The most beautiful natural sites to discover Ferghana Valley

The former Governor's Gardens have been redeveloped into a municipal park and Mustakillik Avenue, which borders it, into a pedestrian street. This is where the department stores, banks and post office are located. The park is a walking area where you can breathe surprisingly well, almost forgetting that you are in the country's second largest industrial city. It is common to see wedding convoys passing by, taking photographs in front of the gigantic statue of Al-Ferghani, a local scientist known for his work in astronomy.

Starting point for the walk in Namangan, Babur Park has replaced the former governor's gardens, created in 1884. Later named Pushkin Park, it housed a statue of Lenin, which disappeared after independence. Since then, the Uzbeks have reinvested the place to install their chaikhanas and give it the name of the last Timurid emperor, Babur. Its shady alleys cut by canals and basins also house the Independence Square, where official celebrations take place and where families, couples of lovers and friends go out at weekends.

The Navoi Park is a heap of rides and small fountains with brackish water that hardly manage to distil a sensation of freshness. At the end of the park, a gigantic amphitheatre, built in 1999, with a stage mounted on a basin, hosts major events, in particular the celebration of Navrouz, the spring festival, on 21 March. You can have a drink in the shade of the wings of a gigantic hawk, symbol of the kitsch of the Soviet era. The park comes alive a little more in the evening, family atmosphere good child.

Five kilometres beyond the village, at an altitude of 1,800 metres, Kul Kurban, the lake of the victims, is a destination for a walk, to be reached on foot or by cable car when the cable car is running. The lake appeared in 1766, following an earthquake. Two mountains collapsed on a village, killing its entire population and creating a vast depression where water accumulated. The lake only fills up when the snow melts and the rest of the time it looks like a mini desert at altitude, where a few derisory pedal boats are lying around.