Afghanistan travel guide

There is no such thing as one Afghani people. Afghanistan is a patchwork of ethnic groups who live together – and at times fight each other. The major groups are Tajik, Uzbek and, of course, Hazara and Pashtun whose ongoing conflict is described in the book "The kite runner". In the northeast corner of the country in the Wakhan Corridor, you will also meet Wakhi and Kyrgyz. Here female liberation is more widespread, with unveiled women in public, than in the rest of Afghanistan where sights of women outside their homes are rare and certainly not without their blue burka. On the other hand, most men are very welcoming and hospital and will rarely reject to have their picture taken.

Once a mayor Silk Road city, Herat would be flooded with visitors was is not for its Afghan location. The city has a lot to offer and can rival the most famous of Central Asia's Silk Road gems: The 800 year old Jama Masjid (Friday Mosque) stands out in particular, but the city also hosts a huge citadel and mosques, madrassas, mausoleums, and minarets - most of these dating back to the days of the Silk Road golden age. Add to the history a lively market, legendary glassblower Sultan Hamidi's shop and a number of idyllic villages in the surrounding countryside, Herat is a quite the destination for those few visitors it sees every year. Just be prepared to stop for a lot of offers for tea and a friendly conversation with some very curious locals.

Warning: Kidnapping for ransom of locals have been on the rise the last few years. Precaution is advised.
On a positive note, the Herat province is one of the most peaceful in Afghanistan and Herat is accessible from both the borders of Turkmenistan and Iran as well as with flights from Kabul.

Some mountain ranges just look more impressive and majestic than others. The remote Hindu Kush is among the most spectacular ones. Here, the valleys are deep and dark with white glaciers and snow-glazed jagged peaks soaring high above. As you descend into the Wakhan Valley from the Big Pamir, you get amazing panoramic views of this massive range that forms the border with Pakistan. The Hindu Kush has 38 peaks higher than 7,000 m. The highest is Tirich Mir (7,708 m) which lies entirely inside Pakistan, however the second highest is Mt. Noshaq (7,492 m) and that one is shared by Afghanistan and Pakistan. Previously, Mt. Noshaq was off limits, but now the summit can be climbed by experienced mountaineers while the base camp can be trekked by anyone. Hindu Kush is a very dramatic mountain range, with many 6,000+ m peaks that look exactly how mountains should look like – like Mt. Baga Tangi (6,513 m) pictured.

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.

The dusty border town of Ishkashim is the entrance point to the Wakhan Valley and the high mountains of Afghan Pamir and Hindu Kush. It's located 4 km from the Tajik border with views to snowcapped mountains and green fields. It's a real (dysfunctional) Afghan town with bearded men sporting army vests over their traditional Afghani dress and women in blue burkas. So if you are coming straight from Tajikistan, it will be bit of a culture shock. The main reason to come here is to arrange Wakhan permits and transport into the spectacular Wakhan Corridor, something that isn't as easily done as it sounds... after all, this is Afghanistan!

Afghanistan's highest mountain is Mt. Noshaq (7,492 m). It lies on the border to Pakistan and is also the second highest peak in the impressive Hindu Kush. Until recently, the mountain was off limits, but it is now open for climbers and trekkers. It's possible to trek to the base camp at 4,450 m from where there are spectacular views to several 7,000+ m peaks. The base camp trek is a four day trek (return) with start and end in the small settlement of Qazideh in the Wakhan Valley.

The Wakhan Corridor looks odd on a map - a long finger of land linking Afghanistan with China, sandwiched between Tajikistan and Pakistan, and bounded by the Panj River to the north and the jagged Hindu Kush mountain range to the south. Its narrow connection 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 200 km east of the town of Ishkashim and ends at the village of Sarhad-e-Broghil, leaving villages and yurt encampments in the remaining up to a 7-day walk from the nearest road. The Wakhan Corridor is made up of the mountainous areas of Little Pamir to the east, the Big Pamir to the north and the Wakhan Valley, which is further split into the Lower Wakhan and Upper Wakhan. Life in the Wakhan Corridor is extremely hard for the two ethnic groups of people who live here. The nomadic Kyrgyz live in yurts on the high altitude pastures in Little Pamir and Big Pamir, while the semi-nomadic Wakhi people live in settlements of mud houses in the Lower and Upper Wakhan and in parts of the Big Pamir during summer. Travelling here is tough and hard, but also very rewarding to experience such a remote region.

Last time we travelled there (2013), it was possible to get a same-day Afghan visa in the Tajik town of Khorog (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.

The Wakhi people live in the Lower and Upper Wakhan. They spend winter at the bottom of the valley in small settlements mostly consisting of clay houses. During summer, they herd their goats, sheep and yaks up to their grassy summer pastures in the Wakhan Range, as high as 4500 m. Here, they live in either stone huts or felt yurts, not very different from the Kyrgyz ones, another ethnic group living in the Wakhan. The Wakhin females wear their hair braided and dress very distinctive in vibrant red clothes – not blue burkas like the lowland Afghan women. The Wakhi are a friendly and hospital people who often will invite trekking foreigners for tea and yogurt, but don't expect homestays.