Features of a travel across Tajikistan.

“We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls” 

Anaïs Nin. “The Diary of Anaïs”.

Big travel over four countries of Middle Asia.

Tajikistan with all the allure the name alone holds, who would have earnestly considered travelling there until very recently? If Central Asia is still perceived as a region few could pinpoint on a map, then Tajikistan is the ultimate unknown.
It just was not accessible, not as part of the Bukharian Emirate, not as part of the Sovjet empire and for many years not after independence. How many destinations on this planet can call some of the best adventure travel features you could possibly find their own and yet claim to be as yet undiscovered?
Tajikistan rates very high on top of that list.  Tajikistan's obscurity may well play to its advantage. Unspoilt is the key word and one of the areas within Tajikistan that is still so remote as not to have been exposed to the commodities that define progress and development nor to throngs of international visitors is Badakhshan. 
Badakshan is the mystical land where Tajikistan, Afghanistan, China and Kyrgyzstan converge. The Pamir ranges and the valleys between them, the many different cultures, ethnicities and languages, the fact that one of the routes of The Great Silk Road passed through here and especially also, that on one side of the valley you travel on the territory of Tajikistan.
While looking over the Pyanj river (which later becomes the famous Amu Darya) onto Afghanistan are but a few guarantors for one of the most fascinating journeys you could possible take these days and still be sure not to know anyone who has tread on the same path. 
A particular interest holds the Wakhan Valley, home to Ismaili people, the followers of His highness, the Aga Khan, a world leader in the truest sense of the word. The tiny villages between Ishkashim and Langar hold so many points of interest that a week can easily be spent there.
The excellent Pamir map by Swiss cartographer Markus Hauser indicates the highlights for siteseeing and points of accommodation. But always bear in mind that you are in some ways at the end of the world, you are not just a plane ride away from civilization, you may not have access to electricity for 48h, vehicles are sparse, no bazaars spill over with an abundance of fruit and vegetables, do not count on phonelines and internet.
In Badakhshan you go back in time among timelessly enlightened people who could not be genuinly friendlier, more accommodating and interested in you even if they tried really hard. In a world of changes, Badakhshan has not started changing yet.

Authorship:
http://www.discovery-central-asia.com Author article & photos Andrea Leuenberger

Photos by
Alexander Petrov.