Ochamchire Abkhazia: Casualty of War
On the east coast of the Black Sea, about 125 miles (200km) south of Sochi, sits the shell of a once-vibrant town. Ochamchire (also Ochamchira) was once...
Abandoned Anthrax: Vozrozhdeniye Island
The Aral Sea was known as “the Sea of Islands,” and once upon a time this camp – now in the middle of the desert –...
The Disappearing Aral Sea
Over one hundred ships are mysteriously abandoned in this desert in central Asia. You rub your eyes, but it’s not an optical illusion; no water...
World’s Oldest Space Launch Facility: The Baikonur Cosmodrome
About 1,300 miles (2,100 km) southeast of Moscow in the desert steppe of Kazakhstan, the world’s oldest and largest operational space launch facility is still...
Turkmenistan’s Door to Hell
Turkmenistan is seventy percent desert – the Karakum Desert, to be exact. The nation is divided into five provinces, the second largest being the Ahal...
World’s Largest Aircraft: Antonov An-225 Mriya
Bigger than a Boeing 747 and Airbus A380, longer and heavier than the Hughes H-4 “Spruce Goose”, The Antonov An-225 Mriya is a strategic airlift...