The Road to Murghab and the Wakhan Valley

A Proper Introduction to the Pamir Highway, The Roads to Murghab and the Wakhan Valley

Karakul Lake to Murghab

Following the car trouble in the beautiful Karakul Lake, and the lack of any mechanics or petrol stations in Karakul Village and being put off further camping due to the incessant wind, I decided to drive on to Murghab after the car was fixed, rather than spend another night in Karakul Lake/Village. In hindsight I rather regret the decision as I would have liked to have taken more photos/drone footage in Karakul. That said, I have been trying not to make taking photos a key motivator for the trip.

The section of the Pamir Highway which I have now driven starts in Kyrgyzstan and Kyzl-Art pass, but for some reason it didn’t quite register with me to more formally introduce it, perhaps due to the grandeur of Karakul Lake and the rush to escape the border pass at Kyzl-Art as soon as possible. After leaving Karakul village again on my own again and headed further into the mountains, it really started to feel like the wild drive I desired and expected.

The drive is simply full of enormous varieties of road, from the grand straight stretches which I think exemplify Silk Road driving, to the windy curves, mountain passes, and downright awful pavement (or total lack thereof) and bumpy gravel or stones with the odd rock that threatens to seriously damage the underside of your car if you drive over it unnoticed.

Selection of DSLR photos of the drive (includes some shots from the Murghab to Wakhan Valley drive also):

Whilst the drive to Murghab (some 129km) is not terribly long, it does take much longer than anticipated given the condition of the roads, and my newly cautious driving…

There were several passes on the road to Murghab, but overall, the elevation does not ultimately change that significantly, with Karakul being around 4200 meters, and Murghab itself remaining around 4000 meters. That said, the highest pass on the Pamir Highway, Ak Baital passs (4655 meters) was between Karakul and Murghab. Unfortunately, with my newfound excessive caution, and my failure to properly read the Cyrillic signs, I didn’t realize when I went up Ak-Baital Pass, so I have no photographs to speak of (that said, there’s not really any place to safely stop). The drive down is rather stomach wrenching, but exciting. You just must pray your bloody brakes don’t fail as you're going to be in for a little ride if they do 😉.

Here's a few snaps from the small amount of drone footage I took:

And a few quick snaps from the mobile throughout:

I do have a decent amount of arm-out-window GoPro footage of several sections of the drive, but alas, these will need to wait. In the interim, I will share some screenshots from the GoPro footage further below.

After an enjoyable drive I arrived in Murghab, gassed up the truck for the first time, curiously with gas from jerry cans of questionable quality, and then found a hotel. Ultimately, I checked into a random place I hadn’t booked called the Pamir Hotel, which was festooned with backpacker stickers. Shockingly, they had a warm shower, mediocre WiFi, and dinner/breakfast on-site, so I was sold.

History of the Pamir Highway

Before I continue to discuss the Wakhan Valley, it’s probably helpful to provide a brief overview and history of the Pamir Highway, formerly known by its Soviet number, M41.

Originally one of the many parts of the Silk Road through Central Asia, the modern Pamir Highway follows many of the same, and precious few, routes through the high Pamir Mountains. The present modern route covers 1,252 km and stretches from Osh in Kyrgyzstan, all through Tajikistan, and into Afghanistan at Mazar-i-Sharif. Construction started in the 19th century during the Great Game where the Russian Empire sought to provide access to the Alay Valley (which I visited in Kyrgyzstan). Construction continued in part until the final completion of the highway by the Soviets in 1937. It traverses impressive valleys, canyons and cliffs, is renowned for not being in very good driving condition and has some of the highest driveable passes in the world. More recently, as part of China’s Belt & Road initiative, sections of the Pamir Highway have been getting renovated, particularly West of Khorog, this was very much evident when I passed through, many of the engineers and foremen are clearly Chinese.

The Pamir Highway, overview, image credit to Wikipedia:

Murghab to the Wakhan Valley

Murghab wasn’t terribly exciting, so I purchased some more water and started the drive to the Wakhan Valley. The turn off to the Wakhan Valley (which isn’t on the Pamir Highway technically) was a little bit past Rabat Sasök-Kul', a lake where I contemplated camping for the evening (either there, or at one of the lakes further along the road).

A few shots of Murghab and the Pamir Hotel:

Once one passes Rabat Sasök-Kul' and makes the turn-off onto the Wakhan Valley road, the conditions of the road almost instantaneously becomes terrible. Narrow, rocks strewn about, endless potholes and washouts, and innumerable of those ruts or waves made in gravel from hundreds of trucks passing over at speed – these vibrate the vehicle incessantly, even in a 4x4 Land Cruiser. Of course, this is all part of the fun of the Pamir Highway 😊

A few quick mobile shots from the road from Murghab to the Wakhan Valley:

That said, with the prior day’s car trouble still clear in my memory, I was not keen to get stuck again in an isolated spot, so thought that I might just drive on to the Wakhan Valley itself and either camp or homestay there. I think this was ultimately the better decision, as I only passed one truck and one motorcycle during the entire drive (around 33km) from the turn-off to the start of the Wakhan Valley at the GBAO[1] checkpoint near Khargrush.

To my surprise, when you arrive at the GBAO Checkpoint at the start of the Wakhan Valley, you are required to have a military escort in your car for the entire journey. Unfortunately, he was a rather smelly young fellow who did not speak any English. No photographs or video are permitted. This is quite sad because the 63 km drive is among the most scenic of the Pamirs I think. It is also extremely hairy, with lots of cliff edges, overhangs, a river crossing adjacent a cliff (nearly got the car hung-up here…). After letting the soldier out at the end of it I took a few photos with my mobile of the enormous drop from the edge of the road into Langar, very impressive. Unfortunately, the 63 km drive takes far longer than the ridiculous 1 hr 5 mins Google Maps suggests, it’s closer to 3 hours unless you drive like an imbecile with a death wish. This delay meant I had to finish the last section of it in the dark (starts getting dark around 6pm in the Pamirs at this time), and then find a place to stay or camp in the dark in Langar.

After leaving the initial section past the GBAO checkpoint and leaving your military escort behind, this is the view. I don't think it really conveys how high and narrow this road is:

Fortunately, after 10 minutes of driving through Langar after leaving the precarious road which overlooks it, I found a sign for a homestay and proceeded down the driveway. The owner fairly jumped out of a bush adjacent a field to introduce himself as the owner of Homestay Arsen. He was so friendly I couldn’t say no. I parked the truck and settled in for the evening, at the homestay that smelled delightfully of apples – a fond memory.

Homestay in Langar (taken the following day as it was dark when I arrived):

Now, it's rather difficult to make a post about driving down the damn road visually interesting without video. However, I'm not editing any videos whilst travelling. On that basis I have tried to screenshot a few highlights of the GoPro videos I did take, and will post them below. Hopefully they appear in chronological order and they give the reader a better view of the varied scenes when driving this section of the Pamir Highway.

Lastly, a slideshow of GoPro Screenshots (these should be in order of appearance):

Cheers,

Simon

[1] GBAO = Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region. Permits are required to enter this area of Tajikistan. It contains multiple military checkpoints and the border skirts Afghanistan.