tajikistan

The main reason for our visit to this region was a 1500km drive along the ‘Pamir Highway’ – the world’s second highest highway. Disco and my driver (Jon) managed the terrain with aplomb, despite poor quality diesel and some ascents over 4500m. We acclimatised for the altitude by taking it slowly, took Diamox the week prior and managed to avoid sickness. Driving along the Wakhan Valley with Afghanistan just a stone’s throw away on the other side of a raging river was incredible. Narrow passages of gravel and in parts sand road balance precariously above the river. Negotiating to pass oncoming trucks, military checkpoints, overhanging cliffs, speeding US convoys and rock landslides were just some of the obstacles we overcame and we were rewarded with waves from villagers out working the lush pasture land throughout the valley, where we stayed with local families.

We approached Tashkent coming south through the Kyrgyz cities of Bishkek and then Osh - aiming for our bucket-list destination of the Pamir Highway and Wakhan Valley. As we drove south, altitudes increased while diesel quality and availability decreased. We encountered our highest altitude pass for this half of the trip at Ak Baital, which exceeds 4,600m. The toughest crossing however was at Khargush, where highly technical terrain at >4,300m pushed Disco to its limits.