{"id":3513,"date":"2020-10-11T12:59:49","date_gmt":"2020-10-11T12:59:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/central-asia.guide\/?page_id=3513"},"modified":"2025-08-11T10:06:42","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T10:06:42","slug":"pamir","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/central-asia.guide\/tajikistan\/destinations-tj\/pamir\/","title":{"rendered":"Pamir"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Pamir<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Pamir<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The most exciting destination for travel adventurers in Tajikistan and possibly in all Central Asia is the impressive, vast, magical and truly the wildest destination of Central Asia, the Pamir. This high and remote mountain area is located in the Eastern Tajikistan and covers almost half of the total land area of Tajikistan while only about 220 000 people live in the area. In the north, the Pamir mountains meet with the Tian Shan<\/a> mountains of Kyrgyzstan through the Alai valley<\/a> and in the South, Pamir borders with Afghanistan and the Hindu Kush mountain rage, along the Wakhan valley<\/a> and the more famous Wakhan corridor<\/a> that is a design of the Great game between Russia and Great Britain.\u00a0<\/p>

Taklamakan desert lies east from Pamir, in China, where the Eastern Pamirs suddenly falls steeply down to flat desert area with few rivers. The northern and eastern side of Pamir is also very dry and barren highland that has a drastic contrast to the lush river valleys of the Wakhan, Shokhdara and Bartang<\/a>\u00a0among others in the South and Southwest parts of Pamir.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Pamir is largely inhabited by the\u00a0Pamiris<\/a>, who are related to Iranians but especially the the Northern Pamir and other high areas are inhabited mostly by Kyrgyz people and they all rely on animal herding as their way of life in this very high altitude area. There are few larger towns like\u00a0Khorog<\/a>,\u00a0Iskashim<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Murghab<\/a>\u00a0in Pamir but otherwise people live in small villages and even smaller communities and often change places according to the time of year as nomads have been doing in Central Asia for millenias. There are countless valleys between the explicit high peaks and the unattainable mountain massifs exceeding 5600 meters in height, with deep rocky gorges and the rivers at the bottom.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Long ago, Bactrians and troops of Alexander the Great walked here and later many explorers like\u00a0<\/span>Tamerlane<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Babur<\/a>, Marco Polo and a number of other pioneers, have left their traces in these majestic mountains and glaciers. Silk road traders also used to travel through the valleys of Pamir with Silk, lapiz lazuli, rubies and other valuables and there are still some ruins of the old fortifications as a reminders of those times. Most of our\u00a0<\/span>Tajikistan Tours<\/a>\u00a0focus on Pamir.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Pamir History <\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Pamir Mountains are a unique region with its own Pamiri culture<\/a> and historical evolution. The cultural extent of the Pamirs is not limited only to the\u00a0Gorno-Badakhshan<\/a>\u00a0province of Tajikistan, but also stretches out to minor parts of Afghanistan and China, covering altogether the historic region of Badakhshan. The oldest known records of the Badakhshan region go back thousands of years. In antiquity, the region functioned as an important trading corridor as transport routes of the silk road passed through the Pamirs and lapis lazuli (blue colorant) was exported here already more than 5000 years ago. Through the years, Badakhshan has been controlled by many different emperors, kings and nobles (\u2018mirs\u2019 in islamic tradition). There are evidence of human activities in the\u00a0Kurteke area area from about 14 000 years ago<\/a>. Zoroastrianism<\/a> has been the prevalent religion in the area and the current Ismailism has retained some habits from the times of fire worshipping.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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From the late 19th century onward, the Pamirs got involved in territorial disputes between the United Kingdom and the Russian Empire (The Great Game). Eventually, the historic Badakhshan region was divided between UK affected Afghanistan and the Russian controlled territories with the Panj river<\/a> as an important natural border. The part controlled by the Russian Empire became known as Gorno-Badakhshan in 1925. In 1929, the Soviet Union attached it as the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) to the newly created Tajik SSR.<\/p>

Soon after the independence of the Tajikistan from the Soviet Union in 1992, the Tajik Civil War started following unrest between local leaders in Gorno-Badakhshan and the government seated in Dushanbe. The civil war was sparked as the Tajik government intervened to suppress anti-government protests. During the civil war that eventually lasted five years, tens of thousands of people were killed while many others lost their homes. An armistice was achieved in 1997 to return the peace, which has remained since then. The war left deep traces in the memory of the Pamiris and and the recent oppression from the Tajik government towards the Pamiris has caused again some dissatisfaction in the region.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Pamir Villages<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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For many visitors, spending time with the locals in their villages are the most memorable events of visiting the Pamir. As the landscape, also the villages of Pamir are very different in different parts of the region. The northern and higher area villages appear like a mix of Soviet and Kyrgyz villages while the Wakhan and Bartang and other lower valley villages have retained the more traditional Pamiri, Wakhi or Tajik features.\u00a0<\/p>

What is common to Pamir villages is that people live mostly from the animals and the land, growing what they can in the little flat land that is available for farming or orchards. There are very many villages without road connection and electricity, but for some reason, the people coming from the more developed parts of the World, enjoy experiencing this simple village life the most.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Pamir Trekking<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Pamir is the location for trekking in Central Asia for the people who enjoy breathtaking mountain views, remote villages, hidden ancient sites of Silk Road and other ancient events or locations. This being said, Pamir as a trekking destination is also demanding. The elevations of passes during the trekking routes can reach 4 or even 5 kilometers from the sea level and help is not easily available if anything would happen. Solo trekking is definitely not recommended, even for experience trekkers. <\/p>\n

Pamir is definitely not the place for first time hikers but more experienced hikers will remember trekking here for the lifetime and having an experienced group and a guide helping you will increase the safety significantly. Many of the most interesting and authentic Pamir villages can only be reached by trekking and there are many other sights that are off the beaten path and not reachable by car. Most known locations for trekking in Pamir are the Bartang Valley<\/a>, Shokhdara Valley and the Engels peak<\/a> but there are countless of other routes crossing from one valley to another over the high passes between them. Trekking in Pamir is mostly recommended and safest from June to August.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Pamir Tours<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tClassic Pamir Tour\t\t\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tPamir Highway Tour\t\t\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tGrand Pamir Tour\t\t\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSarez Lake Trekking Tour\t\t\t\t\t<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Pamir Mountains<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range located in Central Asia that have formed by the union or collection of the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, and the Hindu Kush ranges that is sometimes also called a knot of mountains. Pamir peaks are among the world’s highest mountains and Pamir is quite commonly known as the “Roof of the World” (translation from Persian). The Pamir range mainly lies in the Tajikistan<\/a>‘s region of Gorno-Badakhshan but some parts are in\u00a0Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indian Kashmir and China.\u00a0<\/p>

Pamir Mountains hold countless glaciers including the 77 km Fedchenko Glacier, which is the longest glacier outside the Polar region. The glaciers of the Pamir are the largest water sources for all of Central Asia. They are also the source for the Pyanj<\/a> and Vakhsh rivers that unite and form the Amu-Darya<\/a> river providing most of the irrigation water for the extensive agricultural enterprises of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan\u00a0and flow all the way to the slowly drying Aral Sea<\/a>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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The highest peaks in the Pamir mountains are<\/span>:<\/span><\/b><\/p>