Further Wanderings

Crossing the Khargush pass was the last time we’d see the high side of 4000m during our trip to the Pamirs, but there were still plenty of mountains left. Indeed, the Wakhan Valley contains some of the biggest peaks visible from Tajikistan (though most of them are actually in the Hindu Kush range across the border in Afghanistan, or still further afield in Pakistan.)

The Wakhan corridor is kind of a cartographical oddity. Many of you may already be familiar with it, but for those who aren’t, a brief explanation. The corridor is a long (roughly 200km), thin (between 14 and 60km) finger of land belonging to Afghanistan that stretches out to the east from the main body of the country. It became firmly part of Afghanistan during the 19th and 20th century “Great Game” period when Russia was expanding its empire into Central Asia and Britain was trying to stem the tide lest they get too close to British India (which included Pakistan back then.) Each country managed to gain influence and hold sway over much of the area, but neither could ever get a firm grip on Afghanistan. As such when they came to settle the borders once and for all they decided that Afghanistan would be left as an independent state to form a buffer between the great powers. This worked fine, except in the far east near the border of China where Russian and British influence actually met. To ensure that a buffer existed here (but without giving up too much of “their” land) a long, thin tongue of land, the Wakhan corridor was “given” to Afghanistan. Ever since, this spectacularly mountainous and remote area has been a place of legend. Even in peaceful times (which have been hard to come by in Afghanistan) the Wakhan has been difficult to reach. The easiest access to the region has long been the route we were taking: a side road off the Pamir Highway.

So without further ado, on to the photos:

The transition from the high, dry plateau of the eastern Pamirs to the wide, deep Wakhan Valley didn’t happen instantly. First we crossed the Khargush pass, which marked the last time we’d be over 4000m in the Pamirs. Once over the pass, the far end of the valley was still plenty dry, and pretty much deserted except for the Tajik military post near the base of the pass, complete with watchtowers and an actual tank. It’s hard to believe that a fairly insignificant looking stream like this one is actually an international border!

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