Pamir Valley

Here, the Pamir River looks shallow enough to be able to walk across to Afghanistan	An interesting beehive shaped hut, Pamir Valley, Aghanistan	The Pamir River separating the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan from Tajikistan	Motorcycle Tourists, Pamir Valley, Tajikistan
Tajikistan side of the Pamir Valley	Abandoned buildings, Pamir Valley, Tajikistan	World Cycling, what a difficult route	The dirt road along the Tajik side of the Pamir River
The Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan is part of the larger Badakhshan Province	A man camping on the Afghanistan side of the Pamir River near the confluence of the Ali-suu	A bridge in Afghanistan, destroyed or perhaps never completed	The smaller bridge in the background is visible in 2008 Google Earth imagery with no sign of the second bridge
Another view of the two bridges looking up the valley into Afghanistan	Confluence of the 'Ali-Suu River with the Pamir River, Wakhan Corridor, Afghanistan	A snow capped peak in the center of the Wakhan Corridor, perhaps 18,000 feet tall	The Pamir River as it enters a canyon
A canyon on the Pamir River which separates Tajikistan and the former USSR from the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan	A canyon on the Pamir River which separates Tajikistan and the former USSR from the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan	The Pamir Valley widens once again as the road returns to river level	A sight as old, or older, than the Silk Road - a small caravan of camels on the Afghanistan side of the Pamir River
A man leading two bactrian camels, Pamir Valley, Afghanistan	Another man in the caravan leads a string of 3 camels	Camel caravan in the roadless Pamir Valley of Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor	A man walks ahead, leading his horse as the rest follow
These are the Central Asian 2-humped camels as opposed to the more common one humped camels of the Middle East	Camel caravan, Pamir Valley, Afghanistan	Camel caravan, Pamir Valley, Afghanistan	The caravan rides along the base of the mountains a bit back from the Pamir River which forms the border
Pamir River dividing Tajikistan and Afghanistan	Camel caravan, Pamir Valley, Afghanistan	A stone hut, Pamir Valley, Afghanistan	Compared to the trail on the Afghanistan side, the dirt road in Tajikistan is a major thoroughfare
Pamir Valley, Tajikistan-Afghanistan	A pair of mudbrick houses along the Pamir River, Afghanistan	The Pamir River enters another narrow canyon	This looks like a good spot for a picnic
A small sandy "beach" on the Pamir River, Afghanistan	Pamir River, Tajikistan-Afghanistan	A local man keeping watch over his cow in the Pamir Valley	Working dog in the Pamir Valley, Tajikistan
Pamir River, Tajikistan-Afghanistan	The caravan we passed earlier comes into sight as its makes its way slowly along the Pamir River	Look at all the different paths that have been worn out over centuries of hoofed traffic following this ancient trade route	Wider view of the Pamir River with the caravan descending the slope in the background
I decided this small canyon where the river runs through a narrow gorge would be a nice place to sit and watch the caravan pass	The caravan approaches such a short distance away	Like something out of Silk Road history	Narrow gorge on the Pamir River
The caravan leader glances across the river into another world	No sign of Kalashnikovs...maybe they're tucked away somewhere safe	A camel caravan just adds to the stunning landscape	Just a stone's throw away, Afghanistan
The caravan passes by at on the other side of the Pamir River	What luck to have witnessed something like that across the river in Afghanistan...it makes me want to visit that country	The river can't be much more than 20m wide here, if that	More photos of this caravan I've posted in a small Afghanistan gallery
What looks like the remains of a small stone shelter	Not as impressive as the camels on the other side, a fully laden donkey complete with a big plastic bottle of beer	Rapids in a narrow section of the Pamir River, perhaps someday a site of adventures sports like rafting, inshallah	A small oasis of lushness in what is the otherwise forbidding landscape of the Pamir Valley
A small mudbrick hut in a clearing surrounded by trees, Wakhan Corridor, Afghanistan	Perhaps these shelters are small caravansaries for caravans like the one I had just passed	The dirt road, the former frontier of the USSR	A couple of locals in one of the first habitable looking buildings we've seen on the Tajik side of the Pamir Valley
Most of the other places look more like this, crumbling ruins	Goat jam kicking up dust	A small stream flowing out of a narrow canyon on the Tajik side of the Pamir Valley	Note the narrow trail descending down this hillside on the Afghan side of the Pamir River
It looks like September is bring on the autumn colors in this high altitude valley	Some of the sheep head for the hills as we pass by...smart sheep	Unfortunately, not all are as smart as the first bunch	A small valley leads deep into Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor
Our destination for tonight, the Wakhan Valley, is in front of the distant range of the Hindu Kush	The massive range of the Hindu Kush formed the northern wall of the British Empire	These peaks of the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor rise to over 20,000 feet and are about 10 km north of Pakistan	The Pamir River drops off far below us as we continue south towards the Wakhan
Here, the Pamir River runs through a canyon over 1000 feet lower than the level of the road. We have a steep descent ahead	Geology project - rock samples in the Pamir Valley	Guessing from previous experience that there is a large iron content in these reddish rocks	Mountains on the Tajikistan side of the Pamir Valley, here hills compared to the Hindu Kush
There river is barely visible in the canyon below and it looks like the Afghan caravan trail is on a similar level as this road	I couldn't find too many mountain names on my source, Google Earth, for this area of the Pamirs and Hindu Kush	Southern end of the Pamir Valley	Tajik road to the Wakhan Valley with the great wall of the Hindu Kush
Yet another flock of sheep and goats. The driver is impatient and honks wildly as he forces his way through the herd	Start of the big descent	A cascade descends through scrub taking on fall colors	A cascading waterfall, Pamir Valley
A small feeder stream of the Pamir River	The road crosses this mountain stream at a big bend around 18km north of the confluence of the Pamir and Wakhan Rivers	The Pamir River once again drops sharply away from the Tajik road	After our descent, we again approach the level of the Pamir River. The track in Afghanistan seems a bit larger now
Pamir River north of the Wakhan Valley	Rapids in the Pamir River	Big bed in the road as the it crosses a small stream feeding the Pamir River 18 km north of the Wakhan	The Big Bend in the road
A side valley on the Afghan Wakhan Corridor	A nameless 17,800 foot mountain in the Afghan Wakhan Corridor	18,000 foot summit in the Wakhan Corridor, Afghanistan	The first signs of serious cultivation that we'll see a lot more in the Wakhan Valley, Pur Sang, Afghanistan
Sum Ting Wong?	The Wakhan Corridor, that narrow strip of land like a quail's head feather coming out of "mainland" Afghanistan	An agreement between the British and Russian Empires in 1873 established the Wakhan Corridor as a buffer between the two empires	The mountains above Pur Sang, Afghanistan - Wakhan Corridor
The scenic Tajik road connecting the Pamir Highway to the Wakhan Valley	Please don't run the guy over Mr Driver	The caravan trail on the Afghan side that's been parallel to us for the past 70km	The first of a series of ancient forts protection the Wakhan Valley
Mountains of the Wakhan Corridor east of the Pamir Valley	Valley leading east to the high mountains of the Wakhan Corridor 15km north of the confluence	Amazingly rugged nameless mountain, Wakhan Corridor, Afghanistan	15km to go for the descent to the Wakhan Valley
Natural or blasted to let the road pass through	Needle sharp spire	Steven and our Land Cruiser	10 km from the Wakhan/Pamir Confluence
South end of the Pamir Valley	A dry riverbed and the caravan trail on the Afghan side of the Pamir River	The broad Wakhan Valley comes into sight near a large roadside boulder	The confluence of the Pamir and Wakhan Rivers and the Hindu Kush
Cattle on the road as the Wakhan Valley opens up ahead of us	Descending to the Wakhan Valley	Trying to pass more livestock without pushing any of them over the ridge	An interesting eroded gulley, Wakhan Valley, Afghanistan
The Pamir Valley as it descends to meet the larger Wakhan Valley	Welcome to the community of Langar	The canyon of the Pamir River just north of the Wakhan Valley	Canyon of the Pamir River with a worn border marker, Tajikistan
The final canyon carved by the Pamir River just before it reaches the Wakhan Valley	The Pamir River deep below in the canyon	The southernmost canyon of the Pamir River	Mountains east of the Pamir canyon, Afghanistan
Erosion creating Utah-like formations, Pamir Valley, Afghanistan