Karakum Desert

At about 350,000 km², the Karakum is the world's 12th-largest desert, covering some 70% of Turkmenistan, with only 70–150 mm of rain a year.

Herders graze sheep and camels among dunes, saxaul woods and rare wells, and the population is extremely sparse — about one person per 6.5 km².

The Soviet-built Karakum Canal, one of the longest irrigation canals in the world, carries Amu Darya water across the desert westward to Ashgabat, and the Darvaza crater lies in the desert's heart.