THE BEROUNI BRIDGE

A point of passage for all those who pass through the Amu Darya and discover the citadels of the desert, the bridge alone is worth a small car descent. It is made of rusty barges thrown on the water and linked between them by channels. The levels between each barge are harmonised by plate plates and sand shovelfuls. Old boats are crammed to the west. With drought, and the déviation of the river upstream for the construction of the new bridge, the legendary Amu Darya, nicknamed jayhun ("indomitable river", is a very sad one, and its scant currents through between the sand dunes, witness to the problems of silting in the whole region. The Berouni bridge does not float on the river, it rests almost directly on the bottom, and the differences at each of its ends give an idea of lowering the level of the river. A new bridge, built some tens of metres downstream, is soon to be the death knell of the old Berouni bridge.