A story about how my new friend and I went hiking in Tajikistan.

We set out for the mountains from the town of Panjakent. We planned to spend our first night at Lake Kulikolon. Earlier that day, as we were slowly making our way up, we came across a small caravan of local shepherds riding donkeys uphill. As a result, for the last couple of kilometers of the climb to the lake - already in complete darkness - the donkeys carried us. It’s incredible how confidently they can navigate a steep trail in complete darkness!

“Ihhe, Ihhe,” we called out to urge the donkeys on.

It was quite cold at night in the Kulikolon Lake valley. It was already mid-September. My partner wasn’t really prepared for a night in such cold temperatures (he had a flimsy sleeping bag and some kind of old blanket he’d been using since Dushanbe 🤣), and my sleeping bag was from a fishing and hunting store, so I had no idea how cold it could actually withstand.

We got lucky, and the shepherds offered to let us spend the night in the little hut where they usually stay. It didn’t smell very nice in there, and judging by the abundance of “chocolate-covered candies,” the sheep also spend the night there from time to time. But it was really, really cold outside, and the shepherds warned us about the crazy sheepdogs that attack any strangers at night. So we all huddled together in that little hut, while the our sheepdogs and the donkeys stayed outside. At one point, my partner even spotted a rat running by, but the shepherds said there was nothing to be afraid of. = 0

In the middle of the night, we were awakened by the barking of dogs and some kind of fight outside. It turned out that our dogs had been attacked by shepherd dogs. Somehow our new friends-shepherds managed to chase the shepherd dogs away, and it seemed like none of our dogs had been mauled.

In the morning, while walking along the lake, we saw a shepherd’s dog in the distance. The shepherds said these dogs are crazy and attack any living thing that comes near their territory. The dog immediately ran toward us. I don’t remember ever running faster in my life 🤣 🫣

When the dog had almost caught up with us, we grabbed some small rocks and jumped onto a particularly large boulder.🪨 That huge rock saved us… The dog didn’t dare to charge the boulder, and the rocks we were throwing at him held him back a bit. A few minutes later, it proudly walked off toward the herd it was guarding, apparently.

The shepherds headed in one direction, while we headed toward the Allaudin Pass. We had to climb nearly 1,000 meters, and then climb down the same distance. The shepherds warned us to be careful, as there were many wolves in the area, and a donkey had recently gone missing here.

The trail wasn’t difficult, but Iskandar very quickly began to struggle. It was as if he’d been struck by mountain sickness. I had to stop periodically and wait for him. I watched with worry as sunset approached.

As the last rays of the sun faded, we reached the summit of the pass, which offered a view of the towering, rugged peaks of the neighboring mountains. The wind at the pass cut right through us. It was impossible to spend the night there. 🌬 Ahead of us lay the night and the descent down to the foot of the pass. We essentially had only one flashlight - my phone - since Iskandar had drained his phone’s battery along the way while playing games 🤯.

We slowly made our way down the mountain trail in the darkness. I began to recall the shepherds’ stories about wolves, and my own past experience of a solo hike in Kyrgyzstan, where I had also walked completely alone through a valley for several hours, surrounded by darkness and snow. I understood why we’d lost so much time; I was angry, and I couldn’t wrap my head around how a Tajik could get sick in the mountains when he’d essentially grown up at high altitude. 🤨

At some point during the climb down, we came across a dead donkey on the trail. There were no signs of an attack on it; apparently, it had died from a fall, old age, or some other cause. But a shiver ran down my spine. 😬

On my offline map, I spotted some buildings at the bottom of the pass, and we hoped there would be people there - or at least a place to shelter from the wind and a possible encounter with wolves. 😅

But we were in for a disappointment. All the huts were closed, perhaps because the climbing and hiking season was almost over. We didn’t really want to stay there, so we kept going toward Artuch Camp, which was marked on the map. According to the map, we had about an hour left to walk.

When I saw lights in the distance amid the darkness, I got a burst of energy and picked up the pace. Iskandar was falling behind, but he kept going—after we crossed the mountain pass, the mountain sickness seemed to have subsided.

We practically ran out of the darkness and into the light of the Artuch base buildings. People came out.

It took us a long time to figure out where we could pitch our tent, but the base workers kept pointing us from one spot to another, explaining that the boss might not like seeing some random tent set up here for free. Iskandar had already started arguing with the local Tajiks and accusing them of a lack of hospitality when we finally managed to settle on a place to spend the night.

I don’t know how we didn’t freeze that night. I had my questionable sleeping bag, and Iskandar had his summer one plus a blanket from home. In the morning, when I left the tent, I noticed a light frost on the grass and a nearby stream covered with a thin layer of ice...

That morning, we managed to come to an agreement, and the mountain guide took us back to civilization by car. That’s how our little hike in the Fan Mountains came to an end. =)

The Fan Mountains. Tajikistan