In a startling and grim contrast to the savage beauty of the frozen wastelands of the polar regions, Rosie Stancer and her erstwhile polar teammate of long, Pom Oliver, took on the grit, salt pans, sands and mud of one of the planet’s youngest deserts, the Aral Kum in Kazakhstan.

The desolation and often rugged beauty of the stygian landscape was captured through photography and filming, showing the evolution of the Aral from sea to a drained landscape that is now 90% desert.

The team navigated their way over what was once the seabed, hauling bespoke-designed carts over salt pans, sand, scrub and shallows. This was the first full crossing of the breadth of the Aral Kum by foot, covering a distance of some 600 km, crossing each delineation of the original shoreline as it shrunk over the past six decades.

The route took the duo through the stark desertscape where the sea once was, as well as between and along the fringes of both the Large Aral Sea and the Small Aral Sea, north of Vozrozhdeniye ‘island’, Barsakelmes island and nature reserve, the Kok-Aral dam and finally through the small and remote communities that remain on the original eastern shoreline.

Superceding the pride in this being the first crossing, this was an expedition of its time, and arguably proved to be one of the meaningful fact-finding, green expeditions of the year.

The Aral Kum is a new desert, once a bountiful sea until, as recently as, the 1960s, its waters were diverted by the then Soviet Government draining the sea until 10% of it's original volume remained. The two rivers that fed the Sea, the Amu Darya in the south and the Syr Darya in the east, were diverted to irrigate the crops of cotton, rice, melons and cereals.

The legacy of the expedition will aim to raise to a higher level, the understanding of the issues concerned and to observe the measures being undertaken to remedy the situation. It will also illustrate how even a regional disaster can have far-reaching global consequences.

Rosie and Pom observed and talked with the few local people they met on the continuing positive effects the government-built Kok-aral dam has brought to the region, the state of its fisheries and what remains of the original beauty of the region.  This was a non-judgemental expedition that sought to learn more about any ongoing positive measures being undertaken to mitigate the effects of desertification, and their apparent results thus far as well as the adaptation of the local communities to the new desert environment.

The physical and psychological impact of such a rigorous expedition on both Rosie and Pom, was measured and monitored on a daily basis for scientific research.

"Each sponsorship represents a significant step in this great journey."  Rosie Stancer

The British-Kazakh Society (BKS) was founded in 2002 to promote the best of relations between the United Kingdom and Kazakhstan, and to enhance the bilateral relationship. The BKS is constituted as a not-for-profit legal entity.

We are honoured to have HE Nursultan Nazarbayev as our Honorary Patron and both Ambassadors as our Honorary Presidents. The society's activities include hosting business meetings with top-level officials, top-level business breakfasts and lunches, exclusive events in select locations, and highly informative business webinars