Jeyran Ecocentre

The Jeyran ecocentre lies forty-two kilometres from Bukhara, in the south-west of the Kyzylkum desert, and holds the status of a protected natural area.

It was created in 1977 to protect and restore populations of rare and endangered species: goitered gazelle, kulan, Przewalski's horse, saiga, Bukhara deer and cheetah.

The territory covers more than twenty thousand hectares. Besides the ungulates, other Red-Listed species live here, some thirty-five in all: Bukhara urial, markhor, Siberian crane, great white pelican, squacco heron, whooper swan, peregrine falcon, houbara bustard, cinereous vulture, grey monitor lizard, and other mammals, birds, reptiles, insects and fish.

The landscape is low hills — Mount Kaykasach at 332 metres — with hummocky sand, salt flats and takyrs. There are salt lakes and stands of saxaul and tugai.

This is one of the few places where Uzbekistan's desert fauna can be seen at close range rather than as tracks in the sand. Staff run the tours; come early in the morning or towards evening, when the animals are active.