Finally, we found some time to tell you about our first week in Tajikistan!
Let's say our first 3 days were a bit surprising… We had a lot of small issues upon our arrival: fake hotel booking confirmation, no ATMs working (and difficult to find one in English!), and the culture of people is so different from Iran. So, we had 3 days to adapt ourselves!
We can say most of the people we meet try to screw us with money. To give some insights, even the man at the food shop tried to get more money than we should pay for food. Oh… and we even don't talk about taxis, the worse! Anyway, we escaped Dushanbe for the famous Fann Mountains (West side of the country, close to the border with Uzbekistan) and we had some really nice experiences with local people over there!
Meeting Fellow Travellers
We met an incredible backpacker couple from France, who have been traveling for years (Life4nomade). They joined us for this trek and it was the first time we shared our adventure with other people. It was worth it! So, after buying some food, we took a shared taxi and then a 4x4 for the off-road to reach the Artouch Base Camp. We hiked around 5–6 km to reach an amazing blue lake (Kulikalon Lake) in front of snowed majestic mountains — it was maybe the best night we had in the Fann Mountains!
The Belgian Incident
Next morning, we really took our time moving forward from our amazing sleeping place. We had to cross a high col to reach the other side of the mountains. Basically, we had 2 options: one pass on the left less technical but longer (Laudan Pass), and another pass technical but shorter (Alaudin Pass).
We met 3 guys from Belgium and one of them was wearing the official T-shirt of the Belgian football team. We could guess it was a bad sign… losing against the French team… As honest people, we followed their recommendation to take the first option, but it was a big trouble for us at the end! Ahhh, we said a lot of bad things to them in our head during this very long day! Anyway, it was still very beautiful.
Alaudin Lake and the Climbers' Camp
We found a camping (Vertical Camping) to sleep — a well-known place for climbers. Most people there were climbing instead of trekking like us. Without any surprise, the owners were really not friendly. We were too tired to go further. It's a bit sad because in just 20 minutes of walk there is a beautiful small turquoise lake with a waterfall (Chapdara Lake). We continued our way to the Alaudin Lake — another beautiful but bigger lake. We did just 1 hour trekking this day, but it was a really good option to relax and enjoy our time with Katia and Jérémy!
The Kaznok Pass (4100m)
The next day, we continued alone without this great couple to ascent around 1100 meters. We crossed the Mutnoye Lake (this one is not so nice) and were in the middle of so many high peaks, with a glacier on our back. It was going well all day for both of us except when we had to cross the pass at 4100m (Kaznok Pass). The last hundreds of meters were covered with snow. This was OK even without crampons, but the last 50 meters were like a wall — around 60% elevation gain. It was tough, wind steeply upwards!
The Long Walk to Iskanderkul
Our last day was also a very long one. It was easy as it was going down slowly all the way in the valley, but with more than 23 km to reach the famous Iskanderkul Lake. We appreciated this day despite the kilometres. We saw lots of eagles, birds, goats, one marmot and even a group of horses running completely free. The different landscapes were also super nice!
We finished our trek with a super hitchhike on a big truck which brought us to the other side of the lake where hotels reside (in theory!). We learnt that the Tajikistan President has two beautiful residences there — we saw one on the way. So, it was super sad for us because we found just a camping and a hotel claiming a lot of money. We escaped, slept in Sarvoda and reached Dushanbe next morning.
At the end, we can say that the Fann Mountains are a must in Tajikistan for nature and mountain lovers looking for unforgettable adventures!
July 20–26, 2018