The Burning Darvaza Crater: «Gates of Hell» in the Heart of the Karakum

Sometimes names are as authentic as can be. The word “Darvaza” translates from Persian as “gate.” And who would have thought that a village with such a name in Turkmenistan’s Karakum Desert would eventually become the site of the very real “Gates of Hell” or “Door to the Underworld”—that is exactly how the burning gas crater of Darvaza is now known.