Turkmenistan: Yangykala Canyon Loop Hike

Yangkala Canyon, one of Turkmenistan’s most incredible landscapes, is the setting for this quick loop hike among the cliffs above the Kyzylkum desert. A remote and beautiful region of the country, this hike is a must-do for travelers on extended trips in Turkmenistan.

Total km: 10 km
Elevation gain/loss: 270m+/297m-
Start point: Yangykala Plateau
Endpoint: Yangykala Plateau
GPS Files

 

While many tourists are content to view Yanagkala from atop the plateau that ends in sheer cliffs dropping down to the flat desert plain below, we think there’s something remarkable about descending and hiking among the red and pink ridges that define the canyon. Any visitor with a love for landscapes – and we presume that’s anybody that has made the long trip all the way out here – would be well-advised to spend the extra time and effort. It’s truly one of the most unique treks in Central Asia.

The descent from atop the plateau at the nominal starting point is admittedly a little dodgy – it’s a steep drop along a rocky scree face atop an old rockfall at a point where the cliff has crumbled at some point in the immemorable past. Trend to the right as you go down, as the small canyons to the left hand side all seem to end in abrupt dropoffs without a safe outlet to the dry streambed below. On the way down look for a sort of staircase of exposed white sandstone, leading to just above a massive boulder held in place only by crumbling rock detritus – you’ll have to cross directly beneath this to continue. Try not to let it scare you off.

Further from here, however, it’s fairly straightforward the rest of the way down – descending all the way to the interlaced dry stream beds at the bottom (incidentally – be careful about coming down here if rain seems on the horizon, as we imagine it’ll flood up pretty fast).

Follow the stream bed downwards away from the cliffs until it eventually opens out, the cliff walls a range of earth tones on either side giving way to the open desert beyond and a continuation of the cliffs far across to the northwest.

From the end of the southern finger of the ridge, where the desert opens up in full, there’s really no wrong way to go from here. We quite like a loop to the south, coming around the edge of the ridge, watching as the light plays across the faces in different ways as your viewing angle changes, and keeping an eye on the ground in front of you for broken coral and fossils and sharks teeth and all the other wonders of a 5+ million year-old sea bed – the remains of the former Tethys Sea.

If time permits, consider looping up to the north and around into the next small side canyon to the west – see the GPS linked above for the exact location. We found more standing coral in the side canyons here than anywhere else in Yangkala – but do try to be a conscientious visitor and avoid disturbing anything you come across.

When you’ve finally had enough of exploring, or if you’re just running out of time and have to get back, return back the way you came and up the dodgy rockfall. Alternatively, if you have a separate driver, it would be possible for them to pick you up from the highway where it runs alongside this area due south of the hike. Expect an additional 2-3km from the hike’s midpoint, depending on exactly which route you take through the day.

From the top of the ascent back to the plateau, visit the two other most prevalent viewpoints that visitors usually stop at, marked on the GPS as such. The second is sometimes referred to as the ‘gator’s mouth’ as it looks a bit like a long open jaw – particularly popular is the photo of tourists standing atop the top jaw, the maw of the desert opened below them all the way to the horizon. It’s cheesy, easy fun.

The best time of day to be at Yangkala is sunset, as the golden hour sun descends towards the horizon and really paints the landscapes in warm gold hues that highlight the earthy soil tones. Try to time a hike to arrive back to the top of the plateau around this time – check the actual timing depending on the time of year you’re visiting – and even better do your best to arrange an overnight camp atop the plateau so that after the sun goes down you can enjoy the night sky and lunar landscape beneath the light of the actual moon.

Good To Know

As of late 2024, the only way to visit Turkmenistan for the average visitors is on a tourist visa that requires a guided tour through a licensed tour operator. Until COVID it was possible to arrange transit visas as an alternative, but to date the suspension of these has not been lifted and they were no longer being issued by Turkmen Embassies.

Getting to the Yangykala Canyon

The road to Yangkala is not good by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s also not as wretched as a lot of blogs make it out to be. You’ll depart from Balkanabat or Turkmenbashi on a paved highway, turning into the desert onto a potholed highway that’ll be the bulk of the journey, and only after finally climbing up above the Yangykala escarpment will you turn off onto a dirt track that circles behind the cliffs to the small outcrop that is where the bulk of tourists spend their time. All in, expect the drive to Yangykala to take three to four hours with minimal stops, depending on how careful your driver is along the way.

Where to Stay and Eat

There is nowhere to stay and no services available at Yangkala Canyon itself. The nearest accommodations are at Gozli Ata shrine around an hour back towards Balkanabat, but most visitors will do best to arrange an overnight above the canyon itself, with all camping equipment and food brought in with you by your guide and driver.