Repetek

The Repetek Reserve, located in the central part of the East Karakum Desert, was founded in 1927, covering 34,600 hectares of a typical sand desert. The territory represents a sand plain with large sand ridges and valley shaped depressions. The travelling sand dunes (barkhans) have only sparse vegetation. Repetek is one of the few places in the Karakum Desert where desert forest in the valley shaped depressions with black saxaul (Haloxylon aphyllum) have been preserved.

About 350 inhabitants live within territory of Repetek and nearby (2003). Cattle breeding as well as fuel wood collection are the major human activities within the area. The Sandy Desert Research Station of the Turkmenistan Academy of Sciences was in charge of the area from 1912 to 1998, which is now administered by the Ministry of Protection Nature. Over the years, long-term studies were carried out on the dynamics of the sandy desert, the restoration of overgrazed pastures, and halting sand encroachment. The protection and monitoring of the biodiversity in the East Karakum are the major subjects in the Repetek Biosphere Reserve today. Read more about this biosphere reserve on the UNSECO Biosphere Reserves website.