#khorog

Mountain guide Safina Shoxaydarova dances with friends at her traditional Pamiri wedding in Khorog, Tajikistan.

Portrait of a wakhi nomad mother with her daughter, Big pamir, Wakhan, Afghanistan. Taken on August 11, 2016

Wakhi mother and her daughter in the Big Pamir, Afghanistan. Want to meet them too? Easy: fly Dushanbe in Tadjikistan, drive 2 days on the most awful off roads to Khorog, then drive to afghan border in Ishkashim. Add one day drive to Uzed (awful road too) then rent yacks, and walk for 2 days to reach them at 4500 m in the mountain...Those people live in the worst conditions you can imagine, with only their sheeps and yacks, and they say they are poor but happy...

Among the highlights there were hikes towards the advanced basecamp of peak Lenin, driving on dusty gravel roads three days along the Afghan border, going through corrupt mad max style border crossings in remote alpine passes, meeting fellow travellers and friendly locals, and staying at homestays with local families. 

Khorog (a.k.a Horog, Khoroq, Khorogh, Khorugh, or Xoroq) is an administrative center of Gorno-Badakhshan region, and the only city in Pamir. It is located approximately in the middle of the Pamir Highway: 600km to Dushanbe and 730km to Osh in Kyrgyzstan. In Khorog the Pamir highway branches out: the northern road goes along a deep mountain gorge straight to Murgab, and the southern one leads to the Vakhan corridor, the most picturesque part of the road, where historical monuments and picturesque villages have been preserved. Thus, Khorog is a touristic center of Pamir with all routes passing through it. Located at the height of 2200 meters above sea level, it is one of the highest cities in the post-Soviet territory and the highest city in Tajikistan.