Aralkum National Nature Park

Aralkum National Nature Park was established by presidential decree in 2022 in the Muynak district of Karakalpakstan, on part of the dried former seabed of the Aral Sea, with the explicit aim of developing ecotourism in the region. It covers one million hectares, split into a strictly protected zone of 585,000 hectares, a recreational zone of 125,000 hectares and an economic zone of 290,000 hectares, lying between 25 and 50 meters above sea level, with its highest point at the former island of Vozrozhdeniya. The park lies about 60 kilometers from the center of Muynak and is home to 25 recorded animal species, four of them listed in Uzbekistan's Red Book, most notably the saiga antelope, an endangered species also protected under international conventions. Among its planned attractions is artesian water rising from roughly 700 meters below the former sea floor, a curiosity drawing both researchers and visitors to this unusual post-desertification landscape.