Camping in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan

[al warda]

Hello all
I'm planning to spend the least money as possible whilst travelling through these countries but hear its difficult.
Many reports say you must stay in hotels, keep receipts and declare an itinerary at the border when you enter and leave?

Are these reports true? Can you get away with camping or not.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Many thanks
Al Warda

[steven]

Camping is possible. In Turkmenistan it is no problem, you do not need to show registration in hotels when you leave. Just need to find a suitable camping spot.

In Uzbekistan things are more complicated. You need to register in hotels, but you can get away with not doing it every night. For cyclists it is definitely ok, since you can say you were on the road. For others - I recommend to get a registration definitely every other day, or every 3 days to be on the safe side. You can try to do it with less if you are really low on money or prefer to spend it in another country.

I wrote up some camping advice but haven't found a decent place to link to it. If you have any more questions after this, let me know.

[al warda]

Thanks Steven

Ive heard nightmare stories of fines at the border if you do not have registration for every night.
Ive also heard, and a few times, that nobody checks.

I feel a bit more reassured now I hear the news from you.
Many thanks
Al

[Ronnie79]

Steven, where can I find this camping advice you are linking to? The link doesn't work.

[bwv812]

For those reading this thread now, be aware that Uzbekistan seems to now be requiring registration for every night spent in the Ferghana Valley, and that the police will either prevent you from camping or cause big problems at the border if/when they discover you have been camping there.

[steven]

Thank yu, bwv, i need to rewrite the uzbek registration piece asap!

@alwarda, i deleted this article as it was not really useful. I need a bit of time to rewrite it.

[roro]

Hi everybody,
You're talkin' about camping, but what about sleeping in your own car (in my case it's a Land Rover)?
Do I need registration for every night (or every 3 nights)?
Is it possible to get registration from hotel without sleeping in it (and without paying, of course)?
Other solutions?
What kind of problem with police at border post if I had not enough registration?
RR

[steven]

Hi, I answered your questions here: http://caravanistan.com/visa/uzbekistan/registration/

[roro]

Thanks, I've read your topic. You wrote: "For cyclists, night train travelers and campers, knowing this, it is fine to be missing some registration slips. Show your bicycle or night train ticket when asked."
Do you think if I show my car with sleeping area it's also ok?

RR

[steven]

As long as you did not break the rules outlined in the article you are definitely fine. If you did break some rules, it depends on your charisma and the mood of the border guard what will happen. With a car you can drive quicker to a hotel than a bicycle, so it is not a valid argument for not finding a place to register.

Having said that, most people are not checked for their slips (I was checked only once this year in May, on the checkpoint towards Ferghana Valley from Tashkent). Here is a recent post from cyclists who camped and Couchsurfed all the way for 3 weeks with only 2 registrations

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=699&p=2705#p2698