TIME TO CHECK OUT TAJIKISTAN
The Pamir Mountains include peaks around 7,500 metres, with the road we drove going as high as 4,655 metres (nearly one kilometre higher than the peak of Mt Cook!). This 2,000 year-old route taught us valuable new lessons as overland travellers... including one learned the hard way!
Most overland travellers would pick just one route through the Pamirs, however I was eager to explore this fascinating region more thoroughly than that. Most go via the not to be missed Wakhan Valley, while others remain on the Pamir Highway, but it seems few even know a middle route exists – we explored them all, as well as two stunning side valleys.
Setting off from Kyrgyzstan’s interesting little city of Osh (963 metres), we gradually ascended from the lovely warm climate prevailing there, to a far more bitter one in Sary-Tash (3,178 metres).
As I look back through the images we’ve collected from Kyrgyzstan – and now Tajikistan too – I note a number of them look as if they come from different seasons through the year, whereas in fact it’s all just down to the drastic changes in elevation possible in these countries.
Even just within Tajikistan’s Pamirs life is very different at between 2,000 and 3,000 metres elevation vs 3,000 to 4,000 plus metres.
