I’ve just returned form a pretty adventurous trip to the Pamirs. The Pamirs are a mountain range that lead into the Himalayas and contain a few of the tallest mountains in the world. Our route took us from Dushanbe south to the Amu Darya (the great Oxus as it is known in history), which forms the border with Afghanistan and then we followed the river up stream towards China through the Wakhan corridor. This is an interesting place because it is the point where Afghanistan is only about 20-30 miles wide with Pakistan just on the other side. Just past Langar the mighty Oxus was barely a trickle and we then cut north over the mountain pass (15,000 ft) into a high mountain plateau (12,000 ft) to a city called Mughrab. The next day we went back down through the middle of the plateau, and back to Khorogh and the next day we followed the river back to Dushanbe.
The beginning of the trip was familiar territory going to Kulab. I had spent time in a village close to Kulab doing research, so I traveled the road many times. This was the first time I had been through in spring and was amazed at how lush and green everything was. The road was lined with wildflowers, including masses of wild poppies. It was like that for most of the trip even in the mountains. I think that’s why everything was so spectacular because it was all so lush.
For most of the trip after Kulab, Afghanistan was only feet away. We were able to see some villages with amazing settings. It is spring now so there were several dramatic snow melt waterfalls and rivers rushing through the middle of villages and everything was lush and green. We could see villagers and watch people on the road/ footpath opposite us. We saw caravans of donkeys and camels hauling goods between villages, and at one point upstream we met a few travelers at the river banks and had a chat. As we on our way upstream I thought a lot about Marco Polo’s visit to the area and the rugged footpath and timeless villages on the Afghan side must have been like what he crossed to get to China.
Along the way we passed through many different cultures, the Tajik population stops just past Khorog, then you begin to meet Pamiris, and up on the plateau the Kyrgyz people live. One of the highlights of the trip was a stay in the traditional Pamiri home. They have a central window and different high platforms around. They live high in the mountains and so they have their bread oven inside too which is usually outdoors in Tajik homes.
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