Darvaza is a village area in Turkmenistan, very roughly half way between the border town of Daşoguz and Ashgabat via the main road south. (Note, main does not imply good, maintained or even an actual road at times). The village was originally disbanded in 2004 due to executive order of the President, and ‘reformed’ by renaming the airport town. The principal reason tourists are aware of the name is the Darvaza gas crater. More generally the area is well stocked with natural gas extraction from various mining companies.

Main Road & Offroading

The main road south from Daşoguz to the capital of Ashgabat is less than perfect. It is so bad in fact many cars will take the much longer route around the edge of Turkmenistan via Mary to Ashgabat just for the improved roads. We spent much of our time driving on the wrong side of the road, driving slowly to navigate potholes and most entertainingly, driving off road on the sand which was normally the smoothest and fastest we managed. When you see the incredible architecture of Ashgabat, its somewhat inexplicable how poorly maintained the main roads actually are.

From time to time, semi-domesticated camels come close to the road.

Darvaza gas crater

It’s the most famous thing about Turkmenistan than you’re allowed to discuss within the borders of Turkmenistan. The Darvaza gas crater, also known as the Gates of Hell, or, officially, the Shining of Karakum is a large broadly circular hole in the desert that has been on fire for more than forty years. Officially, it is unknown how the crater was formed, but the prevaing theory for it being on fire was the Soviet’s setting it alight to prevent the leakage of harmful gasses into the atmosphere, expecting it to burn out rapidly.

During the evening, we met an older man working in the nearby gas extraction facility, who, sat in one of our chairs his grease stained tank top and lit cigarette to take photos with us and ask one of our groupt o speak on the phone to his friend Mohammed. The cavalier attitude to his cigarette around the gas crater suggests an alternate, more hilarious reason for the blazing hole the the ground.

One thing many noted, having seen older pictures is there is much less fire now than there was before, whilst the crater is still remarkable, and the heat, especially when the wind picks up is intense, it is mostly rock and dirt visible, rather than flames.

Officially the crater is being closed soon, though our local contacts suspect it will take a couple of years to happen. The equipment is already there for shutting the channel that feeds the crater, and so we’re wondering how many more visitors will get the chance to see this sight before the machinery starts and the two yurt camps are forced to close.

I spent perhaps three 3 hours at the crater that evening, firstly taking photos and then simply sitting in a chair with friends watching the flames. I’ve been reading Kindred on this trip, explaining some of the history and insights of the Neanderthals and its humbling to think that Hominids watching fire for perhaps a million years, and even now, with everything we have in our lives, there is something comforting and engaging at watching the flames.

At midight we met a young guy in a taxi to Ashgabat, with a young woman and two other guys, who took a detour on their journey to see the crater, he was excited to meet tourists and keen to tell us his thoughts on how long the crater would take to close.

I slept poorly in the yurt as the temperatures were high, but dragged myself out of bed at 5:45am to hike up the hill for sunrise. I was protected on this journey by Max (not his real name, we named him) the dog from our Yurt camp who followed me up the hill and sat with his back to me keeping and eye on potential risks to my person.

It was extremely peaceful sat on this hill, there was wind, but almost no sounds. Sitting on a rock, with my camera focused on the crater I watched the sun come up behind the clouds. It was not a great sunrise, clouds really impacted the lighting, but even so, it was worth the early start.

Extraction Site

Close to the Crater, forming a triangle around it with the two tourist Yurt camps is the mining camp which houses the equipment soon to close the channel to the flaming crater.

Mud Crater

A short drive from the famous crater there are two other visitable craters in the area. The first is called the Mud Crater, and despite the name it is also on fire, a little. Caled the mud crater becuase it’s mostly mud in the bottom, its not enought to fill in for when the Davaa crater closes.

Water Crater

The second crater is the ‘water crater’ which has filled with water, as you’d expect from the name. Garbage litters the surface of the water and it is not safe to drink or swim in, though there is no easy way to get out of the hole shoud you inexplicably jump in.

Lake

On the way from Darvaza Crater to Ashgabat, we stopped briefly at a lake with the road continuing across it.

Stantrips Yurt Camp

There are two Yurt camps near to the crater, and we stayed at Stantrips, which offers some really nice (though extremely hot) yurts along with a delicious BBQ and a great breakfast.

Guarding the yurt camp, and occasionally attemping through mouthing and nipping to herd the guests, “Max” the Alabay (Central Asian Shepard) was a huge, but lovingly friendly member of the Yurt team. Less friendly to the local cats, who he would pin to the ground by stepping on their tails in an attempt to intimate them. What typically happened is the cats slashed at his nose with their paws and he backed off afraid. Only to start again. Max (Not his real name, just the name we gave him) would bark to alert all nearby if people came or went from the camp, and at 5am he really really wanted everyone to know what was going on for a solid hour. I had to get up at 5:45 anyway, and convinced him to come with me to the top of the nearby hill to watch the sunrise and photograph the crater. We also spent some time working on his mouthing and nipping, and I think he made great progress, no one complained that morning about it. A massive improvement from the night before!

Coffee Stop

After the Craters, we stopped briefly at a petrols tation with a small roadside cafe. They had a counter for the basics and then a seperate food and drinks counter offering tea and instant coffee and some sightly concerning looking foods. Inside there were also a lot of the traditional tapchan beds to rest on.