FIVE REASONS WHY ...
Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent has spent several summers exploring Tajikistan’s
famous Pamir Highway. Here she tells us what makes it such an enthralling
adventure motorcycling destination.
1. Riding on the Roof of the World
The Pamir Highway is so named because the heart of
it cuts through Tajikistan’s High Pamirs, the third highest
yet least explored mountain range on earth. Not for noth-
ing are the Pamirs known as the Bam-i-Dunya, the roof
of the world: glistening snow-capped peaks tower at every
turn and the road slings you through gorges of terrifying
verticality and over passes of dizzying altitude. Such topo-
graphic extremes make for thrilling riding, jaw-dropping
scenery and views to make you weep.
3. Following in the footsteps of the Silk Road
The Pamir Highway is dripping in history and legend,
its valleys and passes witness to thousands of years of tu-
mult, triumph and trade. You can almost hear the groans
of the camel trains that bought rubies, silk and spices west
along the Wakhan Corridor, and sense the ghosts of Alex-
ander’s armies that once thundered east. Magnificent 2000
year old fortresses stand like sentinels on mountaintops,
crumbling Buddhist stupas keep watch over the valleys be-
2. Tajik and Kyrgyz hospitality
Nowhere else on earth does hospitality like Central
Asia, and no one in Central Asia does hospitality like the
Pamiris. Smiles as warm as a summer’s day beam at you
from every weather-worn face and you ride, grinning,
through villages of shrieking, waving, excitable children.
But it’s not just the children. Everyone, from bent old la-
dies leading their donkey in at dusk, to toothless men sell-
ing apricots in the shade, greets you with a cheery wave
and a heart-lifting smile. It makes for a truly cockle-warm-
ing experience.
TRAVERSE
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