The Craters of The Karakum

Staring into the Gates of Hell

The Karakum Desert makes up about 70% of the Central Asian country of Turkmenistan. It hardly ever rains, people are few and far between and the even the wildlife is scarce. It's probably most famous for the fiery crater known as the 'Gates of Hell.'

The story goes that a Soviet exploration looking for natural gas inadvertently created the sinkhole that has been venting methane ever since. In an attempt to manage the situation it was decided to burn off the escaping gas. Exactly when and how this all happened is disputed, but it has been on fire for decades and shows no sign of burning out.

Properly known as the Darvaza Gas Crater, it is around 70m across, 30m deep and sits about 260km due north of the capital city of Ashgabat.

The crater is most spectacular at night.

The fires can be seen from miles around in the otherwise pitch black desert.

There are other craters in the Karakum, including the Water Crater and the Mud Crater.

Despite talk of extinguishing the flames from time to time, the Gates of Hell still burn and continue to serve as a tourist attraction in this post Soviet nation.