Near Zhalanash (Zhambyl), a former fishing village 55km west of Aralsk and now some 10km from the seashore, you can still see a ship cemetery, where three abandoned hulks rust in the sand, providing shelter for those other ships of the desert, the area’s wandering camels. A few years ago there were more ships, but several have been spirited away by scrap-metal scavengers.
