The famous Pamir Highway is a high-altitude paved road with a length of more than 700 km, connecting Dushanbe, Khorog (Tajikistan) and Osh (Kyrgyzstan). The Pamir Highway runs along the border with Afghanistan and China and is part of the M41 highway. Currently, this mountain road is one of the highest paved roads in the world with such a length. The Pamir Highway is the only vital artery that links the Pamir highlands with civilization.
The Pamir Highway is unpredictable and deserted: there are several passes over 4,000 meters high, there are almost no car services and absolutely rare gas stations. Yes, it's better not to break down on this track.
Most of the Pamir Highway passes through the territory of Tajikistan (section Khorog - Dushanbe - Western Pamir Highway), while the largest number of traffic falls on the section Khorog - Osh (Eastern Pamir Highway). In mountainous areas and branches from the main road, the road is unpaved and is not used in winter due to the danger of avalanches.
Three main high mountain passes are located on the section of the Eastern Pamir Highway: Taldyk (3615 m), Kyzyl-Art (4280 m) and Akbaital (4655 m). The Pamir Highway also passes through the highest mountain village in Central Asia - Murgab (Tajikistan), located at an altitude of 3600 m.
Often the main visitors to the Pamirs are mountain tourists and climbers whose goal is to climb the famous seven-thousanders - Lenin Peak in Kyrgyzstan and Communism Peak (Ismail Samani Peak) in Tajikistan. Here you can also meet jeep, motorcycle and bicycle tourists from Europe and Russia.
Traveling along the Pamir Highway, tourists usually stop for the night in mountain villages, in guest houses of local residents. In large cities (Khorog, Osh, Dushanbe) you can stay in hotels.
Pamir and Pamirs
The Pamir highlands are a harsh, sparsely populated and very picturesque area. Along the way, you can see many beautiful alpine lakes, hot mineral springs and geysers, ancient fortresses, herds of grazing yaks, traditional Pamir houses and yurts of local residents.
The climate in the highlands is especially severe: rare rains, very cold winters with winds, lack of opportunity to engage in agriculture due to the high altitude and scarcity of soil.
Pamirs live in the historical region of Gorno-Badakhshan (Western, Southern and Eastern Pamirs), speak the Pamir language and profess Ismailism - a kind of mixture of traditional Shiite Islam and ancient Aryan religions. Instead of mosques, the Pamirs pray in special prayer houses. If there is no prayer house in some of the small villages, then people gather for Friday prayers in turn in the houses of their fellow villagers.
The clergy of the Ismailis are the feasts - especially respected people who have received a secular and religious education.
What to see on the Pamir Highway, interesting places to visit:
• Khorog - the administrative center of the Gorno-Badakhshan region of Tajikistan, a beautiful green city with traditional Pamir houses. The city has an airport that can receive Yak-40 aircraft, hotels, restaurants, shops, a market, a large Botanical Garden.
• Kalai-Khumb is an urban-type settlement located on the border with Afghanistan at an altitude of 1200 m.
• Hot mineral springs Garm Chashma.
• Langar is a high-mountainous settlement of the Vakhan valley in the Southern Pamirs, located at an altitude of 3000 m and surrounded on all sides by the six thousandth peaks of the Pamirs and the Hindu Kush. Langar is inhabited by the Wakhans and is famous for its rock paintings.
• Murgab (3600 m) - the highest mountain village in Tajikistan and all of Central Asia.
• Lake Yashilkul (“Green Lake”) is one of the most beautiful lakes in the Southern Pamirs, located at an altitude of 3734 m.
• Lake Karakul (“Black Lake”) is located at an altitude of 3914 m, which is 100 m higher than the most famous high mountain lake Titicaca in the Andes. The shores of the lake rest on ice, ice even lies at the bottom of the lake. The Karakul basin is the most deserted place in the Pamirs.
• Alai Valley - a picturesque tectonic depression located between the Alai and Zaalai ranges in the south of Kyrgyzstan at an altitude of 2240 - 3536 m.
• The village of Sary-Tash in the Alai district of the Osh region of Kyrgyzstan. Located at an altitude of 3150 m, at the crossroads of the main roads in the Pamirs.