Uzbekistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. It has a land border to the east and south-east with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, to the south with Afghanistan, to the south-west with Turkmenistan, and to the north-west and north with Kazakhstan. The republic also includes the Karakalpakstan Autonomous Republic located in the western third of the country, which has access to the Aral sea.

Nearly four-fifths of the country, the sun-dried western area, has the appearance of a wasteland. In the north-west the Turan Plain rises and merges in the south with the Kyzylkum Desert and farther west becomes the Ustyurt Plateau, a region of low ridges, salt marshes, sinkholes, and caverns.

The country has been influenced by Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan and Tamerlane and is packed full of exquisite Buddhist and Islamic architecture with well preserved cities that were integral to the old Silk Road. The more intrepid travel further to see seemingly endless deserts, soaring mountains to hike, ski, bird-watch, and stay in traditional yurt camps.