Tajikistan

Anyone who is travelling to Central Asia should have Tajikistan very high on their “must visit” list. The country has some of the most spectacular scenery on the entire planet and some ancient cultures that developed in relative isolation due to the country’s remoteness.

Tajikistan is the smallest of the countries in Central Asia and divided into two very distinct areas. In the western half are most of the people and lower level fertile land. Almost all of the eastern half (the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region) is very high altitude and desolate, with small towns and very limited infrastruture.

Most tourism in Tajikistan is centred around the Pamir Highway, the major road that connects Tajikistan to China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. It is widely considered to be one of the best road trips in the world, winding through stunning valleys along the border with Afghanistan and then rising up higher on to the spectacular plateaus of the Pamir mountain range.

Whether you are a driver, cyclist or hitchhiker this road offers one of the best experiences in the world. The journey will be tough and likely unhygenic, both altitude sickness and diarrhea have to be expected, but trust me the views and cultural experiences are impossibly worth it.

My Trip

I went to Tajikistan in August 2018 using a car that I had hired with a friend from Osh in Kyrgyzstan. We crossed the border in the north east and drove all the way down the highway to Khorog before turning back along the Waghan valley and returning to Osh to drop of the car. We had hoped to go all the way to Dushanbe but time, money and only having one driver forced us to change plans.

Along the way we saw ridiculous lunar landscapes, desolate towns and tiny local villages hidden away iin the valleys. We ate deeply questionable food, both got sick in various ways and I was nearly driven insane by Emily’s taste in music (I’m mostly joking but certain songs still haunt me). Because we had a large monster of a truck we also made sure to pick up hitchhikers, both local families and backpackers, all of whom got the pleasure of being increasingly scared by my offroad driving (again mostly joking but heads definitely hit the roof a few times).

I will write up the full story of this trip at some point, with many more pictures of this incredible part of the world. However if you are travelling here you should check out my article on dealing with altitude. The entire region is high altitude and it should be taken seriously.