Dushak-Erekdag – one of the models of the Kopetdag Mountains
This is a remarkable place for botanists – a natural model of the Central Kopetdag Mountains, which is characterised by talus and stony-precipitous rocks, gentle grassy mountain slopes, narrow gorges with steep deep sides, plateau-like mountain peaks and intermountain dry steppe valleys. Its most familiar view is waterless, dry, as if breathing with heat in the summer sultry weather, high mountain ranges, which fascinate tourists with their inaccessibility and unique contrasts. For example, from the burning summer atmosphere of acclive slopes and lowlands with scorched vegetation and an abundance of thorns, you can move on to late spring on the intermountain plateau, where feather grass and fescue and couch grass vegetation blooms for a long time. The higher the mountains, the cooler the climate. Strong off-season winds sway these grasses, as if they passed in multidirectional frequent ridges along a rustling soft shiny base, abruptly breaking off from the edge of the sloping sides of the plateau down into echoing gorges, where insects buzz during the day, and cicadas monotonously “sing” at night. In the desert, summer quickly and imperceptibly absorbs all life and dissolves it in its boundless ocean of sands, where superheated air, dancing in the distance and creating a mirage over hot dunes, makes an indelible impression.
