The countries of Central Asia possess a wide potential for developing the speleological tourism.

KYRGYZSTAN
When in Kyrgyzstan,the passionate also get their share of caves. Almost all of them a re located in the Osh area inthesou them part of the re public. The Osh Mountains are well known and easily accessible. There are dozens of caves in the low limestone mountains on the foot of the Great Pamirs. Between Aravana and Ak-Bura rivers, on the sunny foothills of Chil-Ustun, mounds are scattered like islands of a mysterious archipelago. From a geological, and particularly a geomorphologic point of view, these mounds are the remnants of a huge mountain range and are the sediments of the Paleozoic period, dating back 350 million years.

4km from Aravana, on Chil-Ustun Mountain, just below the peak of 1460m lays the entrance to three underground caverns connected by narrow passages, of which the third is the most impressive with its 100m length, and up to 50m width. The cavern is propped up by beautiful columns, glistening as the beam of your flashlight reflects off it. The walls are decorated by finely woven crystal lace. As you touch the crystals, a sound reverberates off them, the sound of music of millions of years back. On your way out, pay attention to the many inscriptions on the walls, some of which are in Sanskrit. Besides the Chil-Ustun cave, there are many other interesting and easy to access caves on the slopes of the mountains: Sasyk-Unkur (140m), Suvli-Kamar (120m), Chil-Mayram (130m), Teshik-Tash (180m), Snake (185m) and Besh-Unkur (the depth is 100m).

20 km south of Chil-Ustun, the Tuya-Muyun mountain is split by a deep canyon. On its left side: the deepest cave of the republic, Fersman's Chasm, the depth of which is 240m, next to it Big Baritovaya cave (length is 300m) and Ajiadar-Unkur cave, which is famous for its bat communities. On its right: Surprise cave with a length of 450m and Po bed nay a cave with the length of 1200m. All the caves of Tuya-Muyun region are characterized by rich mineralization. Multiform and multicolored crystals cover the surface of the majority of its underground passages and caverns.

The next cave is so interesting, it is indispensable to any speleologic itinerary through Southern Kyrgyzstan. Kan-i-Gut(Pitof Ruin) is located in the easter most of the Osh region near Batken. The cave served as a mining pit from where in the VI XI centuries lead and iron were extracted. Over two dozen gigantic caverns, deep passages, fire-places, narrow trapdoors and tunnels give you a g limps at mining activity centuries ago.

TURKMENISTAN
Let's take a country like Turkmenistan. The Kugitang-Tau (mountain of gorges) alone can keep any speleologist busy for a while. Situated at the southwestern most outpost of the Hissar or Gissar mountains (you hear both, depending on the translation, the area features a whole system of caves, the argest in the republic. Kugitang is the land of canyons, hundreds of them, steep and shallow, cut by wind and water, seemingly at random, winding their way down to the Amu Darya and the Turkmen steppes. Many of them are as yet unexplored, some are impassable, along others, bridle-paths have been carved out over the millennia, after all, this is also part of The Great Silk Road. All of them are literally gorgeous in their own way. Kap-Kotan is considered to be the most significant underground system of Kugitang. At present the Kap-Kotan intermediate underground system accounts for 46.2km

Besides Kap-Kotan, the Khoshim Oyik with a length of 5km, Tash-Yurak (3.5km) and Geophysical (5.5km) caves will amaze you by their enormities. All caves of Kugitang are notable for their fantastic beauty and the multiplicity of meandering forms. It is due to the unusual bearing strata and the microclimate of the caves; time, water and stone creating a world of their own, a philosophy in the darkness.

Another cave system that is well known in Turkmenistan is the Bakhardenskaya cave. Well explored and described by many specialists, they are located on the northern slope of Kopetdag. 230m of tunnel system. The cave's centerpiece are two big grottos, with the first one measuring 57m in width and 29m in length. Its floor is slanting and covered with guano (excrement of bats). 90m further down are the karst craters. The second grotto of the cave is flooded with the famous Kou Lake, distinguished by its crystal-clear water.

UZBEKISTAN
Let's turn t# Uzbekistan, where the karst processes are well developed, two main karst regions are of great interest for speleologists. Kyrk-Tau, which is compared by specialists to the most famous karst areas of the world. Its distinctive feature is the concentration of different karst stages on the relatively small area of 20km2.

It is not difficult to reach Kyrk-Tau. The major Uzbek Highway from Samarkand to Shakhrisabzs passes about 40km south of Samarkand, by the Takhtakarach pass. The saddle of the pass (1673m) separates the two flanks of the Zarafshan chain. The wide spectrum of karst development will amaze you: craters, chimneys, niches, grottos, caves and chasms are all part of this system. Snow lies in the craters till May. When it thaws, the water runs into the hollows on the bottom of the crater, washing out these arteries of the mountain range. Along that same road, the Aman Kutan cave, the length of which is about 1km, and Yakobakskaya cave with the length of 600m can be also recommended for amateurs.

The district abounds with craters. There are over 3000 of them. In the middle of this multiplicity Kievskaya Chasm, the deepest cave of the Asian continent, is located. The entry into the cave is 2km in length and 0.6km in width. It is situated on the bottom of a karst crater in the western part of the plain and on the altitude of 2400m below sea level. Kievskaya cave consists of many-staged vertical chasms, with shafts from 5 to 100m deep. An underground lake, 10m deep lays at the bottom of one of the shafts and many leads run further into the mountain.

There are many other leads on Kyrk-Tau, varying in depth from 20 to 250m. Gur-Gur-Ata is another district, which attracts the attention of the speleologists. It is located on the slopes of Boy sun Mountains between Samarkand and Termez, in the South-western Hissar/Gissar range. Crossing the town of Derbent, turn left into the Machay Valley, where only recently an amazing underground system has been discovered in the Ketmen Chaptu ridge, including the deepest known caves of Asia, the Boy Bulak at 12Mm.