Translated material
Expedition to the Astrakhan region. Part 1
In one of the university geography textbooks it is written in black and white that there are no deserts in Europe! However, this is a very controversial point, there is a desert, and it is physically located in Europe, but ethnography has made its own adjustments. The Caspian lowland, the largest territory lying below sea level in the world, is really not similar to Europe, neither in landscape nor in culture...
Day one.
Krasnodar-Elista. Somewhere around 600 km, we’re going to have fun, slowly! Traditionally, we stop in Ipatovo, grab beer, lemonade, drink right in the parking lot and store, good! We stop at the wind farm again, take pictures, tear the side of the tire in the grass against a reinforcement sticking out of the ground, change it quickly, but we no longer have a spare tire, only a puncture tank.
A majestic building!
Hand for scale!
In Elista they decided to stand in the same place where they were last year, the place is quite safe, but the road to it, as it turns out later, is not! Two remained in the camp, cooking food, arranging life! And Pasha and I went to see the city, since it was his first time in Elista!
Elista is still specific and colorful.
It was already getting dark, so the pictures are dark.
The Central Khurul or “Golden Abode of Buddha Shakyamuni” has not yet been painted, and last year’s paint has faded and oddly peeled off in some places.
It’s already dark, let’s go to ours! Our camp is about 2 km from the city, along a dirt road, a normal person in a normal car wouldn’t go there, he’d get stuck! On one of the descents we hit 21099, the left wheel was hanging out, it was wet under the engine, it skidded until it boiled, the light of our headlights woke up the Kalmyk at the wheel. I go out and say that we need to pass, going around it is not an option, the road is in a hollow! He asks us to pull him to a level surface, completely drunk! We hook up the cable and take it out to a place from which he can go on his own! Not a big slope, he turned off the car, but didn’t set the speed or the handbrake, it’s hanging on ours, the cable is taut! I tell Pashka, go tell him that we need to unhook the cable, take it off and let’s go! I see some kind of swing starting! I'm going out! Kalmyk turned on the bull, demands the phone, I try to talk to him, but the conversation doesn’t go well, there are 2 ways out! I'll analyze it quickly! The first is to stupidly kick him, here it should be noted that both in height and build he was significantly smaller than me and especially Pasha! But at the same time, there is a possibility that a) his kents will then look for us, and I don’t know what will happen when they find him, but finding such a noticeable car like mine in a small town is not a problem! b) Since we switch places from a legal point of view, we can already talk about criminal prosecution of us, I don’t know what connections he might have in such a small town! Therefore, I decided to donate my phone, bought just a month ago for 700 rubles, so that I wouldn’t feel sorry for it! Moreover, there are 100 rubles in the account, there’s not much to talk about! I hand over the phone, listen to what he says, many evil Kalmyks will soon come to beat and rob us! We jump into the car, break the cable, his car rolls down the slope and disappears in the darkness, I press the gas, straight across the fields, twice I hit something big with the sewn bottom, strong blows! We arrive to the guys, at first they thought that we were joking, but seeing how we chaotically throw things into the car, they understand that everything is serious! We leave only tents, mattresses and a table! We got into the car, called 112, explained the situation, they sent a car to meet us, began to drive out, saw him next to the car, hovering on a hillock, no one around, we drove past, the Kalmyk looked at us sadly, apparently he realized what was waiting for him! After 200 meters, the first car arrived, and then at least 10 more. While apparently all the Elista police were pulling up to us, the brother of a drunken Kalmyk arrived and promised to kill me! Hearing this, the 3 nearest policemen got into the car and hurried away! At this point it became a little scary, but the brother got into the car and went down to the culprit of the fuss. Then there was a city department, some cops persuaded me to write a statement, others, on the contrary, dissuaded me. Unfortunately, the latter spoke more reasonedly, they did not write a statement, to which the former, apparently, were offended and decided to keep the phone for themselves! Then we, accompanied by 2 more cars, went downstairs again, wet the pants of one of the policemen))) took our things and hurried to leave Elista! Since I tried to describe the whole situation briefly but clearly, it may have seemed that the Elista police did not cope with their duties properly, this is not so, in general terms I was satisfied with their work, except for certain individuals who had a secondary role in the case.
Time 22.30 we decided to go towards Astrakhan, it’s a little more than 300 km, I’m tired both mentally and physically, but there’s nowhere to go, I can’t stay in the city, I’m driving on autopilot, and at 3 o’clock in the morning I pass out to sleep in the car right at the traffic police post along with the truck drivers ...
I woke up at dusk, at 6 o'clock! The flow of cars has increased, people are going to Astrakhan to work, someone is stopped by traffic police officers next to us, in short, it’s no fun to continue sleeping here! We are putting the navigation on alert, we are in trouble with it! But somehow we find the right path! The fact is that there are a million roads in the desert, from each shed (read about what it is and what it looks like below) there are at least 6 roads radiating off radially, plus shortcuts, in the Astrakhan desert there are no problems with roads at all, I drove it 3 times - a perfectly smooth dirt road ready! I drove along it after the rain, when it dries out it will be impossible to drive, new ones are rolling in! It’s convenient for the locals, it’s difficult for us! Where the sand begins, there are fewer roads and they are better preserved!
We move away from the highway and set up camp solely to get some human sleep next to some artificial canal connecting what are still full-flowing lakes; I only slept for 3 hours!
These funny little animals are constantly slowly crawling across the road!
A tourist's dream is like an alcoholic's dream! But this time I got enough sleep and, in anticipation of exploits, began rustling food, gurgling with soap and snout procedures, slamming doors and the hood, which woke up the others!
It’s not far to go, but it’s stupid to venture into the desert, into the sands with half a tank! We return to the highway, refuel, and by the way, there are not a lot of gas stations either, this is not Krasnodar-Dzhubga! At the same time, we stop by the village of Yango-Asker for water, there is only one store, the break is just from 12 to 14, it’s 12.05! The surroundings in the village are like in the wild west, the whole village is 20 sparsely standing houses along a single, wide street, the road is clay with sand-covered uneven surfaces, and there is the same yellow moss on the roofs!
Then a little gear crushing grader and we go into the horizon! It's still juicy at first!
We go to the bottom of the shallow lake, it is not clear when it managed to become shallow, because now is the beginning of April and it should be as full as possible! But judging by the situation, this is normal! We take pictures, of course!
Dan found a duck that added dimension to our photos!
We are already below ocean level! The Astrakhan desert is a merit not only of nature; thanks to the Caspian Sea, there is always a strong wind here, which brings most of the sand, although I no longer remember exactly where it came from, but the sand is good! Small, small! Plus, the merit of human economic activity, overgrazing of livestock, contributes to the destruction of vegetation cover and, as a result, the development of wind erosion! Somewhere in Kalmykia there is even a research institute for the study of anthropogenic desertification!
We stopped at a couple of sheds, these are a kind of cattle farms, a house in which 1-2 shepherds live, a couple of pens for livestock, and some other household items. buildings. There are no benefits of civilization here, but judging by the tanks, they are heated with diesel fuel, which is also used for generators! Although I personally absolutely do not understand how, at current prices for heavy fuel, it can be profitable to run such a business!
The shepherds were surprised by our visit and were very kind! Probably if I worked here, I wouldn’t be happy about anything...
Koshars look something like this.
Do you see the cornfield? And she is! It’s a terrible feeling when you come down from a hill, come up, and there is no car and generally nothing around, an absolutely flat, deserted horizon at 360 degrees! There was a jolt inside, then you realized it was just a hillock a little lower than the previous one...
Coming soon...