Afghanistan

The story goes that the Shrine of Hazrat Ali, in the centre of Mazar-i-Sharif, houses the body of the Ali ibn Abi Talib (the son-in-law) of the Prophet Muhammed. This has made the place so incredibly holy that evil simply cannot exist (or something like that). How do we know this for sure? Well, it's simple. When a bird lands anywhere in the park surrounding the shrine, the bird will turn white within 40 days. What that amounts to is 1,000 of white birds and almost as many tourist on-lookers. Sure, tourist numbers may be down to some 'issues' Afghanistan is going through, but the birds remain.

An extension of the Wakhan Valley, the word "little" in the name of this place certainly does not refer to area's mountains. They are so tall that even the passes between them and stone hut villages nowhere near the peaks can be snow-blanketed in midsummer. Trade caravans of donkeys, horses and yaks ply a one-month trade route through this roadless wilderness, stopping at villages where people live in near-mediaeval conditions. Around Lake Choqmaqtin, a four-day walk from the nearest road or shop, the villages end to be replaced by yurt encampments belonging to the world's last nomadic Kyrgyz. These stretch out for another three days, all the while getting further and further away from the road. The isolation here is so extreme that it really is like delving into another world. Bring plenty of food, as locals eat only hard bread for breakfast, hard bread for lunch then hard bread, rice and yoghurt for dinner every day. Bring warm clothing, a tent and a sleeping bag even in summer. Bring altitude sickness medicine, as even the passes between mountains can reach 5,500 metres.

The Afghan Wakhan looks odd on a map - a long finger of land jutting out of the country's northeast, sandwiched between Tajikistan and Pakistan. Its tiny border with the rest of the country is a blessing and a curse: it is the only region never to have been conquered by the Taliban but is also extraordinarily isolated. A poor dirt track runs 100 km east of the town of Ishkashim and ends at the village of Sarhad-e-Broghil, leaving villages and yurt encampments in the remaining 100 km up to a 7-day walk from the nearest road. The Wakhan is shared between Tajikistan and Afghanistan and the difference is quite incredible: the Tajik Wakhi live in concrete houses, wear western clothes, drink vodka and often go to work in Moscow. The Afghan Wakhi dress traditionally, live in mud villages without electricity and herd livestock. At the time of writing it was possible to get a same-day Afghan visa in the Tajik town of Khorog with no invitation needed, cross the border at Ishkashim and (with a double-entry Tajik visa) re-enter Tajikistan without having to visit unstable parts of Afghanistan.