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WONDERS OF NATURE
Badkhyz. Nature miracle
In the very south of Turkmenistan, near the border with Afghanistan, behind the lifeless expanses of the Karakum, there is an amazing land. When you first come here, you get the feeling that you are not in the heart of Asia, but in the African outback, somewhere near Lake Chad or in Sudan. Savannah and desert, mountains and salt marshes coexist here, leopards and hyenas, black vultures and gazelles, porcupines and termites live here. The name of this region is Badkhyz.
The landscapes of Badkhyz are unusually diverse. Its main part is a hilly plateau, raised 800 meters above sea level, but from the west it is bordered by the Gez-Gedik mountain range, the peaks of which rise 1200 meters above the terrain. The ridge is cut by narrow rocky gorges with sheer rocky walls. And in the south, the plateau breaks off with a steep ledge to the vast and deep (up to 500 meters) Er-Oilon-Duz depression with a salt lake and bizarre remnant rocks. From the north, the almost sheer slope of the depression is, as it were, cut by a huge eighteen-kilometer-long Kyzyl-Dzhar ravine. Its steep red slopes, going tens of meters up, are somewhat reminiscent of the American Grand Canyon. In spring, the hilly plateau of Badkhyz looks like an unusual squat savannah, where the green steppe is enlivened by high umbrella cereals rising above the grass - ferules, resembling strange exotic bushes from a distance. As spring comes into its own and then gives way to summer, the colors of the savannah change as if by magic. In March, the hills of Badkhyz (they are called bairs here) are purple from blooming corydalis and primroses. By the beginning of April, the bairs turn red: poppies and tulips are blooming. And closer to May, the steppe is painted in yellow and blue by numerous irises and bluebells. On hot May days, white astragalus blooms everywhere, and in June - spherical bushes of marshmallow, larkspur and bindweed. In the western part of the plateau, on the slopes of mountains and hills, there is already a real, classic savannah, where individual trees 5-7 meters high grow among tall grasses. But these are not African acacias and baobabs, but ... pistachios. Already from a height of half a meter, they begin to branch, forming a dense crown, in which the bird's nest is sure to blacken. And under the tree, as a rule, there is a lying boar, or even a leopard. After all, this is the only place where the beast in the summer heat can hide in the shade. The Er-Oilon-Duz depression has a completely different look. This is a real desert, with saline and rocky lifeless plains, where you can meet only nimble gecko lizards, and occasionally the largest of our reptiles, the gray monitor lizard. turtles or birds. It is better for a person to avoid close acquaintance with a monitor lizard. The wide mouth of this reptile is full of sharp teeth, and the blow of the tail leaves a purple bruise on the skin. There are also typical desert dwellers here - snakes, including a cobra, as well as an efa and an arrow-snake. The arrow has a thin body and an elongated pointed tail. The sandy-gray protective coloration makes it completely invisible against the background of sand. Attacking lizards, the arrow-snake seizes its prey as if on the fly. Its poison kills the victim in 5-6 seconds. Fortunately, the poisonous teeth of the arrow are located in the back of the upper jaw, so it is not dangerous to humans. A snake simply cannot open its small mouth wide enough to grip a human arm or leg deeply. The sand efa is a completely different matter - one of the largest and most poisonous snakes in Central Asia. Its yellow or brown-gray body is thick and muscular. On the head is a light spot in the shape of a cross. At the sight of danger, she curls up into a half ring, slightly raising her head and wriggling her whole body. At the same time, she makes a sound similar to the hiss of water pouring into a hot frying pan. The bite of the efa is fatal to humans, but in the summer this snake hunts only at night, so the chance of meeting it is small. In the savanna, the animal world is much more interesting and diverse. The main decoration of Badkhyz lives here - a wild ass-kulan. For science, these fast and shy ungulates were discovered at the end of the XNUMXth century by the famous Przhevalsky. At that time, their numerous herds frolicked in a vast area from the Urals to the Yellow River. But man, occupying rare watering holes in the deserts, pushed back the kulans to the stony and clay plains deprived of moisture, where these animals were doomed to death without water. In addition, they were hunted: after all, the best morocco leather for boots was made from the skin of the kulan. And now in the steppes and deserts of Mongolia and China, the number of kulans goes to dozens, and in Kazakhstan there are none left at all. The unique beast is now listed in the Red Book. And in the savannahs of Badkhyz, these beautiful ungulates graze more than 700 heads - almost half of the total livestock in the world! Painted in a protective pale-sandy color, the kulan sees far and runs fast. It is almost impossible for a rider to keep up with him - after all, he can run for hours at a speed of 70 kilometers per hour, while the horse record is only 58 kilometers. A herd of kulans easily evades pursuit at the slightest hint of danger. Herds come to the watering place at night. Driven by the loud neighing of the leader stallion, the kulans roll towards the river like an unstoppable avalanche. For a few minutes they freeze at the very water, and then they drink long and noisily. Around the watering hole, the clatter of hooves on the coastal pebbles, snorting, the alarming neighing of mares calling their foals, and the commanding voice of the leader are heard far away. Another inhabitant of Badkhyz, the goitered gazelle, is beautiful and graceful. There are several thousand of these small gazelles, and in winter it is not uncommon to meet a herd of hundreds of goitered gazelles, or even more. In the spring, they graze singly or in small herds on the green grass, and in case of danger they quickly fly away. And along the mountain slopes, handsome argali slowly move from ravine to ravine. Crowned with mighty horns, the silhouette of this mountain sheep clearly stands out against the blue sky when the argali runs along the crest of the ridge. Argali is a beautiful animal, the size of a small horse. Its yellowish horns curled in a steep spiral are an enviable hunting trophy, as large as it is heavy. A pair of horns sometimes weighs up to thirty kilograms. An interesting and unusual animal - the Indian honey badger - in Asia is found only in the foothills of the Gez-Gedyk ridge. Remotely resembling a badger, he digs holes on the slopes of hills, under pistachio trees. Its coat is painted black on the belly, and on top it has a protective sandy-whitish color. During his creeping run, he freezes every minute, spreading himself on the ground, and at the same time completely merging with the soil. Everywhere in Badkhyz one can find traces of the work of a hard worker-porcupine. In search of tulip bulbs - his favorite food - he digs numerous holes in the hills (up to four thousand per hectare!). Porcupines are also big fans of juicy cucumbers, tomatoes, melons and watermelons. Therefore, they often visit the melons and vegetable gardens of local residents, who catch them with traps for tasty meat. Of the predators in the savanna, there is a striped hyena. This beast is secretive, cautious and leaves its lair only at night. Usually the hyena roams behind herds of goitered gazelles, devouring corpses or eating the remains of gazelles slaughtered by wolves. Hyenas and turtles do not disdain, since powerful jaws allow them to easily gnaw their shells. Many feline predators live in Badkhyz. There are more clouded leopards here than in any other corner of Central Asia. Occasionally comes across here and the cheetah - the fastest wild cat on Earth. The running speed of this beast reaches 120 kilometers per hour, and not only goitered gazelle, but also careless kulan often become its victim. In the dense tall grass, the steppe cat and the desert caracal lynx hunt for rodents, honey badgers and other small animals. And among the Badkhyz birds, there are most of all larks. In the spring, it is enough to walk a kilometer across the steppe, no more, to count half a dozen of these birds singing high in the sky. Badkhyz is also rich in birds - such as the pink starling, golden bee-eater, emerald roller bustard and pheasant. There are also very rare species for Asia: the Indian decorated lapwing and the shrike. A rocky nuthatch arranges its stucco nests in the rocks. There are also many birds of prey here: black kites, vultures, buzzard eagles. There are also serpent eagle, saker falcon, dwarf eagle and the largest of all - black vulture, constantly hovering over the savannah. He arranges his huge, like a stork, nests on pistachio trees. By the way, pistachio is for many animals not only a place of residence or shelter from the sun. Its delicious nuts serve as food for birds, and for hamsters and honey badgers, and for wild boars and argali, and even for wild asses. Even foxes and wolves feed on them, especially in winter. In the spring, winged termites fly out of their underground dwellings. The hills at such moments seem to smoke with a gray haze. Hundreds of birds - from thrushes and warblers to kites and eagles then arrange a real feast for themselves. Termites that have fallen to the ground are picked up by foxes and porcupines. It is rare where you will meet such different animals nearby, gathered for such an unusual banquet. Savannahs are found in many parts of the world. These hot semi-steppe-semi-sparse forests are found in North and South Africa, South America and Cuba, Australia and the Middle East. But, hand on heart, we must admit that savannah landscapes, in general, are monotonous. There are exceptions, of course, but they are very rare. And not a single savanna in the world can be compared in beauty with the pistachio savanna of Badkhyz, blazing with spring multi-colored flowers. Author: B.Wagner
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