Desert yurt camp and Mountain tour - 3 days

We booked 3 days combined tour to the desert yurt camp and homestay in the Nuratau Mountains though Responsible Travel a week ago. Thanks to Sherzod and the team for organizing this amazing tour, we enjoyed it very much. The tour was a good change after seeing too many mosques and madrassas of the Silk Road cities. Our special thanks to the mountain guide Ali and the driver Jamal who was always caring and professional.

We booked a 2 night 3 day tour with this company, staying in Asraf village,Rahima homestay in sentyab,trip to the lake collection in Samarkand and dropped off in Burkara for 310dollars. Well where do I start? Collected by taxi by young driver who spent most of his time driving whilst on his mobile phone, at times at a fast speed, no rear seatbelts in car, had been cut out deposited at Yahshigul guest house in Asraf village, where we were left to our own devices after shown accomodation. It states on itinerary that you get to know local customs and traditions well we would not have seen anything had we not tagged onto a French group who were staying there,even though we understood nothing. Asraf village is not a village but a homestay that likes larger tour groups has no school,mosque,shop etc. See separate review,On second day picked up by another taxi accompanied by a another man to collect our money who spoke English, still no things of interest were pointed out after about 2.5 hours arrived at Aydarkul lake, nothing there no fisherman etc as told we would see on itinerary,infact what was worse was the part of the lake that we were taken to was surrounded by a smashed up log cabin that used to be a hotel,lots and lots of broken glass everwhere,no where for lakeside walks or swimming.Again no seatbelts in rear, we were told not to worry, we have a very careful driver!!!After the lake we were then deposited at Rahimas homestay .Sentyob in a village. This was a proper village had tour by owners son, no demonstration of learning to cook Plov even though it was served for evening meal outside in the cold. This homestay has other issues see my review separately.On the third day we were picked up by the only considerate good driver and even though no rear seatbelts were visible to begin with,he got out and sorted them out so they could be used. He attempted to point out things for us even though he had no English, and stopped at a pomegranate stall to show us how the juice was made and took us to a bank. We feel that this tour is way over priced,and doesn't deliver what it promises and costs.

私たちのツアーはブハラの宿に９am、簡単な英語を話すフレンドリーなドライバーさんが迎えに来てスタートしました。1時間くらい走って、キジュドゥバンの陶器の工房に立ち寄ります。かわいい絵皿を買いました。その後、Nurotaまで草原と砂漠のなかの１本道を走り、スザニ工房とゲストハウスをやっているお宅の素敵な中庭でランチをいただきました。マンティがとても美味しかったです。可愛いスザニのポーチを買いました。そこから、今日の宿、砂漠のYurt Campへ。ここは、水洗トイレ完備、水シャワー、部屋に電源も完備。ただし携帯の電波は入りません。フタコブラクダに乗って30分くらい周辺を散歩。どこまでも広い地平線！夜は満天の星空、焚き火を囲んで音楽。欧州の団体ツーリストが大型バスで泊まりに来ていました。シニアにもおすすめです。食事も美味しかったです。 山岳地方のsentobへ。渓谷にふわっと広がる緑。素朴な村。穏やかな人びと。かわいい子供達。宿は石造り、素敵なお庭、裏庭にヤギ、川の音、木の葉の音。誰も教えたくない場所(笑) お庭でいただく食事も美味しい。ちょっとシャワーの水圧が足りませんが、そのくらいどうでもよくなります。案内されて、ちょっと山の頂上まで歩きました。さらに、村の子供達に連れられて、小学校を訪問しました。利発でキラキラした子供達。また会いたいです。とても楽しい思い出です。 そこから、サマルカンドにお昼近くに到着。 ブハラからサマルカンドへの移動、宿２泊、ラクダ乗り、食事込みの値段なので、とてもお得です。 おすすめです！