Tajikistan, lot of expectations and lot of interesting stuff we heart about it before and now we are here. Easy border crossing in a bit less than one hour from Uzbekistan and extremely friendly customs officers, what a surprise. We even got some recommendations where to go, well anyhow on our list, but very kind. And Karin even got a rose as a welcome gift; what a start.
So we decided to head to the Seven Lakes in the famous Fann Mountains, just 40 kilometres behind the border. Easy decision, not so easy to get there. As we learned immediately, roads in Tajikistan are different. Some would say they are bad, but honestly they are as wild as you might like them, if you are driving a Landcruiser. So we had a lot of fun on these 40 kilometres already.
In the end, this is what we are here for and finally you come to a wonderful campsite close to a lake, our home for three nights. Initially we planned to stay only one night, but it is simply too nice out here. What a place and what a landscape, so different than the other countries on our trip so far. Simply amazing and sometimes even breath-taking.
But even better, at least for us, wonderful hiking opportunities. Don’t expect them to be described in a guidebook or so, you rather have to simply follow some trails used by locals with their donkeys. And sometimes you get rewarded with spectacular views, lakes and waterfalls.
And if you are lucky, like in our case, you can even spot some wildlife. A beautiful lizard crossing our way, or the tiniest snake we ever saw.
In the end it is a mix of so many things that makes the Fann Mountains and in our case the region around the Seven Lakes so fantastic and such a great start in Tajikistan. Of course the landscape and the nature, but also the people living in remote villages up here in the mountains, sometimes only connected via donkey trails to the rest of the world.
Hard for us to image to have a life like this, but people are so friendly and nice when you meet them, just a wonderful experience. So Tajikistan has offered us a wonderful start and we are now excited to see how it continues from here, especially now that the expectations are even higher.
We will still stay in the Fann Mountains for some days, doing bit of hiking, but also simply enjoying the area, prior heading to Dushanbe to stock up our food storage and spare parts.
But more on this in the following blog posts…
