Afghanistan Closeups

This report’s podcast is only available in german: Pamir-Highway Teil I: Über die Nordroute zur afghanischen Grenze.

Two routes lead from Dushanbe to the Pamirs: We choose the northern route, which is considered more beautiful but also more demanding. And in fact it has it all: The lack of asphalt, the 3250 meter high Saghirdasht Pass and the need to cross rivers that are so raging that they have unfortunately taken away the previously existing bridges, all make life difficult for us. Then the weather takes a turn and rain and the resulting mud ultimately cost us two days of time. So we need a whole week to meet up again with the alternative southern route in Kalai Khumb. Here, it’s still 240 kilometers to the gate to the actual Pamir, the town of Khorugh – including a 100-kilometer-long construction site. But the road leads through the Panj valley and the Panj is the border river with Afghanistan. And so every now and then we can get impressive views of Afghanistan, a few dozen meters away, through the constantly swirling dust.

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We are going to get on our bicycles once again and further collect kilometers :-)

See you again soon!