Drive the world's second-highest international highway across the Pamir plateau, from turquoise mountain lakes to the Wakhan Corridor.
The Pamir Highway (the M41) is one of the great overland drives on Earth, climbing from Dushanbe's poplar-lined streets into the 'Roof of the World' — a high plateau of 6,000-metre peaks, salt lakes and wind-scoured passes that has barely changed since it was a branch of the Silk Road. We travel it in stages by 4x4, with time to stop: the turquoise reservoir at Iskanderkul in the Fann Mountains, the hot springs and Pamiri villages of the Wakhan Corridor within sight of Afghanistan, and the wild high-altitude lakes around Bulunkul and Yashilkul.
This is a trip for travellers who want landscape and culture over strenuous hiking — days involve short walks to viewpoints and villages rather than long treks, with most distance covered by vehicle on rough but spectacular roads. Nights are spent in family homestays wherever possible, where Pamiri hospitality is legendary: you'll be fed more bread, tea and apricot jam than you can manage, often by women in the region's distinctive embroidered headscarves, at gatherings that double as the trip's best cultural memories.
