Virgin Walnut Forest

Grass had grown up in the cracks of the abandoned concrete runway where we waited for the Soviet helicopter to pick us up. We were in Bishkek, the newly renamed capital of the former Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic. It was 1991 and the Communist government had just folded.  

On this particular three-week project one of the three guys that I brought with me was Mike Jones, head basketball coach at Mississippi College. He was a gentle giant, and our host, the Minister of Tourism nicknamed him “The Bear.” Mike was a big hit as he put on some basketball clinics in gyms. But, as we waited on the tarmac, Mike had broken into a cold sweat. He was afraid of flying. Granted we had flown for two days to arrive in Central Asia, but the thought of flying in a helicopter terrified him.

On the horizon we saw the Soviet-era troop transport helicopter flying towards us. The only reason Mike boarded the helicopter was that his fear of being left alone exceeded his fear of getting on the helicopter.

One of the pilots stepped out of the chopper to assist us in climbing onboard. We sat down on a wooden bench that stretched the length of the helicopter on one side. As we sat, our knees rubbed up against a fiberglass or plastic tank that contained the aviation fuel. A gruesome thought to be so close to the fuel tank. There was one seat for the pilot and one for the co-pilot, of course, so when the third pilot boarded, he pulled out a piece of wood about five feet long and placed it in between the two pilot’s seats. He took his seat on that piece of wood.

As the twin rotors began to whirl, I yelled to our host, Salavat Isakov, “Why three pilots?” He replied, “Nyet. One pilot and two mechanics.” That did not help my confidence in Soviet aircraft, but I was thankful that Mike was sitting far enough away that he could not hear that exchange.  

After leading a conference in another city where they literally rolled out a red carpet to welcome us, we flew towards the snowcapped Tien Shan mountains. As we climbed above 12,000 feet in the non-pressurized helicopter, I began experiencing shortness of breath and wondered just how high we were going to go. We were skirting very close to some glacial ice, and suddenly we topped out over a ridge, and there appeared a lush valley tucked between two mountain peaks.

As the helicopter began its descent to a clearing, we noticed that all around us were forests like a green carpet. After another red-carpet welcome, we went to a pavilion to have tea.

While drinking our fruit tea and eating cookies, we were told that we were in the middle of a 74,000 acre forest of virgin walnut trees--the largest walnut forest in the world. A walnut tree can live as long as 1,000 years and can reach a diameter of six feet. The locals told us a story about how Alexander the Great’s army took walnuts back to Greece and introduced the walnut in Europe. Whether fact or fiction, it makes for a good story, and after all history records some of Alexander’s ventures into Central Asia.

A businessman who was traveling with me immediately started asking questions about exporting walnut wood. At that time there was a shortage of the pricey walnut wood used in solid wood and veneer furniture production all over the world.

Our hosts presented the challenge of getting the wood out of their small town named Arslanbob. They said that their area was accessible only by one road that was unpaved and impassable from October through April because of snow and ice.

The people in that area did not harvest any of the walnut wood as there was no market for the wood. They only gathered walnuts from the trees that were the most accessible each fall and that provided income for many of the 16,000 residents who were mostly of Uzbek descent.

After our visit to the walnut forest, we flew back towards the capital city, stopping for a visit at the second largest saltwater lake (behind the Caspian Sea) in the world. Lake Issyk Kul is fed by glaciers but it never freezes because of the lake’s salinity which is estimated to be 0.6%. Its average depth is 280 feet.

The Soviet government had used this enormous lake for testing naval vessels, so no foreigners had visited the lake since the beginning of Communist rule in Central Asia. Our hosts were three Ministers of the Soviet-led Kyrgyz government, and they told us that we were the first westerners to visit this area in three generations.

 The lake area is also home to a number of thermal mineral radon springs. Because of its high mineral content the water is not drinkable, but serves as treatment for various illnesses. There were many health resorts along the shore of this immense lake, so our hosts treated us to a mineral bath and sauna.

Russians, as well as Central Asians, love saunas. For them a sauna is a healing cultural experience for your mind and body. The Lake Issyk Kul sauna was my first experience in a sauna in Central Asia, and it still ranks above all others. I have been in saunas in many different countries, but none of those experiences compares to the ritual and culture surrounding a Russian/Central Asian sauna.

Wonder what it would cost to build one in my backyard?!