Tourists explore the dinosaur plateau - Photo: travelnotoria
Dinosaur Plateau with hundreds of fossilized footprints of carnivorous and herbivorous dinosaurs from 150 million years ago, is considered the highlight of Kugitang nature reserve in Lebap province, in the western region of Kugitang mountain range (called Koyentag in Turkmenistan).
This area is considered a unique place when gathering a series of fossil traces of the strangest dinosaur species on Earth. In the 1950s, Soviet paleontologists discovered this collection of dinosaur fossils. And now, the remaining fossils of the Megalosaurus dinosaur group that lived in the Jurassic period here always attract tourists.
Aman, a 35-year-old resident of Khoja Pil village, at the foot of the dinosaur plateau, often proudly tells tourists: "Director Steven Spielberg made the movieDinosaur Park(Jurassic Park) here. The dinosaur tracks in the movie are real and not computer generated!".
Nearly 2,500 fossilized traces of dinosaurs have been discovered in Kugitang. Most of the visitors are interested in measuring some dinosaur footprints measuring 40cm long and 30cm wide, and are amazed by the fossil footprints measuring up to 70cm long and 60cm wide, or the running traces of a prehistoric dinosaur measuring up to 200m long...
A fossilized footprint of a dinosaur in the Kugitang dinosaur plateau - Photo: AFP
Twenty years after the fall of the Soviet Union, Turkmenistan, one of the 15 republics of the former Soviet Union, remains one of the world's most isolated countries. As a result, most visitors to the dinosaur plateau have been locals.
Gulya, a domestic tourist living in the city of Turkmenabat, said she felt like the dinosaurs were still nearby. When she set foot in the Kugitang region, she felt like she "saw" dinosaurs walking in the distance!
Currently, to visit the dinosaur plateau (located close to the border with Afghanistan and Uzbekistan), tourists must apply for a separate permit. From the capital Ashgabat, visitors must take a domestic flight to Turkmenabat. Then, take a car for about eight hours, overcoming a bumpy 450km road to touch the million-year-old remains of the legendary dinosaurs.
Since the plateau is located in the heart of Kugitang National Park, home to Turkmenistan's highest mountain, Airybaba, visitors also have the opportunity to explore the waterfalls, rivers, lakes and caves here.
The Turkmen government hopes that the Kugitang Plateau, the only place in the world with the most accurate traces of dinosaurs as well as a large number of dinosaur fossils found nowhere else in the world, will become a major tourist destination in the country.
