Surkhan Reserve

The Surkhan state reserve lies in Surkhandarya region, sixty kilometres from Termez. It was created in 1986 by joining the Kugitang wildlife area with the Aral-Paygambar reserve, to preserve and restore populations of rare species. The territory lies between fifteen hundred and just over three thousand metres, on the south-western slopes of the Hissar range of the Pamir-Alay.

The reserve consists of two separate parts.

The first is the island of Aral-Paygambar, in the upper floodplain of the Amu Darya. Its chief riches are tugai forests: poplar, Turanga poplar, narrow-leaved oleaster, tamarisk and jida. In the desert part grow black and white saxaul, tamarisk, kandym and camel thorn. But the island's real treasure is the Bukhara deer, the hangul, on the international Red List.

The second part is mountainous, on the slopes of the Hissar, with sharp changes of elevation, a dry continental climate and a great deal of wind.

The reserve covers 24,583 hectares in all, of which 9,284 are forested. Fossilised dinosaur tracks survive in the south-east of the territory, along with Mesolithic and Neolithic rock drawings.

This is a working protected area with its own regime: visits must be arranged in advance.