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Yashikul
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Travel to Bartang and Wakhan corridor

#Pamir Highway #Ethno-tours #Mountains #Traditions
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Meeting point
Dushanbe
End location
Dushanbe

Duration

17 days

Length

1900 km

Location

Murghob District

Recommended group composition

4-8 per

Difficulty level

Very easy - Suitable for individuals with minimal physical fitness or experience. Involves short, flat walks with little elevation gain or loss.

Easy - Requires basic physical fitness. Involves moderate walking on well-maintained trails with gentle inclines and declines.

Optimal - Suitable for individuals with average physical fitness. Involves moderate to challenging hiking, often with some elevation gain or loss.

Intense - Demands good physical fitness and endurance. Involves long hikes on rugged terrain with significant elevation changes.

Extreme - Suitable for experienced hikers and mountaineers. Involves technical climbing, glacier crossings, and exposure to high-altitude environments.

Super extreme - Reserved for highly skilled and experienced adventurers. Involves challenging mountaineering expeditions with significant risks and potential dangers.

Intensive

Recommended age

18+

The price is per person, prices change for group trips.

There are currently no available dates for this tour :(

Tour in brief

We will go on a trek through the most beautiful places of the Bartang Valley and the Wakhan Corridor.

Tour organizer and guide

Taj Adventures

Taj Adventures

Our company has been operating in the tourism industry since 2010 and during this long period we have served more than 50 thousand tourists from different countries of the world.

Tour program

Day 1. Dushanbe

Day 1. Dushanbe

Meeting you at the airport, transfer to hotel, sightseeing.
Our guide will meet you at the airport and accompany to the hotel. In the morning we will drive 30 km to visit Hissar fortress (VII- XVII centuries). This historical site has fortified areas and citadel. The fortress used to be the residence of the delegate of the Emir of Bukhara; it was located on a high hill and was well defended with 1 m thick walls and loopholes for guns and cannons. Once we are back to Dushanbe, first of all we will visit Rudaki Park, National library, National state emblem, House of parliament and Somoni monument. After that we will stroll in National park to make photos of the second biggest National Flag in the world – 165 m high pole, 30 m wide, 60 m long. After excursion in Central Museum you will have lunch. Then you will visit to Gurminj Museum of traditional musical instruments. To feel real life you should visit Asian bazaar. It has colorful goods, fruits and vegetables. We will see today the main highlights of Dushanbe and you will find out many interesting facts about Tajik people. Dinner will be in a traditional restaurant where you will try Tajik food. Night is in a hotel.
Excursions and leisure Walk , Photo Where we live Hotel

Day 2. Dushanbe-Nurek-Kalai-Khumb

Day 2. Dushanbe-Nurek-Kalai-Khumb

Today we will drive to Kalai-Khumb village. You will see Nurek water reservoir. The highest point of the day is Shurabad pass (2 267 m). We will then drive along Afghanistan border. This part will amaze you by its unique mountains – it is already Territory of Pamir Mountains. Over the centuries, the Pamirs have inspired the world’s greatest explorers – Marco Polo, Hsuan Tsang, Mirza Muhammad Haidar. And now you also have a chance to travel here. You will drive along natural border – Panj River. Having visited the Pamirs, many travellers called this giant mountain system the ocean of white and blue mountains. This night you will spend in a home stay to experience how local people live here.
Excursions and leisure Walk , Photo Where we live Hotel

Day 3. Kalai Khumb-Ems

Day 3. Kalai Khumb-Ems

In the morning we drive to Rushan. 10 km from Kalai – Khum we will hike up to the ancient city of Karon. This old city was built in 3 century and in 2013 was restored. Ruins of the ancient settlement of Karon lie not far away from the village Ruzvai placed on the mountain Zogic at an altitude of 1700m. Zoroastrian sacred river Vanaguh Doytijo bends around the mountain from the east south and west. There is a tower of sacred fire built on a cruciform platform in pre-Islamic architecture style, which dates back to the ancient period of history. Then you will drive to Ems village (Rushan). Overnight and dinner is in a home stay.
Excursions and leisure Walk , Photo Where we live Home stay

Day 4. Ems-Bardara

Day 4. Ems-Bardara

Today you will drive to Bartang valley stopping in each village making friends, buying some handicrafts and getting to start of trekking point Bardara. Overnight at guest house
Excursions and leisure Walk , Photo Where we live Guesthouse

Day 5. Bardara-Yelga

Day 5. Bardara-Yelga

In the morning we will meet with the crew and get ready as we fix the luggage on donkeys. Our hiking starts from Bardara towards Bardara valley. The trail is quite easy and some parts of it are stretched along the Bardara river, so you can enjoy freshness and breeze coming from it. Camping is near Yelga where people in the past used to cultivate wheat for their livestock. Overnight in tents (3600 m). Hiking net 4 hours.
Excursions and leisure Walk , Photo Where we live Tents

Day 6. Yelga-below Lazar pass

Day 6. Yelga-below Lazar pass

In the morning we start trekking towards the pass along Bardara valley until Gulzor. After a lunch break, we will continue trekking until we reach a camping point just below Shtik Lazar pass (4800m). Overnight in tents (4000 m). Hiking net 4/5 hours.
Excursions and leisure Walk , Photo Where we live Tents

Day 7. Below the pass-Zaroj lek-Khabur

Day 7. Below the pass-Zaroj lek-Khabur

We start early in the morning before sunrise. Our plan is to cross the Shtik Lazar pass and walk about 5 km through the snow. If donkeys struggle to pass the snow the crew will help us to carry the luggage as porters. On the other side of the pass a new crew from Bachor will pick us up and accompany us. We will have a picnic near Kulen Lake. After the picnic, we will go for a short sightseeing trek towards Zaroj (4518 m) which lasts around 2.5 hours. Once we are back to the lake we head to Khaburga and camp there (4430 m). Hiking net 7/8 hours.
Excursions and leisure Walk , Photo Where we live Camping

Day 8. Khaburga-Vikhinch-Chapdara lake

Day 8. Khaburga-Vikhinch-Chapdara lake

In the morning we start trekking along Vikhinj valley. On the way, we will see many beautiful lakes and panoramas. We will stop for a lunch break near Uchkul lakes (Three lakes) where you can relax and catch fish. Later we will continue trekking up until Chapdar Lake (4553 m). This is the highest lake in Central Asia. Overnight in tents on a lake shore (4553 m). Hiking net 6 hours.
Excursions and leisure Walk , Photo Where we live Tents

Day 9. Chapdara-Kyrgyzshabar

Day 9. Chapdara-Kyrgyzshabar

In the morning we go down along Chapdar valley. According to your wish, you can take another route via Langar pass, so it will be 5km extra. Camping is in Kyrgyz-shabar. 19km – 7-8 hours walk. Overnight in tents at 4200 m.
Excursions and leisure Walk , Photo Where we live Tents

Day 10. Kyrgyzshabar- Langarghor-west end of Yashikul

Day 10. Kyrgyzshabar- Langarghor-west end of Yashikul

In the morning we gradually hike down towards Langar gate. The descent is quite easy. Lunch break at Langar gate. We will then cross Chashma river and continue hiking towards Langarghev until we arrive at the West end of Yashilkul lake. Overnight in tents (3720 m). Hiking net 6/7 hours
Excursions and leisure Walk , Photo Where we live Tents

Day 11. West end of Yashikul-Bulunkul

Day 11. West end of Yashikul-Bulunkul

The most beautiful lakes of the Pamirs are Yashil Kul and Bulunkul (Blue lakes) stretched on the altitude of 3700 meters above sea level. Today we will spend a relaxing day near them. The color of the water in Bulunkul is a subtle interplay of violet and dark-blue in the sunlight. Species of fish are found in abundance in the lake. There is an opportunity to see yaks, a unique species of domestic animals, sharing features of cow and sheep, traditionally used as a beast of burden apart from giving milk and meat products. You will drive to visit the hot spring and geyser near the lake of Bulunkul. Dinner and night is in a home stay.
Excursions and leisure Walk , Photo Where we live Home stay

Day 12. Bulunkul-Langar

Day 12. Bulunkul-Langar

In the morning we will drive to Langar. On the way, you will drive over Khargush pass (4 344 m). The almost inaccessible landscape and rocky mountains of this corner of the world have given safe haven to a unique diversity of wildlife. Amongst the most common species of wild mammals are Turkestan rat, tiger-cat, grizzly bear, badger, stoat, fox, gray and red wolves. Pamir provides a large and thriving population of Marco Polo sheep, the largest sheep in the world, and a strong population of the highly endangered snow leopard. You will climb up above Langar village to see petroglyphs. Dinner and night is in a home stay.
Excursions and leisure Walk , Photo Where we live Home stay

Day 13. Langar-Ishkashim

Day 13. Langar-Ishkashim

Drive towards the Wakhan corridor. There are several places of interest to stop. Above the village of Vrang, on a cliff-side pitted with caves, stands a Buddhist complex dating back to 4th- 7th centuries. At Yamg, we visit the reconstructed home of Sufi mystic Muabara Kadam , who died in 1910. Near this house there is a stone pillar with a hole in it which he used to calculate a solar calendar. On the road we will visit Kah-Kaha and Yamchun fortresses, further up the hillside are the hot spring at Bibi Fatima: dense and very salty minerals, the water at Bibi Fatima is crystal clear. Overnight and dinner is in guesthouse.
Excursions and leisure Walk , Photo Where we live Guesthouse

Day 14. Ishkashim -Khorog

Day 14. Ishkashim -Khorog

Today we will drive along Tajik-Afgan border to Khorog. It is perhaps one of the tiniest cities on the map of the world. It is surrounded by rocky mountains from all four sides. The town was built on the confluence of the 3 rivers where Shokhdara river and Ghund river flow into Panj river. On the way to Khorog you will meet Pamiri people. A number of anthropological features set the Pamiri people apart from the Tajik people. Among the Pamiris, there is a high percentage of people with blonde hair, fair skin and blue eyes. Pamir Mountains are the highest mountains in the world with human population after the Himalayas in Tibet. Life in the mountains made traditions of local people different from Tajik people. On the way you will visit Garmchashma hot spring. overnight in Lal hotel
Excursions and leisure Walk , Photo Where we live Lal hotel

Day 15. Khorog-Kalai Khumb

Day 15. Khorog-Kalai Khumb

More than half of the road (from Rushan to Kalai-Khum) is the same as you had before. This area consists of high rocky mountains over 6 000 meters and only 1 road was possible to be built. Passing through the Pamirs, the tourists have the rare opportunity to not only marvel the beauty of the virgin environment but also know more about the ethnography, history and everyday life of mountain dwellers. On the way we will stop in small villages to communicate with local people and to see their life. Human settlements are located on both sides of the river in narrow mountain valleys. On the other side of the river, you will see Afghan stone villages and gardens. Night is in a home stay.
Excursions and leisure Walk , Photo Where we live Home stay

Day 16. Kalai-Khumb-Dushanbe

Day 16. Kalai-Khumb-Dushanbe

In the morning we will drive to Dushanbe through Kulob. The road goes through the most picturesque river valley and amazing gorges in the terrain, where one can stop for rest and shoot photos of the mountain and rivers. On the way you will see small villages and meet local people. Tajiks are by nature hard working, hospitable, and kind-hearted. This nation greatly respects its traditions and folklore. This trip is attractive for the lovers of exotics, those curious about the ethnic and cultural diversity and captivated by the beauty of wild nature. Dinner will be in a restaurant. Night is in a hotel.
Excursions and leisure Walk , Photo Where we live Hotel

Day 17. Departures

Day 17. Departures

We transfer you to the airport, say goodbye and wish you a safe trip
Where we live Without accommodation

Map

Information

What's included:

  • Transportation
  • Meal
  • Accomodation
  • Water
  • Guide/intepretor
  • Donkey and Donkey man porter
  • GBAO permit

What's not included:

  • Alcohol

The price is per person, prices change for group trips.

What luggage is allowed on excursions?

We recommend light and comfortable luggage. Rules vary by tour and transport.
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