Dushanbe, Khorog, Wakhan Valley

From Penjikent in northern Tajikistan we planned to go down to the capital (Dushanbe) and from there by either car or plane to the Badakshan region where we would explore the Wakhan valley (shared with Afghanistan) and travel the Pamir Highway up to Kyrgystan.

Before travelling down to Dushanbe we were aware that Tajikistan was pretty low down on the Human Development Index, but it wasn't until we were actually en route that we understood why. The country's main "road", which connects the two biggest cities and the north to the south is little more that a narrow dirt track scaling mountain passes with bottomless drops below, across rivers and through flooded tunnels. We were utterly petrified for the entire journey. Our driver boasted that he could make the trip in a record time of 4 hours (the guidebook says it should take 6 0r 7). He was a maniac and is likely to soon be dead. Before even reaching the mountains we had to ask him to slow down, nicely at first and finally with threats we would be forced to get out and not pay. His mother and friend laughed at us, yet when it came to the dodgy bits would pray incessantly. Chinese workers have been brought in to build a 50km long tunnel-we were in it for about an hour and a half. It was supposedly completed in 2004 but has been flooded for the last 2 years and is still a consctruction site. One has to travel in the dark as the tunnel is closed during the day. The dust makes visibility very poor and the water running through the tunnel is thigh deep at times. There are stretches where one has to go round the tunnel such that you are only inches from the edge and the raging river 4000 metre below. Victoria and I clasped sweaty hands for the entire ride fingernails digging into one another.