Hike Tajikistan

September 2012 saw me hitting the work-luck jackpot, and getting the opportunity to live in Tajikistan, Central Asia, for a month. Living in the capital Dushanbe with local people, and getting the chance to experience some of the culture there in a way I would not be able to as a tourist, this was a real once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me.

Further good luck had it that the colleague organising this year’s trip, Rachel, is someone who I get on with really well, and who also has a passion for independent travel, experiencing new cultures, and making the most of opportunities.

The first of these opportunities came during our first weekend off, in the form of a hike through the Khodja-Obi-Garm plateau in the Varzob Valley, north of Dushanbe.

Map of the region from Google Maps. The red marker shows Varzob, the black dot below it is Dushanbe.

Rachel had organised a guide for the trip from a local walking group called Hike Tajikistan, Denis the guide in turn organised our transport to the starting point of the hike, Hoji-Obi-Garm resort.

The drive to the start was fascinating, passing incredible scenery and seeing snippets of daily life from this poorest of post-Soviet Central Asian nations.

The hike started part-way up a mountain, and followed a track further up the mountainside. 

The views were breath-taking, and even though I was feeling awful having been the first (but not the last!) of the group to succumb to the poor food-hygiene standards in this part of the world, and therefore not having eaten in two days, I was still able to appreciate the beauty of the place.

Once up on the plateau, we passed various small farmsteads. The animals and the farming here is so different to the UK, it’s fascinating to see. I loved these fat-tailed sheep especially.

Continuing along the plateau, my energy levels were extremely low, but I was determined not to miss out. I know that this was a little irresponsible, and potentially selfish as if I got into trouble then the rest of the group would have to help me, but I couldn’t bear the thought of missing out as I knew I would never get this chance again.

Luckily though I just about managed to keep up, as we made it to the furthest point of our hike, a gorge with glaciers for a backdrop.

Stopping for lunch, to my surprise I found this grasshopper also taking lunch – eating my trousers! Being technical trousers of manmade fabric I have no idea why the grasshopper thought them food, but it was very tenacious indeed and I was unable to scare it off. In the end, I had to pluck the greedy thing off me and put it down somewhere more suitable.

The return leg took a slightly different route, following the small Pugus River for a while, and taking in more spectacular scenery.

We also stopped at a Holy Site, where white tissues and ribbons were tied to this juniper tree as prayers.

Denis pointed out this impressive fossil in the path, pouring water over it to make it more visible. I am always awed by the fact that you can find fossils of sea creatures up on mountains, what an incredible place is our planet?

Eventually our hike returned to the starting point, and I was shattered but very pleased I had done it as it was great to escape the city and see some more of this fascinating region.

This Lada 4x4 was parked near our minibuses. I developed kind of a liking for them over the month in Tajikistan!