Door to Hell

By the time I reached the Darvaza Gas Crater, the temperature had fallen below freezing. In the middle of the Karakum Desert, flames rose continuously from the vast pit, lighting the surrounding landscape with an eerie orange glow. The crater seemed almost unreal, as though a piece of another world had appeared in the darkness.

I pitched my tent nearby and waited for night to settle across the desert. When the last traces of daylight disappeared, there was little to hear beyond the distant roar of the fire and the occasional gust of wind across the sand.

Alone beneath a moonless sky, thousands of miles from home, I realised that solitude is not the absence of company. Sometimes, it is simply the opportunity to sit quietly with your thoughts.

Day 20

A solo overland across Central Asia

Turkmenistan