WAKHAN VALLEY (PAMIRS)

Tajikistan’s southern border, where it rune seamlessly into Afghanistan, is an endless parade of scenic amazement with storybook villages and towering valley walls, set against the backdrop of the Hindu Kush .

Millennia of conflicts and courageous battles have been waged along this area of the world, and if you trek this way today, you will still be able to see the remains of watch towers and fortresses, or shrines where soldiers and kings prayed for victory.

Few people have ever had the privilege to wander beyond the doorstep of this prestigious place, and yet the most famous of foreign travellers to Tajikistan, Marco Polo, undoubtedly came this way on his journey east to China. In spite of the extreme solitude of the Wakhan Valley today, you cannot avoid the overwhelming sense of history, and the ghosts of those who walked this way before.

As Marco Polo found, the Wakhan Valley was a major transport artery through the mountains to the east, and so in antiquity it was visited by traders and pilgrims, explorers and adventurers. Religions including Hinduism, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism were transported here by their followers, and they built temples and stupas to praise their respective gods. Accomplished ancient graffiti artists made petroglyphs (rock carvings) on large, flat-sided boulders, and these depict men and animals, religious symbols and the tools of war.

The valley and its surroundings comprise the Wakhan Valley Nature Refuge. The rarest animals, including the magnificent snow leopard, are only very occasionally seen, but they are protected nonetheless, and the reserve enables them to travel safely back and forth across international borders, following their natural hunting grounds. Getting here is tough – it is a long way from so-called civilisation – but Paramount Journey can arrange for commercial flights and private helicopter transfers, as well as jeep tours on the ground. Our tour leaders local knowledge and expertise ensure you will gain access to these isolated locations and create the most irreplaceable of memories. Even for an intrepid traveller, the Wakhan Valley offers more variety of sites and experiences, and a greater sense of adventure and discovery, than almost anywhere else on earth.

Come and see it for yourself!