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Which Direction Tajik Visa & GBAO Permit Optional Permits How to travel the Wakhan Valley Khorog to Ishkashim Namadgut to Yamchun Yamchun to Langar Langar to Khargush Pass Optional: Zorkul Trekking Budget Packing List Adding the Wakhan to your Pamir adventure? In 1873 and 1893 agreements between Britain & Russia and Britain & Afghanistan were made (see Great Game) to use the Panj & Pamir Rivers as a border and to form the Durand Line as a border for British India, thus resulting in the split of the historic Wakhan region into the Russian Empire (Tajikistan) and the Wakhan Corridor (Afghanistan), with the Afghan Wakhan Corridor acting as a buffer between the two empires. The Tajik portion of the Wakhan Valley sits in southeastern Tajikistan along the border with Afghanistan with the main section of the Wakhan sitting between Ishkashim and Langar. Most who visit the Wakhan Valley do so by private 4×4 hire with other travelers as a detour from the Pamir Highway between Khorog and Osh, or as a loop from Khorog to Khorog combining either the Pamir Highway and Wakhan Valley or the Shokhdara Valley and Wakhan Valley.

Qolma Pass Between Tajikistan & China was originally written in July 2018 Qolma Pass, the sole border crossing connecting Tajikistan and China. And trust me, this is a really obscure one, after returning to China after having crossed both the Qolma/Kalasu as well as the Khunjerab Pass between China and Pakistan any time we showed our passports it caused quite a flurry of interest for police and military officers. On the way from China into Tajikistan we ended up having groups of two hitch rides over in Kamaz trucks, and the final group of two ended up hitching a ride in the Chinese military van that was taking officers to the Chinese customs building at the Tajik port to change out shifts. The Tajik side of Qolma Pass is open Monday through Friday from 10 am to 4 pm Dushanbe time* and closed for lunch from 1 pm to 2 pm, however, these hours can vary a bit from day to day (welcome to Tajikistan).

Our first stop on arrival at the Tarim Souq was a fouta shop where the other three deliberated between different fouta (the man-skirt you see most Yemeni males donning) to purchase for gifts, and I snuck photos out the door of the man across this particularly wide souq alley, chatting with his neighbor (who I can only assume is his competitor) selling dried fish. Click here to read more about traveling in Yemen’s Al Mahrah Region Al Muhdhar Mosque is a beautiful, blinding-white historic mosque, located right in the heart of Tarim. The school focuses on Sufi teachings of Hadith (sayings of the Prophet Mohammed that offer guidance to Muslims), Adab (Sufi spiritual Islamic etiquette), Fiq (Islamic jurisprudence), and Tasawwuf (Sufi sciences of the heart). Al Jameh Mosque features the impressive Al Kaf library that features over 5,000 manuscripts from various fields of knowledge including, Sufism, medicine, Islamic law, mathematics, history, agriculture, about 400 of which are believed to be unique to the Islamic world.

The consulate in Khorog is actually the closest consulate to the Afghan Wakhan and nearby Ishkashim will likely be your entry point into Afghanistan and onto the Wakhan. Since the summer of 2018 its been reported that the consulate in Khorog will tell you that you can only use the visa to enter into the Afghan Wakhan, but there is nothing marking this information on your passport. The Khorog Consulate usually issues 30 days single entry visas that are valid beginning the day they issue it to you. I actually used some of these to help plan (recklessly) my own visit: Trekking in the Pamirs by Jan Bakker: Jan’s new book covers many of Tajikistan’s popular treks as well as a 12-dayer in the Afghan Wakhan.