Barsakelmas State Wildlife Sanctuary

This state reserve, created in 2022 on the recommendation of the Academies of Sciences of Uzbekistan and Karakalpakstan, protects a roughly 280,000-hectare stretch of the Ustyurt Plateau around the Barsakelmes depression, of which about 44,000 hectares form a strictly protected core zone. The terrain is flat and arid, shaped by karst processes into numerous sinkholes and shallow depressions, under a sharply continental climate with very little rainfall. Vegetation is dominated by desert shrubs such as saxaul and tamarisk, and the reserve shelters saiga antelope, goitered gazelles, wolves, and various birds of prey among the Ustyurt's wildlife. An autumn 2025 survey recorded 42 bird species, three of them listed in Uzbekistan's Red Book, and 17 mammal species, five of them also Red Book-listed. The reserve has begun developing limited ecotourism around its karst sinkholes, Lake Gurkireuk, the former Barsakelmes salt workings, and nearby historical sites.