Choosing to go to Tajikistan because of its mountains, I was really looking forward to check out the eastern part of the country and one of the most famous roads in the world, the Pamir Highway. The Pamir Highway leads from Dushanbe to Osh in Kyrgyzstan and being the second highest highway in the world, it definitely was a "must do" for me during my visit in Tajikistan. The way to go was with a rented car, as this simply was the best option to do the 1250 kilometer long journey. As I also wanted to do some hikes along the way and not rush through like many other people do, I first had rather a difficult time to find some people to share the ride and costs. After some research, I eventually found a group which I could join, that included as many hikes as possible. Unfortunately the departure date was a bit late, but as there basically was no other possibility for me, I stayed a bit longer in Dushanbe than originally planned. No regrets though, as this turned out to be the right decision. So for once I do an exception and include the ride with the car in the blog entry as well. As it was a big part of this trip it will give you a better feel of what the Pamir Highway is all about. Even so, the focus remains on the hikes and as the whole trekking culture in Tajikistan is still in its children's shoes, all of them turned out a little different than expected. :)
Day 1: Dushanbe to Kalaikhum Early morning I made my way to the Green House Hostel in Dushanbe, where I was to meet my driver and my two companions for the next 9 days. Arriving there, the driver greeted me in front of the hostel and introduced himself as Adil. After loading my bag into his Toyota Landcruiser, we went into the hostel and soon found the two girls we were looking for: Martina and Caro from Germany. Another short introduction later, we were on our way out of Dushanbe. The first couple of hours were not that interesting and were spent rather with chatting than with checking out the countryside. A lookout towards Lake Nurek was the only memorable thing until we arrived at the Hulbuk Fortress.
Entering the museum of the fortress, an elder man greeted us, introducing himself as archeologist, excavator, professor and curator of the museum. Wow, wish I would have such an introduction. :) He led us around the museum and while in the beginning it looked like as there was just one room, it turned out to be quite bigger than that. With his little English he explained the outlay of the fortress, the excavation they had done in the 60ies and the recent reconstruction of the outer walls. The original fortress was built around the 11th century and while he showed us a 1000 year old cup, he suddenly took it out of the showcase, put it into the hands of Caro and told Martina to take a picture of her. :) We were laughing hard, as something like this was just unimaginable in Europe. When the tour of the museum was finished, we went to the fortress. As in the past women were given flowers when they visited the fortress, the curator just cut a couple flowers from the nearby garden to keep up with the tradition. :) As mentioned before, the outside walls were rebuilt and they did a pretty good job on that as it looked quite beautiful. Inside though, there basically only were some pile of stones and the features of the old fortress not recognizable anymore.
It was a fun visit thanks to the curator and we left with a smile on our face towards a late lunch. After lunch the scenery changed soon and we were driving upwards steadily. The first pass was following not much later and the ride over there was pretty entertaining. There were some funny road signs like "Emergensy Exit" or "Anti Crash Ramping" (a run out zone during the ride down). There were many other cars that struggled with the ascent in the heat and were standing at the roadside with the engine hood open to cool down the motor. While Adil was driving gently before, he was now racing up the pass, overtaking loads of other cars along the way. And finally after the pass, there was the first military checkpoint where we had to show our passport and visa. Just after the checkpoint, there was another one, but this time it was the local police. Again we had to show our passport and visa, the only difference being that Adil put a couple notes in his passport before he handed everything together to the policeman. :) Driving down the other side of the pass, we met up with the wild river Panj and our first view from neighboring Afghanistan. The river was the border between the two countries and we would be following it for the next couple days.
The longer we drove, the more impressive got the mountains and in the meantime we regularly took some photo stops. Once we also did a Tajik car wash, as we just drove under a waterfall that was coming down next to the road. :) Just before we reached our final destination for the day, we stopped once more to check out a sightseeing spot in the middle of nowhere. It was a rather strange place with a park full of European art, a little palace for the president and a recreation area to hang out. We didn't really knew why we were there and left again after a walk through the gardens. Arriving in Kalaikhum, we checked into our guesthouse and were welcomed right away from a child with the words: "Welcome to Tajikistan, welcome to Kalaikhum, welcome to Roma (the name of the guesthouse), welcome to homestay!" Haha, thank you. :) The rest of the evening was spent with a nice dinner, a sundowner beer and sharing traveler stories with some other guests.
Day 2: Kalaikhum to Jiseu Picking up the road again in Kalaikhum, we headed out in the early morning to follow the river Panj again. Some other guests from the guesthouse, that were driving in the same direction, were our companions for the next hours as they stopped at the same places and took the same photo stops as we did.
The mountains were even more awe-inspiring than the day before and most of the time we were driving in a valley with the mountains enclosing us. This was not the only difference to yesterday though: the road was much bumpier, there were a lot of cows laying just next to the road and many local people were waving at us looking for a ride to the next town. We also passed some more military checkpoints, but this time Adil just handed over some copies of our passports and visas that he had made in the guesthouse yesterday. Smart!
The car that Adil was driving was pretty new and we had the aircon on all the time. For me in the front seat it was fine, but for Martina and Caro not so much, as the cold air didn't really reach them in the backseat. Due to the heat and the bumpy ride, Martina got sick and only felt better after the breakfast was unloaded in the middle of the road. Lunch passed and we said goodbye to the other travelers, as we would be taking a different road in the afternoon. Martina and I had changed seats in the meantime and from the backseat I couldn't see that much, as on my side were steep mountain walls for most of the time. The only thing even I couldn't fail to notice was, when the river and the scenery suddenly changed. While the river so far was super wild with waves and a strong current, it calmed down from one moment to the other and almost wasn't recognizable anymore. As the river changed, so did the valley. It opened up much more and made space for villages and farming fields. A little while later we came upon a turnoff and turned left for our first side trip. Entering the Bartang valley, we drove along a super nice scenery, deep into the heart of the valley. Our goal was Jiseu, a mountain village reached only on foot, where we would stay overnight. We supposed that Adil knew the place where we had to start from and when he dropped us at a suspension bridge, got ourselves ready for our first hike. As it was already 5 o'clock in the afternoon, we didn't lost any time and were soon on our way.
Two hours up, two hours down we were told and if that was true, we would be right on time to reach Jiseu before the sunset. Going over the bridge, we followed a path for a while and then came upon a little settlement. The path petered out there and that was a bit strange, as Jiseu was a popular side trip among tourists. Asking a local in the settlement, he pointed towards the valley ahead of us and we continued our walk a little further. As still no path appeared, I thought it better to quickly check my GPS and well, it said that we were in the wrong valley. :) Waiting a minute or two for the GPS to correct our location, it didn't move a bit. Telling Martina and Caro my discovery, they checked their GPS too and came to the same conclusion. So we headed back to the bridge and prayed that Adil was still there, as otherwise we would have had to walk another 4 kilometer to the correct trailhead. Lucky us he was still there and after a longer explanation that we were at the wrong bridge, he drove us to the correct one. On that second bridge was a big arrow pointing to the valley beyond and saying Jiseu below. Okay, now we were definitely right. :) As we had lost another half an hour, we started again right away. Once over the bridge, we followed the main river for a bit and then entered the Jiseu valley. While the description of the hike said, that it would be a steep 5 kilometer ascent, it soon turned out that the slopes were rather gently. Nevertheless we took our time, as Martina still didn't felt that good and as we knew now that we still would reach the village while there was sunlight. Enjoying the light of dusk and the beautiful scenery of the valley, we made our way towards Jiseu. Only the weather was still too hot. Shirt and shorts were enough to walk, even though it was evening already and we were about 2500 meters above sea level. Reaching the lower part of Jiseu around 8 pm, we decided to spend the night in a homestay run by some lovely people. They made dinner for us straightaway and we enjoyed the tranquillity of Jiseu after this eventful day. Finishing our dinner, Caro asked me to check her neck, as she said it was itching a lot. I had a look with the flashlight and couldn't see anything. Just when I wanted to turn the light away, I noticed something on her hoodie. Taking it away, it started to wriggle in my hand. Uhh, what the hell was that? Asking our hosts, they instantly knew. It was a caterpillar with a hairy skin, that fell from the tree above onto Caros hoodie and somehow had stung her neck. Luckily it was nothing dangerous, but we were told that it would take some time until the itching recedes. Actually the best would have been a shower, but as it was pretty late already and there was no proper shower, we went to bed without. Looking back, this might have been a mistake, as Caro spread the hairs of the caterpillar all across her neck and had a rather strong rash for the next couple days.
Day 3: Jiseu to Khorog
The evening before we had decided to get up early today, as we wanted to hike up to a mountain lake about 5 kilometers from where we stayed and only have breakfast on our return. Setting out at 6 o'clock, it was already bright enough to walk without a flashlight. Hiking first from the lower part of the village to the upper one, we had a dog on our heels that functioned as a guide and entertainer at the same time. :) The path was pretty easy to find, except in the upper village where some locals had to point us in the right direction. Leaving the dog and the upper village behind us, we enjoyed the walk and the fresh air after the heat of yesterday. Mostly following farming fields and a little man made canal, we passed another couple houses after a while. Again the locals pointed out the right way and soon we ascended further towards the lake. While there had been many flowers along the first part, the flora changed to thorny bushes the farther we got. They were kinda a hassle, as they were leaning into the path and I got stung by them more than once. Nevertheless it was a lovely hike up the valley and when we reached the lake two hours after our start, we were perfectly on time to witness the sun coming over the mountains around us. While the lake was dark on arrival, it soon changed its color to the well known deep green/blue. It was quite a sight to behold, as the change of colors happened as slowly as the rising of the sun.
As we had to get back to Adil at about noon, we couldn't stay too long and were retracing our steps rather sooner than later. Even though we walked down the same way, it was quite a difference to the ascent, thanks to the now shining sun. Illuminating the whole valley, the change of colors was as intense as the smell of the many flowers around us. Some tiny lakes we had passed on the way up were now deep blue as well, the mountains around us brown, red and green, the flowers shone in yellow and purple and the sky was as blue as possible.
When we passed the couple houses again, an elder lady invited us for some tea. We couldn't resist and sat down for a first breakfast. :) The place was super nice and we could have stayed there forever. But of course that was not possible and after we strengthened ourselves, we brought the rest of the way to the lower village behind us. At our guesthouse we had a second breakfast and then continued our walk back towards Adil and the suspension bridge.
Again the walk was quite different under bright sunshine compared to the dusk of yesterday and the true beauty of the valley showed itself all along the way. Due to our two breakfasts, we were rather late and the sun was already scorching hot. As there was almost no shade at all, it was the only downside of the walk and turned into a little struggle the further down we went. Nevertheless, we enjoyed this hike a lot and with its gentle slopes and moderate altitude, it was a perfect start into our hiking adventure along the Pamir Highway.
Coming back to the bridge, Adil was already waiting there and we were soon driving back to the main road. Today was not much driving though and the only memorable thing I noticed along the way were some nice looking steel telephone masts that were planted right into the river Panj. Whoever did this, I reckon it was definitely not the people of Tajikistan. :) Khorog was our final destination for today and was the last bigger town before we ventured into the remoteness of the Pamir mountains. As we were there quite early, we had time to explore the town and stock up on some snacks and water.
Walking along the streets, a farmer came towards me, shook my hand, welcomed me to Tajikistan and smiled the brightest smile ever with his mouth full of gold teeth. Haha, sweet! :) Again we stayed in a lovely guesthouse, this time with some other drivers and as some of them spoke pretty good English, we were finally able to ask some specific questions about our itinerary. Interestingly, we even had some good Wifi there, which after a month of travel in Tajikistan, definitely was a surprise. :) Well, it made the time fly and bed was calling soon.
Day 4: Khorog to Langar Leaving Khorog in the early morning, we were excited about what was coming, as today we would be entering the famous Wakhan valley. But first we had to make our way down to Ishkashim and that meant another morning on the road. Still sitting in the backseat, the views were better than before, because the mountains did not enclose us anymore. There also was some other sort of entertainment for the first couple hours: having enough of Adil's Asian music and his nervous skipping of the songs, we took over the radio and eventually listened to some good music. :) Then the car got a little damage the other day, when we drove over one of the many bumps in the road. There was a more or less constant beeping, because the sensor said that the back door was not closed. Of course it was closed and luckily Adil could fix it in the morning during one of our photo stops and the beeping finally stopped. Also the road changed quite a few times, from dust to gravel, from paved to unpaved and there even was one little part on sand. And last but not least, we paid a visit to a hot spring. But as the weather was hot as well, as I was the only foreigner there, as it was naked bathing only and I was not in the mood to be stared at all the time, I refrained from taking a bath. For lunch we stopped in Ishkashim and again we had quite some entertainment. Eating our food while the TV was on full volume showing "Tajikistan is looking for the next superstar", we asked after lunch if the restaurant had watermelon for dessert. Of course they had none and Adil without further ado drove to the bazaar to get some. :) Unfortunately there were none as well and we left Ishkashim without any dessert. Our first stop after lunch was the Ishkashim fortress. As usual in Tajikistan we got a surprise, as we never really knew what we would get from the sights we visited. Having the rebuilt Hulbuk fortress in mind, we climbed up a tiny hill to the Ishkashim fortress and stood before an endless amount of stones. There were no signs of explanation about the place at all and the only indication that you were looking at an old fortress, were a couple of little stone walls. Well, there was nothing else to do than go up another hill and enjoy the scenery from there. It was the first time for us overlooking a part of the Wakhan valley and the view of it was just splendid.
Afghanistan on the other side looked as pretty and welcoming as Tajikistan. The "bad" Afghanistan we knew from TV seemed far away, as we observed Afghan farmers going along with their daily life. Carrying on from the Ishkashim fortress, we now followed the road deep into the Wakhan valley, always with the river Panj and Afghanistan to our right. As mentioned, the mountains of the days before were impressive, but they couldn't keep up with the Wakhan valley. The drive and the views were simply spectacular and required many a photo stop. :)
Before we arrived at our final destination, we did another side trip. This time though, there was a road all the way to the end and we brought the steep ascent with the car behind us. The first stop was another fortress: Yamchun fortress. Compared to the one in the morning, this one was definitely more beautiful. First, there was actually still a shape of a fortress and even some of the towers were still standing.
And second, as this place was above 3000 meters, the views from there were just insane. Taking our time, we enjoyed the scenery of the Wakhan valley for a while and then carried on to another hot spring.
While Caro and Martina decided to take a bath this time, I refrained again and instead spent my time with looking around the settlement of Yamchun and chatting with Adil. When the girls had finished their bath, we drove back to the bottom of the valley and as we were good in the time, had a longer discussion where to stay overnight. Tomorrow we were about to hike up to the Engels Peak Meadows and however possible wanted to escape the blazing midday sun. So instead of staying in Yamg according to our itinerary, we insisted on driving on and sleep in the village of Zong, about 7 kilometers away from the trailhead.
Arriving there we found the only homestay soon enough and a woman greeted us, speaking really good English. She explained that she had no shower and that the toilet was broken, so she wouldn't take any guests overnight. A pity, because she was really nice and so we kept on talking a little bit more. Asking us where we were from, we replied Germany and her only reaction was: "Ich spreche auch Deutsch!" :) We had a good laugh while she explained that she had learned German as a child in school. Eventually we had to leave and decided to stay in Langar, a village another 4 kilometers further on. In the guesthouse there, was one other guest, who spontaneously had changed his plans to do the hike up to Engels Peak Meadows as well. After dinner, us three had determined to have breakfast tomorrow at 6 o'clock to be at the trailhead at 7. As the driver of the other guest heard this, he said to him: "You should go early as well, may be leave at 8 o'clock?" :) Again we had our laugh, as the hike was supposed to be about 9 hours in total with not much shade along the way. Well, they settled for a breakfast a little later than us and we all went to bed early as tomorrow was another big day.
Day 5: Engels Peak Meadows Everything went according to our plan and we stood at the trailhead at 7 o'clock. Well, almost everything. :) There was a big gap in the road that Adil couldn't cross and so our start to the hike was about 600 meters before the official trailhead. The sun was already above the mountains and when we started walking it was soon with shirts and shorts only, even though it was early morning and above 3000 meters. The part to the trailhead was super steep and it took us half an hour of struggling upwards to reach the official trail. Finding the correct path soon, we started to walk along the side of a mountain. The ascent there was much more gentle and we eventually were able to enjoy the walk now. :) The views of the Wakhan valley, Afghanistan and the Hindu Kush at the horizon were superb and once more many photo stops were needed.
After a while we came upon a man made canal and had to follow this one for the best part of an hour. Only once, after we passed a little waterfall, the trail was not 100% clear. Luckily I had read before, to keep left at this point. So that was exactly what we did at the next junction and the path soon became obvious again. Reaching a huge gorge, the canal and our path made a bend and at the horizon Engels Peak already came into view. We could see a river below us in the gorge and it took us another 45 minutes of straightforward walking to reach the river and the end of the canal.
Following the river now, we finally were ascending again since quite a long time ago. The path got rougher in this part, as we mainly walked on stones and combined with the high altitude our going was obviously rather slow. The sun was also still shining bright most of the time and soon a break was direly needed to have a drink and something little to eat. After a while the way changed back to a dirt path and the way became easygoing again, making the snowy peaks ahead of us coming closer constantly. It took another couple steep ascents along some grassy fields until suddenly the Engels Peak Meadows opened up before us. And what a place that was! A huge green plateau greeted our eyes with water meandering through everywhere. Donkeys, sheep and goats were grazing there and the huge mountains all around completed this little paradise 4000 meters above sea level.
As this was a well known side trip of the Pamir Highway, we expected to see some other tourists or may be a few campers, but there were none. We were all alone and only a brick house to our right indicated that some shepherds were residing there. Crossing the whole plateau, we made our way to the lake close to the foot of Engels Peak. Much of the lake was pretty dry though and we were walking mainly over dried earth and mud. Unfortunately clouds had appeared in the meantime and obscured the view of Engels Peak. Nevertheless, the scenery was spectacular enough and the clouds meant that we could have lunch without searching for shade.
We had taken a packed lunch along from the guesthouse and were not really sure what to expect from it. Well, two eggs, bread and sweets came out of the bag and the eggs were already too old to eat. :) Luckily we also had some other snacks with us, so all together was enough to fill our stomachs. About half an hour later, we started to walk back and when we passed the brick house again, people started to appear there. They were waving and asking if we wanted to have some tea. "That would be nice", we said, but "how do we get over to you?" The river between us was way to deep and there was no bridge or anything else where we could have crossed over. So they told us to sit down and one guy took a donkey together with a plate of food and crossed the water to get some meat and bread to our side. :) Once again, such a crazy hospitality.
As we were not that hungry, we ate about half of it and then carried on back towards Langar. Turning around for one last look, the clouds had disappeared and Engels Peak was there in full view again. Nice! No clouds meant much more sunshine though and sure enough we started our descent right in the midday sun. While this was not so much a problem higher up, it turned into a struggle again as soon as we were back at the canal. Well, the views during the descent easily made up for that. As the sun was in our back now, the whole Wakhan valley was enlightened and showed us its best side.
All the time on our walk back along the mountainside we marveled at the scenery and for sure it was one of the most stunning sights I had seen so far.
Coming back to the end of the official trail, we still had to walk down the steep part back to where Adil had parked his car. Luckily we were not too early and he was already waiting there. We hopped in right away and were glad for some shade and aircon. During the hike we wondered how far the other guest had come, as we hadn't seen him all day long. Arriving back in Langar, he told us that he had made it as far as the end of the canal and then had turned around. Ahh, mystery solved. :) To celebrate today's hike, Adil and me organized a beer and we enjoyed it together with a good rest and a nice dinner. As it had been a long day again, bed time came once more around 9 o'clock.
Day 6: Langar to Alichur
Another long day ahead, we were off early again. As the road after Langar was pretty bad, we were forced to drive rather slowly for once. This was okay though, so we had time to enjoy the Wakhan valley and Afghanistan to the fullest for one last time.
After a while the scenery started to change, as we made our way slowly upwards. The valley was not that open anymore and the mountains also seemed less higher. It were the first signs that our main goal of today was coming closer: the Khargush pass, a pass over 4000 meters. Passing another military checkpoint, we said goodbye to the Wakhan valley and Afghanistan and officially entered the Pamir mountains. The way up to the pass was no problem and thanks to the acclimatization before, the high altitude was neither. Entering a vast plateau just after the pass, another hike was awaiting us, a walk up to the panorama ridge, 4800 meters above sea level. One hour up, one hour down said Adil, while our itinerary calculated with a hike of 4 hours. Well, there was only one way to find out what was correct. :)
For the first time, there was no path at all and we made our own way towards the ridge, following more or less the GPS coordinates that we had received in advance. Surrounded by high mountains, with two lakes in the middle, looking barren and deserted, the views of the plateau were insane from the very beginning. The way up wasn't really difficult, but due to the high altitude and our many little breaks happened slowly once more.
Luckily there were quite a few clouds around this time and together with a steady wind, the walk was actually very pleasant, even though it was close to midday already. We also could see a few showers around us, but none of them headed into our direction. The ridge we were aiming for was always ahead of us and as we could see two other hikers on there, we soon knew where exactly we had to go. After about one and a half hour we had brought the last steep ascent behind us and stood on the ridge. Views opened up to the other side and along the horizon, the Afghan mountains came back into view. The showers from before had mainly moved in that direction and the panorama over there was rather obscured. No problem though, as the view towards the plateau was stunning enough. After about 10 minutes on the ridge, the sun came out from behind the clouds, enlightening the whole plateau and everything around us. It was a truly spectacular sight and for me this was the Tajikistan how I had imagined it before my trip. :)
Another 10 minutes later we had reached the highest point and seeking shelter behind some stones from the rather strong wind, took a well deserved break.
Continuing onwards a little later, we soon reached the end of the ridge and more views opened up before us. I could have stayed there the whole day and marveled at the panorama around me, but of course we had to go back to Adil, who was waiting in his car on the plateau.
Starting our descent, there still was no trail to follow, so we made our own way again and this led us into a field with some loose scree. We took our time there as it was quite steep, but once we had it behind us, the descent became much more easygoing.
As we all somehow followed our own way, we split up and only met again later in a sort of valley that led down to the plateau. There we took another break and had a discussion about the hiking information that we had received in advance. We thought that the drivers in general were rather poorly informed. There was not only the drop at the wrong bridge in Jiseu, they also expected us to just go up to the ridge and the same way down again, while the agency had planned for us to do the loop we had done right now. Of course the loop was longer than two hours and ended at a different point than it had started. That led to the fact that Adil wasn't waiting at our designated end of the hike, but still stood at the beginning. Not too much of an issue of course, as we just walked across field back to our car. Once more though, a hike had turned out a little bit different than expected, partly also because of the confusing information we received from different sources beforehand. Well, in the end this was part of the adventure and it was obvious that the trekking culture had not yet fully arrived in the Pamirs of Tajikistan. :) Continuing our drive, we always stayed around 4000 meters and as you can imagine, the views just remained spectacular. After a while, we reached a crossing and were surprised to see a well made concrete road before us. It was the road coming from Khorog and it was our first time actually driving on the official Pamir Highway. :) It was a short pleasure, as we made another side trip a couple kilometers later. Heading to Bulunkul Lake we bounced along another dirt road for about half an hour. The lake was a nice one, but apparently was best visited in the morning, as then the surrounding mountains are mirrored in the lake. As it was 3 o'clock already and we were pretty hungry, we just did the mandatory photo stop and then headed towards the village of Bulunkul for lunch. Adil had told us that they were fishing in the lake and so we asked if we can have some fish to eat. The preparation took its time and when we started eating it was already 4 o'clock. :) The fish was delicious though and a welcoming change after all the potatoes, soups and rice. :) Bulunkul was a really nice rural village and we would have liked to stay there overnight. As another hike was to be done tomorrow, this was unfortunately not possible and so we set out again after lunch. Before we were going back to the main road, we quickly entered the Tajik National Park and drove to another lake called Yashikul. That was another beauty, but we only had a couple minutes to enjoy its serenity.
It was probably my shortest visit in a national park ever as we just headed out again afterwards. :) Driving back to the main road, we didn't have to drive too long anymore until we arrived in the village of Alichur somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Many long distance trucks do stop there overnight and therefore there were many guesthouses and homestays. We set up camp in the "Hotel" Golden-Fish and another long day came to an end. Once again bed was calling soon after dinner, as all the many impressions and activities made us pretty tired. It was not the end of our trip though and tomorrow another challenge awaited us, as there was one more hike where we had received different information from different sources. :)
Day 7: Alichur to Karakol Lake
Once more the alarm rang at 5.30 am and about an hour later we continued our ride along the Pamir Highway. While many a driver yesterday told us, that the roads from Alichur up to Kyrgyzstan were in a good condition, it remained a question how to define the word good. :) The road resumed its alternation between paved and unpaved and there still were as many holes as there were mountains around us. :) But used to all the bumps by now, it didn't bother us anymore. Two hours on the road brought us to Murghab, the largest town along the Pamir Highway. According to our itinerary this was our lunch stop and as it was the home town of Adil, we were invited by his family. Compared to yesterday it was a total contrast, as we ate "lunch" already at 9 o'clock in the morning. :) Well, it was rather a second breakfast and we were back in our car half an hour later. After Murghab another highlight awaited us, the ride up to the 4655 meter high Akbaital pass. On the way towards the pass it happened and for the first time in all those days we passed a larger tourist group. I thought it astounding that it took that long, as the Pamir Highway was supposed to be full of tourists. Adil knew the drivers, so he stopped and had a chat with them. That meant, that from now on we shared our photo stops together. The first one being the mandatory stop at the road sign of Akbaital pass and it was rather weird to see that many tourists at once after all the solitude from before.
The second one was already on top of the pass, as it didn't took us long to get there. The views towards the direction we were going to were superb and we enjoyed a longer break together with all our new friends. :)
The way down from the pass was spectacular too and once more we marveled at the mountainous, colorful and barren landscape around us.
As mentioned before, we were about to do another hike today and while a couple drivers told us that there was only one starting point to the mountain we wanted to scale, the boss at the office of the agency said something else and had sent us GPS coordinates starting in the middle of nowhere. Adil obviously didn't know about this and turned off towards the other starting point. Halfway there, we asked him to stop, as we weren't sure if it was a good idea to do an unmarked hike without knowing where exactly we had to go. We convinced him to turn around and back on the main road, were looking for a turnoff towards our hike. There was a way on the map, but we didn't know how that one looked like in reality. Thanks to our GPS we found it pretty easily and behold, it was a nice dirt road suitable for our car. So we turned left and followed the road until our GPS once more told us to look for another turnoff. Again we found the way easily enough and lucky us, it was another dirt road. We were surprised but happy, as now we would be able to start the hike at the "official" trailhead, actually knowing where we had to go. :) Well, we didn't make it all the way to the trailhead, as the road became too stony in the end. Nevertheless, a couple 100 meters more to walk was a good bargain for a path that didn't even existed on the map. :) Being past noon already with the sun shining bright once more, it weren't the best conditions to start our hike, but in the meantime we had learned from our mistakes and knew how to protect ourselves. Walking along the dirt road, we gently ascended a deserted valley. Making good way, we soon came to the end of the valley where we turned right and ascended a steep grassy slope.
As we were already over 4000 meters, the ascent was slow and took quite a while. Reaching a ridge at the end of the slope, the views rewarded us for all the efforts to get there. Lake Karakol unfolded before us, as blue as a mountain lake could get. Surrounded by snowcapped 5000 to 6000 meter high mountains, this was a panorama like I had never seen before.
According to our GPS we now had to walk straight ahead, but somehow we kinda missed the correct starting point. Instead of going over the mountain to our left, we walked along the side of it, never actually making it on the correct trail no matter how far we ascended. Luckily for us, the going was not too difficult. Even though there were many boulders and stones, they were mostly big enough to stand upon and if not, the ground was firm enough to give us a good foothold. The only downside to this little detour was, that we lost some time and the ascent took much longer than expected. But as we were moving in an altitude of over 4500 meters now, the going was slow anyway, no matter where exactly we were walking. :) The ascending slopes were steep and the fierce wind tugged relentlessly at our bodies, but the scenery definitely made up for all the struggle. We had a constant lookout onto Lake Karakol and several times took a break to admire the beauty of our surroundings. For me it was evident in the meantime, that this panorama was one of the most beautiful I had ever seen in my life.
The further up we went, the more we walked in our own pace and at one point we kinda lost sight of each other. As I was a bit far ahead, I decided to get onto the main trail and waited there for Caro and Martina. From where I stood I also finally was able to see our destination: the peak of Mount Urtabuz, 5047 meters above sea level. The map told us that it was only about 300 meters more to go, but a look on the clock told me that this would be a rather tight story. When Caro and Martina arrived we had to make a decision, either continue or turn around. After a little break and discussion we decided to skip the last part and go back without scaling the summit. We were all content with this decision, as the views we had were superb, as we had reached an altitude of just about 5000 meters already and as it was half past four with a walk of two hours still ahead of us. Turning around, this time we followed the way we should have taken for our ascent. Of course there was no path or marks as well, but the ground was with less boulders and stones and therefore made for good walking.
Reaching the first ridge faster than expected, we said goodbye to the panorama of Lake Karakol and descended back into the valley. As we knew where to go now, we took the shortest way possible and soon arrived at our car again. Taking the dirt roads back to the main road, we continued from there to the village of Karakol where we stayed for the night. For once the guesthouse was packed with other tourists, but that was fine. As we were kinda late, we had our dinner served straightaway and after the hottest shower ever, were the last ones that went to bed.
Day 8: Karakol to Tulparkul Yurt Camp
Again it wasn't a day to sleep in, as today we had to cross the border to Kyrgyzstan. They were an hour ahead of Tajikistan and as we didn't knew how much time we would lose at the border, we set out early again. Saying goodbye to Lake Karakol we made our way towards the border, with superb weather and surroundings once more. We had noticed along the way, that Adil couldn't drive behind other cars, he always had to overtake them. So when we saw a couple cars on the road far ahead of us, we knew we were in for some testosterone for him and adrenaline for us. :) Well, the fast driving and overtaking led to the fact that we arrived at the border without any other car in front of us. First we had to cross the Tajik border and that was pretty straightforward. Once all of us had the stamp, we continued our ride. The border itself was a pretty unique one, as the 4282 meter high Kyzylart pass was in between. While pictures at the border itself were not allowed, we could go out of the car on the pass and enjoy the magnificent panorama from there.
Driving down on the other side, we first crossed some no man's land and a shack that functioned as a homestay for stranded travelers, before we reached the Kyrgyz border. Handing my pass over to the customs officer, it only took a look into a camera for a picture and the stamp was given. It was most probably the easiest crossing ever. :) Entering Kyrgyzstan, we heard some shooting and explosions far away. Hmm, what could that be? Well, the mystery was solved as a soldier held us up on the road 15 minutes later. Obviously the Kyrgyz military was practicing, as tanks, trucks and other vehicles crossed the road ahead of us and assembled on a field nearby. As I had the pleasure of doing military service myself, it looked like an assembling to discuss what was good and bad about the drill before. 20 minutes later we finally were waved through and beheld not only all the vehicles, but also a podium and an exhibition of military weapons. It seemed like a big event and I doubted that this was a normal drill. Whatever it was, we were only able to drive to the next crossing and then were held up again. Military and police together stopped basically every car that came upon the junction. Adil took our passports, went away and didn't appear again for quite a while. When he finally was back, he looked pretty angry, but we were able to continue our ride towards Sary Moghul. That something was wrong was obvious and a little bit later we stopped at the roadside so he could call his boss at the agency. Handing us the phone, we eventually got some explanation. The Kyrgyz military held an extraordinary event for 3 days and had invited its neighbors to check out the show. This meant that the whole border area was closed off and only accessible with a permit. Of course we had none, as not even the boss at the agency knew about this event. As a conclusion, Adil continued the drive with a rather sullen face and a wallet that was 40 dollars lighter. Arriving in Sary Moghul we had lunch at a lovely guesthouse and had time to discuss the events of the morning. As the military also was in the Peak Lenin area, we already knew that we wouldn't be able to do our last planned hike. But apparently there was another one that we could do instead and so we set forth again after lunch. Taking some backroads to avoid more military checkpoints, we headed through a flat plain to the impressive mountain range ahead of us. Peak Lenin, with 7134 meters the highest mountain of that range, was clearly recognizable and we looked forward to get a closer view.
Once across the plain we ascended for a while and then reached our final destination for today: the Yurt Camp at Turpakul Lake. At first sight, this was Kyrgyzstan like I had imagined it. Cows and yaks were grazing at the beautiful lake and the huge snowcapped mountains were the perfect backdrop for the lovely yurts in front of us.
At second sight though, the place was not the paradise it first looked like. The beds were rather hard, food was served in a freight container, there was no shower and the toilet was broken. Especially the toilet was one of the most disgusting I had ever seen, as there was not even water to flush.. Well, we didn't knew all of this when we agreed to stay there and so we just had to deal with it. With all that had happened in the morning, it was already 3 o'clock in the afternoon when we decided to do our last hike of this trip. The boss of the agency had explained that whatever we do, we should not cross the bridge over the big river, as there was military on the other side. So the way to go was obvious and the path along the left side of the river was found soon enough.
We walked among some lovely mountain flowers, marveled at the canyon next to us with its meandering river, saw tons of marmots lurking around their holes and always had a perfect view of Peak Lenin up ahead.
The path led mostly straight ahead and was in a pretty good condition until it petered out and we had to join another path a little bit above us. Not much further on, we came to a massive landslide and couldn't really go any further. We took a break to check our GPS and the surroundings. There was a path to be seen next to the river in the valley below and the map told us that it was the way to go. But how do we get down there? Did we miss a junction? And when we reached the bottom, how do we go back up again? We had a longer look around and finally decided to go down a steep grassy slope. The descent wasn't too difficult and once at the river we saw the correct way behind us, leading up to the path we had been walking on before. Well, at least we knew how to go back up again. :) Coming to a side river of the big one, we had to cross over to continue our walk. Looking for a good place to cross, we just couldn't find any. The stream was rushing strong, the other side was too far away to risk a jump and the water was too deep, so there were no stones that we could have used as a bridge. After a longer search and discussion we decided to just carry on along the side river. So we walked on for another 20 minutes, but still couldn't find any spot to cross. At least Peak Lenin with the colors of the river made for a stunning sight.
When the path and our time started to run out, we decided to retrace our steps. Going back the same way, except the steep slope of course, we kept a steady pace and soon were back in the yurt camp.
It was that late already, that dinner was served instantly and as there was nothing else to do afterwards, we soon sunk into a deep sleep to the crackling of the fire in the yurt oven.
Day 9: Turpalkul Yurt Camp to Sary Moghul Martina and Caro had decided to get up early again, to take a walk around the lake and the yurt camp. For this I couldn't find the energy and for the first time in a while set my alarm only to 7.30 in the morning. :)
After breakfast we said goodbye to the yurt owners and made our way back across the plain to Sary Moghul. There I asked Adil to stop at the local tourist information, as I had some questions to ask that decided whether I would stay in Sary Moghul or carry on with Martina and Caro to Osh. The questions were all answered positive and when I finally had some Kyrgyz money in my hand, it was the end of the trip for me and time to say goodbye to my companions.
As mentioned in the beginning already, to go on this trip was the right decision. The mix between the hikes and the driving was really good and I wouldn't have wanted to miss out on any of the walks we did. I think the pictures above speak for themselves. :) As the scenery was truly spectacular, this will be a trip that will remain in my memories forever. I'm even thinking of doing the ride once again in the near future, but with some adjustments along the way to enjoy certain spots longer and to have a less stressful timetable. So if you read all of this and are interested in a little adventure, just let me know. :)
Highlights of the trip: the hike at Lake Karakol, the Wakhan valley, the whole ride and scenery in the Pamir mountains and once again the superb hospitality along the way
This trip is for you if: - you love mountains - you're looking for a little adventure - you always wanted to be close to Afghanistan
- you want to go hiking in a region where the trekking culture has not fully arrived yet
This trip is not for you if: - you don't like many hours of driving on bumpy roads - you can't handle a lower level of hygiene - you want to hike along marked paths only
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