In the footsteps of history: a walk in Afghanistan's Wakhan corridor
Please note that due to recent events in Khorog, Tajikistan, many of the details in this trip report are now out of date. The Afghan consulate in Khorog was attacked in the recent fighting and the consul and his staff are reportedly now back in Kabul. The border between Ishkashim, Tajikistan and Ishkashim, Afghanistan is reportedly closed until August 21st, 2012. The border between Tajikistan and Kyrgystan on the Pamir highway is also reportedly closed for travellers entering Tajikistan. Check on the recent situation before heading this way!
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July 19, 2012
The rather beautiful unveiled Afghan consulate employee in Khorog, Tajikistan, wearing rather short sleeves, smiled and handed me back my passport after a brief 20 minute wait for the visa. "Here is your tourist visa to Afghanistan. 30 days single entry, starting today. I hope you have a pleasant holiday in Afghanistan and insch'allah I hope to see you again soon."
I was in Khorog, Tajikistan after a trip along the Pamir highway from Osh, Kyrgystan preparing to head into Afghanistan's Wakhan corridor, long a dream trip for me. My Tajik visa and obligatory GBAO region permit I had
I had not been able to find that much reliable information about the Wakhan corridor before I went, so was just planning to show up in Ishkashim, Afghanistan and insch'allah sort things out. I hope this blog post/trip report is helpful to future travellers.
July 21, 2012
After a day's wait in Ishkashim due to a slight miscalculation (July 20th was the start of Ramadan and the border was closed), it was off to Afghanistan. Every saturday there is the Afghan market in Ishkashim, Tajikistan, an initiative of the Aga Khan Foundation to try and reconnect the communites on either side of the Panj river, cut off from each other during the "Great Game" in the late 19th century when the Wakhan corridor was created to seperate the vast Russian and British empires from each other, dividing communities and families in the process.
Something about the Wakhan corridor inspires anyone who is fascinated by history and politics. While at first glance it does not, when you think of the historical importance of this territory, it is nothing more than fascinating. Before contact was made between China and the Western world, it was the vast mountains of this area that kept the advanced civilization of China seperate and cut off from the rest of the world. Travellers who are rumored to have passed along this way include Babur (the first Mughal emperor) and Marco Polo. The people of this area have adapted to some extremely harsh living conditions and live lifestyles that even today remain very far away from the modern world.
After a brief walk around the Afghan market (most of the stuff that the Afghans were selling was shit - a lot of it WFP aid such as biscuits and juices), I was off to cross the border. A very simple process really and within 30 minutes, I was stamped into Afghanistan.
As I was crossing, I ran into a local Afghan NGO employee who had studied English at the Aga Khan Foundation's University of Central Asia in Khorog, Tajikistan. He said that he would be happy to help me arrange the necessary permits to visit the Wakhan corridor and anything else I might need, as long as I compensate him for his time. (Around $30 as he was basically was with me all day)
The guesthouse I stayed at in Ishkashim is lovely, Bozmohammed's guesthouse, with heaps of food and a hot shower. From there we went to the tourist officer, police station and border police office to arrange the permits for the Wakhan (you can't enter it without these permits).
With this done, it was off to the bazaar to purchase everything needed for my trek. I decided on a trek from Sargaz to Lake Zorkul and back down to Sarhad-e-Broghil, partly because the jeep ride to Sarhad-e-Broghil is expensive ($450 each way) and I only wanted to do it one way. The ride to Sargaz was slightly cheaper, $300. And I wanted to experience mostly the ways of life of the Wakhi people, who populate the Big Pamir in the summer. Treks through the Small Pamir mostly pass through where the Kyrgyz people live. An important resource while planning your trip is this publication by the Aga Khan Foundation with the different trekking routes:http://www.akdn.org/publications/2010_akf_wakhan.pdf
July 22, 2012
The following day, at 5 AM I was off to Sargaz. My friend had arranged a car for me from Ishkashim to Khandud, a major transit point for trips into the Wakhan corridor. Ishkashimi drivers are not allowed past Khandud and there are many vehicles available there that will take you deep into the corridor.
In Khandud there was a minor argument between drivers over the price I should pay into the corridor. The Khandud guys seemed to want to get the most amount of money from me as possible, but a price of $300 from Ishkashim to Sargaz had already been agreed upon in Ishkashim. The reason for the high price for this journey is that there are very few people who own vehicles on the Afghanistan side and the local people use livestock to move around the corridor. Basically the only people who take vehicles are foreigners and local NGOS. So the drivers can charge what they want. A bit unfortunate but you just have to pay it. Hitching or finding a cheaper ride is EXTREMELY difficult...see my note below about my trip back.
From Khandud, a rather bone-chilling ride to Sargaz where I checked into the lovely guesthouse there. I was told to talk to Safdad to arrange a donkey for my trip, a local man who spoke some English. After a bit he showed up and a price of 500 Afghanis ($10) a day was agreed for the donkey. I thought this was all good and was quite excited to set off the following morning, then he came back and kept repeating "how many dollars for me?"
I had to then make it very clear to him that I did not want him to come with me. I just needed a donkey and a boy. After about 15 minutes of him repeating this question, he finally got the message and seemed quite pissed off. He proceeded to ask me for money ($4) for the local hot springs that I had just used.
Luckily, as I was having my evening stroll, I ran into a local Wakhi NGO worker who spoke perfect English. It turns out that Safdad was just giving me a donkey for 1 day! I was quite pissed off and my new friend was very helpful and tried to negotiate with Safdad for the same donkey and handler for the whole trip. Safdad said he had no one who could go as the grass needed to be harvested for the livestock winter food.
My friend stayed with me in the guesthouse that night, not being able to get home to his own village, so the following morning we could go to another village to ask there for a boy with donkey.
July 23, 2012
Up at 4:00 AM to go to the next village and asked about a donkey. Luckily, there was one, a man named Dadali, and we agreed on a price of 700 Afghanis a day for him to come with me, about $15. I personally do not think you really need an English-speaking guide with you for this trip. I had been studying Farsi a bit before this trip and took along the Lonely Planet's Farsi phrasebook. Almost everyone in the Pamir speaks at least some Farsi so armed with a smattering, you should be just fine.
After a quick breakfast of tea and bread, I said goodbye to my friend who had helped me and I was off into the Pamir.
The first day was INCREDIBLY difficult. My guide Dadali wanted us to sleep at the first Wakhi settlement in the Pamir that night, a good 10 hours walk away. From Sargaz, the trail goes from about 3000 m to a pass at at least 4900 m the first day. As I was not fully acclimatized yet and suffering from a minor stomach complaint, I felt AWFUL as we climbed. I could hardly stand up from dizzyness, my head was pounding, and it was freezing, with clouds closing in.
But we made it after more than 10 hours walking and a very difficult descent over a glacier into the Big Pamir where a nice warm Wakhi yurt was waiting for us.
The evenings in the Wakhi and Kyrgyz communities in the Pamirs are taken up by the obligatory milking of the goats. Then after this, the women cook dinner over a dung fire in one of the yurts. The first night I was allowed to sit in the cooking yurt as I was not feeling well due to the altitude and watched the women cook. There is no chimney and it is incredibly smokey. A lot of these women had quite bad coughs from the smoke.
When dinner is ready, the men all sit and eat together while the women sit to the side. The young boys are the ones who serve the food.
July 24, 2012
The second day was a lot easier than the first and I was feeling a lot better after a good night's sleep, with my altitude sickness symptoms gone. On this day we had to ford the first of what would be many rivers. All of these rivers were absolutely freezing.
Lunches while trekking were my favourite meal, given that we were able to eat the food I brought with me. As a good citizen of the British Commonwealth, I consider it my duty to carry along some British food with me to introduce to the local population. When I saw Baked Beans in the Ishkashim bazaar, I HAD to get them. My tinned food provided quite a nice respite from the repetitive simple diet of tea, bread and rice that the local people survive on. My guide really didn't know what to make of this food, especially the baked beans. You should have seen his face when I brought out pineapples. Sitting in the middle of nowhere in the Afghan Pamir, drinking freshly brewed tea and eating baked beans was pretty epic though.
Day 2 saw us staying in the village in the Pamir village of my guide, so the red carpet was pulled out for yours truly here. The young boys who could read and write (most of the older generation can't due to schools being closed for so many years in this region due to civil war and the mujahadeen) were fascinated with my Farsi phrasebook and I spent hours chatting to them, answering questions.
July 25, 2012
On Day 3, we stopped for Chai in a Wakhi village and I sat down with two young teenagers, Abdul Abik and Zikrullah. The two boys asked me what my ambition was. When I asked them what theirs was, young Zikrullah said that his was the development of Afghanistan. This I thought quite amazing for a 14 year old boy! The people of the Wakhan corridor really do not have that many opportunities when you consider that the relationship between Sunnis and Ismaili muslims is not very good and the isolated life that the Wakhis live. Everything in this part of Afghanistan must either come through Tajikistan or up through the dangerous road from Faizabad to Ishkashim, making transport of both people and goods difficult.
July 26, 2012
Day 4 saw me on top of a Yak for most of the day due to the fact that we would be crossing several very deep rivers. Make sure you bring lots of extra Afghanis for the trip! Depending on the time of year, the rivers in the Pamir can be quite dangerous for humans and donkeys and extra livestock might be necessary to help you across. A yak will set you back about 800-1000 Afghanis a day, depending on the village.
On day 4, we passed the boundary between Wakhi and Kyrgyz territory in the Pamir. While I do not think the relationship between the Kyrgyz and Wakhis is that good, the nomadic hospitality still applies in the Kyrgyz regions. That evening we camped at a Kyrgyz village but they still provided food, tea and welcomed us into their yurts for most of the evening.
From what I could tell, the Kyrgyz seemed a lot wealthier than the Wakhis. Their yurts were much more lavishly decorated and they seemed to have more things. But this could be due to the fact that the Kyrgyz spend all year in the Pamir, whereas the majority of the Wakhis move down back into the Wakhan corridor during the cold winter months.
Another fact that I discovered on day 4 was the donkeys are incredibly horny animals. On this day, I saw the first instance of many of donkey rape. My donkey was female and I guess she must have been a bit of a looker as she seemed to create quite a bit of a stir wherever we were camping!
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