This year’s expedition season presented new scientific finds and discoveries, which pleased the joint group of employees of the Kopetdag and Koytendag State Natural Reserves, who carried out research work in the picturesque watered gorge of the Koytendag Mountains – Daray-dere. This place can be called a paradise, although for scientists it is a Klondike for floristic research, a vast natural “botanic garden”, where viewing the rarities of the plant world is a real pleasure for the researcher, and every now and then on the path, one come across not only amazing representatives of flora, but also animals that inspectors do not often see in their natural habitat.

The length of the branched gorge exceeds 18 kilometres, and all this linear space is accompanied by life-giving river water – clear and icy, “crunchy” from purity, tasty moisture goes around the high sides throughout the season and irrigates the deep canyon. Therefore, the entire gorge is a lush green oasis, which is filled with the sonorous voices of birds. Where there is water, life is in full swing, and, going there in anticipation of new impressions, we took with us cameras, all kinds of accessories for biotechnical work and sampling and the basis for collecting an herbarium.