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Monday morning, and our last excursion into the wilderness is at hand. Having covered the area west of Moynaq we will now travel to Jyltarbas lake and the nearby plantations on the eastern side. But first we need to get our tickets for tomorrow's flight to Tashkent. We drive to the national bank office which is situated at the local municipal buildings just a block away from the hotel. We stand around patiently waiting for them to open up the office. Otabek cleverly makes use of my foreign looks to sneak us past the waiting crowd outside, past the guards and inside the bank building. It still won't help much because the women at the exchange office are out of CYM. Now, where have I heard that one before?

Not to panic though, apparently one of the tellers is to arrive with bills shortly. They sure take their time and when they finally let us inside the office at 9.45 we are greeted by three young women behind the counter. One takes my request to exchange 100 USD and then proceeds to count the bills vigorously, before handing it to teller number two, who does the exact same thing once more. Fortunately I don't have to wait for teller number three to count the money again, as she's busy on the phone reading today's horoscope from the newspaper to a friend. Cash in hand, finally, we head back to the Aviakassa and get our plane tickets. Now we can be on our way.

Rustam has found the pedal and we are now cruising at a comfortable 130 km/h. We pass through the busy market in Chimbay and proceed north onto a small dirtroad. Soon our path is blocked by two ruminating bulls, and we drive on a small roadbank next to some fields which are home to a lot of bee-eaters. Having passed the last settlements the landscape quickly turns barren and the road changes into a sandtrap. Unlike the plains we've travelled earlier these roads are nothing more than sand cleared of shrubbery, and there is plenty of opportunity to get stuck if you are not careful. Fortunately we have the best driver in Qaraqalpakstan behind the wheel. We are driving along some artifically created canals, although there is no water in them. These trenches are spanned by recently constructed bridges, built by German subsidy.

Everywhere we go we disturb lizards that have parked in the middle of the road lying about enjoying the sun. Soon we reach some plantations, where a special kind of reed has been planted in long straight lines, in an effort to bind the sand and prevent further spreading of the desert. The Aral Sea Fund has a small camp out here, but it is currently only occupied by some shepherds and their animals. We stop to greet the men and have a look at the hot spring in the courtyard. The clouds on the horizon are dark, dark blue, and rain seems inevitable. We proceed further out into the wilderness until we reach another base camp set up by the German engineers. It houses some tractors and equipment used to plant the long hedgerows we came across earlier.

From here we turn around and backtrack towards the starting point from where we turn the other way towards the Jyltarbas lake. We flew over this lake a few days ago, it is covered by massive reeds and is home to many a bird. We stumble on a few men who are out fishing from the deck of an abandoned engineering vessel in one of the canals that still has some water in it. Apparently the shallow waters are good enough for fishing. They eagerly open the trunk to one of the VAZ 1200s to show today's catch, two carps and a rather big catfish. The fishermen are about to pack up, but we brave the weather and continue. The rolling thunder that has been heard distantly now comes a bit closer and we can see lightning over the plains. Soon the rain comes upon us, and it does so with fury.

The downpour is so intensive that it is almost impossible to get a view through the windshield, and if you try to open a side window you are immediately punished by the water. The roads quickly turn into muddy bogs and me and Otabek are sitting quietly just waiting for that inevitable sound of a wheel digging into the mud. Rustam presses on though and overcomes the obstacles elegantly. Up ahead is a dam construction project and after some ten minutes in the downpour we reach the site, the workers having abandonded their machinery and sought refuge from the elements in some shelters. We stop here and realize it will be risky business going any further in the mud, and reluctantly decide to have a picnic lunch here before returning to Nukus. I take the opportunity to wander the area and take photos of the heavy equipment.

Arriving in Nukus we are greeted by darkness, there has been a city-wide blackout during the afternoon. A good excuse for lying down and get some rest. Power eventually comes back on in the evening so we can finally have some dinner.

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