Perhaps the world capital of ‘weirdness’, Turkmenistan is best described as the merging of Pyongyang with Las Vegas.

Stephen’s talk will open up this astonishingly beautiful - and weird - country, including many surprises, such as the world’s largest indoor ferris wheel, the world’s only gas craters, a personality cult that might make Stalin blush, deserts, mountains, ancient cities and fortresses, a specially built tourism resort with everything except tourists, buildings shaped like cigarette lighters, and a capital city that is being entirely reconstructed with white marble.

Lying at the crossroads of the Silk Road, Turkmenistan’s past includes guest appearances by Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan and Tamerlane as well as Imperial Britain and Tsarist, Bolshevik and Soviet Russia. But none of that colourful history compares with Turkmenistan’s unique character today. Simply put, it’s a very weird but fascinating place that deserves to be far better known.

Download an application form by clicking the blue-framed brochure picture to the right of this page.

The lecture will be held at 3:00pm on Sunday 9th July 2017 at

Norths, 12 Abbott Street, Cammeray, Sydney, Australia

This lecture will be the latest in a series of illustrated talks Stephen has given for the Geographical Society.  Earlier lectures have looked at Eastern Europe in 1989, Irian Jaya in 1990, the former Soviet Union in 1992, Bolivia in 1994, Burma in 1996, Mali in 2005, North Korea in 2006, Iceland in 2007, China’s Ancient Tea Horse Route in 2008, Ethiopia in 2009, The Guardians of the Red Sea (Yemen, Eritrea and Djibouti) in 2010, Middle East Hotspots (Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria) in 2011, the Last Threads of the Iron Curtain (Transnistria and both sides of North Korea’s border regions) in 2012, Iran in 2013, Beyond Siberia (Russia’s Wild Far East) in 2014, Tunisia and Algeria (Springs of the Arab Spring) in 2015, the African Sahel (Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso) in 2016, and Three Pacific Micronations (Kiribati, Nauru and Palau) in 2017.

The covers of the brochures of Stephen’s previous talks are below.  Where indicated, click the yellow tab beneath the cover to read a summary of the talk that is hosted on the Geographical Society’s website.   Click on any cover to see an enlarged image.