the road less travelled, in this case time-travel to Lebap Province!

“Welcome to my part of the world.” I met this gentleman at a local restaurant in the village I was based in, in the Koytendag Mountains. There is something very dignified, almost sombre, yet genuinely warm about the Turkmen. Turkmen, by the way, means “I am Turk.”

The village supermarket that sold washbasins, onions, chips, airtime, coke … you name it, it was here.

I could not figure out this poster which hung outside most shops. Manat is the local currency. When I put the text on the red banner in Google Translate, it read “Water fills the ground.” Now, I was even more confused.

A new day, a new place. Looking across the ancient Koytendag Mountains in the extreme east of the country.

Koytendag Nature Reserve is spread over 271 sq. kms, the average altitude ranging between 900 to 3,139 metres. More than 300 caves, created by geological processes, dot these fossil-rich mountains which have no equal in Eurasia.

Behind me, and still to scale, was this limestone plateau known as the Dinosaur Plateau. That is no distorted shot as a result of placing the camera at a particular angle. The incline was crazy steep.

For the longest time locals believed the footprints on the limestone slab, measuring 400 metres by 300 metres, belonged to the prancing elephants of Alexander the Great. Even the nearest village is called Hojapil meaning “Sacred Elephants.”

150-million-years ago this tilted slab lay under a lagoon on which dinosaurs walked across. A few million years later, the tectonic plates collided, and the slab was pushed up. Erosion over a few more million years removed the soft earth accumulated on it to reveal the footprints and trails. In the late-20th Century, international scientists got to know about its existence. It was listed on UNESCO’s Tentative List in 2009.

After climbing up, it was time to walk through the narrow Umbar Dere Gorge which ends in a waterfall when it rains. There is no rain in October and I could walk on the dry riverbed hemmed in by towering cliffs, right up to the equally dry waterfall. To get an idea of scale, look at the size of the figure in black walking ahead of me.

Isn’t it beautiful … But if you are prone to claustrophobia, well, it could be deadly, because it is not just a few metres but a nice long walk in the shadows of the mountain walls which get really close to each other at parts.

Back to human and animal habitation. The puppy above is Turkmenistan’s national animal called Alabai, a Central Asian shepherd dog, and the image on the right is a farmer demonstrating a goat massage. No, I did not get one. That goat looked way too heavy and fierce. Incidentally, there is a monument dedicated to the Alabai in Ashgabat.

Lunch. Nothing beats fresh fruit, straight from an orchard.

Horses have been an integral part of Turkmen lives, often making it difficult to separate the two. Considered a part of the family, the bond goes back to the Bronze Age as demonstrated by the excavations in Gonur Depe. Akhal Teke is the most prized species and has a metallic sheen. The above commoner pair in my photo was at the entrance of Kyrk Giz Grotto.

Kyrk Giz Grotto is the grandest of the 300 or so caves dotting the Koytendag Mountains and the most sacred. I met two sisters here who were hurling their muddy ribbons at the grotto ceiling, in the hope that they would stick just like the millions of others already hanging. Each stuck ribbon in the cave is a wish that is believed will come true. Nope, I did not even try. 🙂

Turkmen legend claims a little girl-saint used to meditate in these caves. That is her picture, along with other religious trinkets, for sale to pilgrims at the entrance.

The canyon that leads to the Kyrk Giz Grotto. It is awfully pretty. Like a movie set. Don’t you agree?

Another day, another Sufi shrine. Turkmenistan stands at a complicated crossroads of atheism [Russian legacy], Sufism [traditional practice], and Islam [current official religion]. Lebap Province, like much of rural traditional Turkmenistan, is covered with Sufi shrines. They are everywhere: atop hills, inside caves, by the roadside. This one was the Gaynar Baba shrine. It faced a small lake fed with a sulphur spring.

Unusual for a Muslim country, the hijab is banned in Turkmenistan, and men below 70 years of age are not allowed to keep a beard.

Piles of stones like these, representing wishes, covered the entire Gaynar Baba shrine hill. I found these in the Umbar Dere Gorge, Kyrk Giz Grotto, and roadsides as well. Wherever there were stones, it seemed pilgrims had come along and placed them on top of each other with a prayer.

Two things I found to be squeaky immaculate in Turkmenistan were its cars [never a dent or even a scratch] and its perfectly groomed and behaved schoolchildren, even if both were in a remote dusty town in the middle of nowhere.

Schooling in Turkmenistan is free and compulsory till standard 12 and includes the study of English, Persian, Russian, and Arabic languages; it is followed by two years military service for boys. Whilst the government pays for the text books, those sparkling uniforms are paid for by the families. Two plaits without a single strand amiss, Turkmen skull caps, long velvet gowns, and a demure handbag for the girls and the boys in black trousers, crisp white shirts, and skull caps, carrying spotless black briefcases. The girl-child sported white pinafores which I found kind of quaint!

It is my last day, and a walk around the village revealed charming sun-dappled farms with cows mooing their hearts out.

I decided to walk in and chat with one of the farm-owners. Though we were limited with our language skills, we sure were not limited in our desire to communicate. Smiles and some overtly exaggerated facial expressions later, we felt like we had known each other forever.

My favourite cooks in the world. Not the baby, but the two ladies who are sisters-in-law. Every day I had breakfast and dinner at their cafe, which they served with so much love and warmth. Whatever was lacking in variety, they made up for with their hospitality. Thank you, ladies.

Breakfast, like every other day’s. Cheese which I always had all of, some fruit jam which I never touched, and black coffee which I wish there was more of. Still to come were the runny eggs and Turkmen bread.

On the road, back to Turkmenabat, and a Sufi shrine on a nearby hillock shaped like a heart and encircled with shrubs.

Just before Turkmenabat was one last stop: the Mausoleum of Astana Baba in a complex comprising of multiple tombs, and a mosque. The mausoleum, a pilgrimage site, was built in the 11th-12th Century. Nobody seems to know much about Astana Baba, except that he was a Sufi saint and the tomb has miraculous healing properties.

Within the complex were also the tombs of a father-daughter duo. Zed Ali [ruler of Balkh in Afghanistan], and his daughter Zuveid Ali. Zuveid, unfortunately, died soon after her marriage. Her broken-hearted father tried to build a mausoleum for her, but in vain. It kept collapsing, until he saw an old man in his dream who advised him to build the tomb with clay and water from Mecca. Lo-behold, the tomb stood strong when he did, and when he died, he had himself buried next to his child.

The ubiquitous checkpoints. Goodbye Lebap Province. Thank you for letting me know you. ❤

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Travel tips:

• How many days?: I stayed for 4 days, 3 nights.
• Staying there: I stayed at the state-owned guest house Syyahatcylyk Dync Alys Baza [+993 6420 0063].
• Place to eat: Cynar Kafesi [+993 6395 2595].
• Getting around: I used the 4×4 provided by the local tour company.
• Getting to Lebap: I flew into Kerki, and then we drove to the guest house in the Koytendag Mountains.

[Note: This blog post is part of a series from my travels to Turkmenistan for 12 days in October 2023. To read more posts in my Turkmenistan series, click here.]

Just me, taking a stroll on the highway in the Koytendag Mountains.