Bartang Valley has been indeed beautiful and in the morning we decided to go for a short hike up one of the side valleys, prior leaving towards the Wakhan Corridor.
But now it was time to hit the road and see more of the famous Wakhan Corridor. Following the river and the border to Afghanistan we had the pleasure of amazing views on both sides, Afghanistan as well as Tajikistan.
Especially the high mountains of the Hindukush in Afghanistan looked amazing. So close but still so far away, basically out of reach for us. Maybe another time.
Unfortuntaley the Wakhan Corridor is quite highly populated on Tajikistan side, something we were not aware about to that extend before. Driving through all the villages, can be of course nice, but somehow not what we expected. However getting further East, also that is changing and beside some shepherds with their herds, you don’t meet anybody anymore. Getting a tea invite by some shepherds is of course also a nice experience, but a good opportunity for a short stop and a funny mix of verbal and none-verbal communication. 🙂
Heading further East, leaving the “main road”, we entered the Zorkul Nature Reserve. First of all a place of great remoteness, but even better, the place where we saw our first Yaks.
But if there is an animal omnipresent here, clearly these are marmots and not even that shy in this region anymore.
Due to the altitude beyond the 4.000 metres, even now beginning of June we are facing some snow and ice on the rivers, also including some ice in the mornings on our car window, but what a place to be…
… and what a night sky, far away from all lights here in the mountains, having a bit of sleepless night on 4.200 metres.
As the weather was changing and the forecast promised some rain or snow, we decided that it is now time to head further North, so back to the Pamir Highway, but more on this in the next blog.
