LOST SETTLEMENTS AND RARE ENCOUNTERS
DAY 1 – RENDEZ-VOUS IN SULTAN ESHKASHIM
Our adventure across the Wakhan Corridor starts in the Afghan village of Sultan Eshkashim, a peaceful one-road village-cum-bazaar standing along the Afghan-Tajik frontier.
Sultan Eshkashim can be reached either through a five-to-six hour bumpy ride from the northern Afghan town of Fayzabad or via a short hop across the border from the namesake Tajik hamlet of Ishkashim. Upon request, Soviet Tours will assist you with the organisation of your journey to Sultan Eshkashim and back.
Once in Sultan Eshkashim, we’ll have an orientation briefing and visit the local market: your last chance to buy packaged food supplies and basic camping gear before heading for the remote Wakhan Corridor.
Dinner and overnight in Sultan Eshkashim.
DAY 2 TO DAY 8 – THE LEGENDARY Wakhan CORRIDOR
We'll leave Sultan Eshkashim in the early morning and then continue our journey along a Soviet-built dirt track towards Langar, the gateway to the Wakhan Corridor, a finger-shaped narrow strip of Afghan territory extending into China and separating Tajikistan from Pakistan.
The corridor is wedged between the Pamir Mountains to the north and the Karakoram range to the south: it is here, from the high mountain valleys, that the Panj and Pamir Rivers emerge and form the Amu Darya, former Soviet Central Asia’s most famous and infamous waterway.
A trade route through the valley has been used by travellers going to and from East, South and Central Asia since antiquity. The actual borders of the corridor were, however, formed only in 1893 by an agreement between the British Empire, Russia and Afghanistan. This narrow strip of land acted, indeed, as a buffer between the Russian Empire and the British Empire as well as forming a new direct connection between Afghanistan and China's Xinjiang region, ruled by the Qing dynasty.
We’ll spend the following six days exploring the Wakhan Corridor, hiking along the many shepherds’ trails crisscrossing the valley, admiring the stunning beauty of its sceneries, bathing and relaxing in natural hot-springs, and meeting with the proud and gentle inhabitants of this untouched patch of Mother Earth.
Major stops of our journey across the Corridor will include: Khandud (largest Wakhi settlement in the area), Qala-e-Panja (domed tombs and rickety old mosques), Ab Garch (mud houses) and Sarhad (last hamlet accessible by road).
During your time in the valley you'll have the unique chance to meet with Wakhi farmers and herders, who will share with you their food, their home and the mystic secrets of their endangered culture.
Meals and overnights in traditional Wakhi guesthouses.
DAY 9 – BACK TO ESHKASHIM
Your once-in-a-lifetime voyage through the Wakhan ends as it started with a ride back to Sultan Eshkashim, where we’ll enjoy a last lavish dinner all together.
On the following day we’ll arrange for your transfer to either Fayzabad – and possibly onward to Kabul – or the Tajik border.
Possibile extensions to this tour includes a Soviet-themed tour around Tajikistan and a ten-day odyssey across Afghanistan.
4990 €
INCLUSIONS
Double/twin-room accommodation (breakfast included), private transport in the Wakhan Corridor, all entrance fees, all meals outside Kabul, English-speaking guiding service, 24/7 on-site and remote assistance.
EXCLUSIONS
Single supplement, international flights, all services outside Wakhan, extra drinks, visa fees (if required), additional activities, tips, travel insurance.
