Visit to Badai-Tugai nature reserve.

"Mother nature is wise, but the son is brainless"

William Shakespeare.

Tourist routes in Karakalpakstan.

Before the establishment of the reserve, the territory was part of the Turtkul forestry enterprise. Several thousand cubic meters of timber was harvested here, livestock grazed, in quantities significantly exceeding pasture resources, and poaching flourished.
In the 60s, as a result of the cessation of the flooding of the Amu Darya and the expansion of the exploitation of tugai forests, they led to a significant reduction in the area of ​​these forests and animal habitats. There is a real threat of complete destruction of the Bukhara deer, for which tugai thickets are the only habitat.
Tugai forests in the Republic of Uzbekistan are distributed in narrow strips in the valleys of the Amu Darya, Syrdarya, Surkhandarya, Zaravshan, Chirchik rivers and in the lower part of the Kashkadarya rivers (1973).
It should be noted that on the territory of Badai-Tugai - tugays in the 70s were one of the best preserved tugays of the lower reaches of the Amu Darya. All typical representatives of tugai vegetation and fauna were presented in them.
All this predetermined the creation of the only reserve in the Republic of Karakalpakstan. The state reserve "Badai-Tugai" was organized in 1971 in accordance with the order of the government of Uzbekistan dated April 26, 1971, with the aim of preserving the natural tugai forest and its fauna.
At the time of organization, the area of ​​the reserve was supposed to be 10,000 hectares, including the adjacent Taldyk forest. However, the leaders of the Beruniy district considered that Taldyk-Tugai has a certain natural resource potential with an economic component, therefore, this territory was not transferred to the reserve.
At present, the area of ​​the Badai-Tugai nature reserve is 6462 hectares.

Authority:
https://uzb.ucoz.ru/index/badaj_tugaj/0-178

Photos by
Alexander Petrov.