Yangykala Canyon

Yangykala — “fire fortress” — is a canyon of rose, white and gold cliffs carved from the seabed of an ocean that vanished millions of years ago. Remote and almost unvisited, its rim at sunset is one of the most extraordinary sights in Central Asia.

The colours shift with the light, and the silence is total — a place for slow, unhurried travel to Turkmenistan’s wild western edge.