Finishing the PAMIR HIGHWAY! - TAJIKISTAN - The Way Overland - Episode 73

Our lush green sun-kissed hilltop camp spot we left the last episode on decided to surprise us with a turn for the worse the following morning so we decided to push on and get off the mountain as soon as possible to avoid potentially getting stuck.
The track was saturated from the heavy rain and the low cloud only enhanced the dramatic scenery. The climb to the 3258m pass took us up though the farming fields, sharp rocks, raging rapids, and snow all the while passing landmine warning signs. We were intrigued to see a heard of sheep and their shepherd roaming the hill behind the signage. The mountains here are covered in landmines planted during the civil war from 1992 - 1997. Mines still cover approx. 2500 square kilometres of Tajikistan with international efforts now assisting to de-mine. Something to keep in mind when going off road!!
Once crossing the pass the weather begun to ease and sunshine was on the mountainous horizon. The opposing side of the range was different than the Wakhan Valley we had just left, the topography appearing to cause more rainfall and less sunshine. The tracks resultantly were very muddy and there were countless landslides, one which stopped us in our tracks. From the adjacent side of the valley we could see the roughly 100m wide slide had taken out a significant amount of the road ahead of us. After speaking to some local shepherds and putting the binoculars to use we could see that 1, there was another, almost larger slide further down the valley, and 2. that thankfully there had been a makeshift road cut in on our side of the valley to bypass the obstruction. We slowly took the very narrow and muddy track down to the small village at the bottom, crossed a creek, a bridge, and tackled the bottom of the bigger landslide thankfully following some ruts to stop us sliding off the track. The damp weather continued as the valley narrowed and after several hours we followed the angry brown river out the bottom of the valley and into the wide open farming fields. This marked the end of the potholes, corrugations, and our time in the mountains for now.
We cruised into the capital Dushanbe and found ourselves another great camp spot in the orchards to the East of the City. Although this spot was beautiful and had an amazing view, we needed to head down in to the city to stock up on supplies, do some servicing on the Troopy, catching up on these episodes, and check in with family.
Finding cost effective places to stay in cities that have parking is never easy so after trawling the internet and driving to several, we found a great family run hostel called City Hostel. It has a big secure parking area, great breakfast and WIFI, and they were happy for us to stay in the Troopy! Win! We stayed for a few nights making the most of the power to trying to catch up on the videos and run errands.
We had noticed a slight noise coming from the front of the Troopy when 4wding so we wanted to get on top of that. To attempt to isolate the noise Mark greased all the front components with the next step to drop and replace the diff oil. We visited around 7 different ‘oil shops’ none which had what we were looking for. After several hours we were lucky to come across a workshop, which specialised in Mercedes, who had an oil which would suffice for now. Buying oils in this part of the world has to be done with a degree of caution as black market products run rife. An extreme amount of effort is put into the fake packaging so distinguishing between real and counterfeit is not easy, and to be honest, although we searched hard we can not be guaranteed ours was legitimate. Moments like this really make you appreciate the little conveniences of home and the ability to duck down to the local car store and buy exactly what you want and know you’re buying the real deal.
In the end the oil was changed by a group of friendly mechanics and the noise resided. We did a spot of shopping, left the hostel, and hit the road again and stocked up and ready for another adventure into Allaudin Lake.
Thanks for watching!
Jolie and Mark
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[@terryvictor1]

So thankful to get to see this from here!! Whoa those roads!! Beautiful area though!! Thanks for sharing.

[@TheWayOverland]

Thanks Terry, it is an amazing area. One which we’d love to return to when possible. So much more we didn’t get to explore!

[@stevestott3652]

Wow what awesome scenery along that rout . Great video again you two you have be come a favorite of mine since I found your videos . Love the way you show the people as well as the awesome country side and tracks . Cheers from Steve Stott in Sutherlin Oregon U.S.A.

[@TheWayOverland]

Thanks Steve, glad we made the cut!! Good to hear you’re enjoying seeing this part of the world through our videos! 🙂

[@stevestott3652]

The Way Overland. Your very welcome . Have enjoyed your videos a lot . Specially this last year .have made the year much better .cheers to you both .

[@fabulousoffroaddesigns5080]

I'm so happy to see your joyeous faces on here again! Hope all is back to normal for you both! I look forward to you both coming see North America some day soon.

[@TheWayOverland]

Thanks! It’s good back trying to put something positive on the net, and yeah back to a new normal (COVID). Would love to tour that area again, what part of the North are you in?

[@fabulousoffroaddesigns5080]

@@TheWayOverland I'm in Atlantic Canada in a province that is an Island called Prince Edward Island. It's a great spot to tour from. I believe the exact opposite side of the earth from us is in the ocean just south of the Australian Bite. What part od Australia is home?

[@Shawn2ndaccount]

Wow! What an amazing drive and scenery! This is a country I have plans to go.

[@TheWayOverland]

Good plans!

[@user-tv6oi5jg9d]

This is a good thinking the future of pakistan..the shortest route is chitral broghal pairing road is must be.

[@mountainconstructions]

So lucky to be able to watch this

[@ricoman7981]

What a fantastic drive, very rugged. You’re lucky to have such a capable vehicle. I’ve watched your videos from the start, you are very lucky to be experiencing all of that. I backpacked around the world years ago and have done some long range overlanding trips in Africa back in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s but where you have driven and the sights you’ve seen are epic. Good on you!

[@TheWayOverland]

Sounds like you've have some great experiences yourself! When the world's got some more normality Africa is our last (feasible) continent to overland, looking forward to it! Cheers

[@ricoman7981]

@@TheWayOverland My first trip out of Canada was to Australia in 1979. I got the travel bug from that trip and haven’t stopped except for few years while attending Uni. I’ve been very fortunate to be able to mix a career and having a family with lots of overseas travel each year. The long trips of the 3-12 month variety ended when my son was born but it didn’t stop our travels. Though the trips were shorter, we started taking him on annual trips when he was only 1 year old. He’s just finished his first year of Uni and has been to more than 20 countries. My wife is retiring next week (I retired 5 years ago) and as soon as Covid is over the two of us will be back on the road. Neither of us have been to South America so a road trip down there is high on our ‘to do’ list. Safe travels.

[@faisalkhaan3079]

Allah bless Tajikistan ❤️

[@natureandlife2255]

Amine

[@kel8026]

Another awesome video! Interesting to see the northern route to Dushanbe as I've only been through Kulob a couple times, AND it was the end of summer, so none of that MESMERISING lush green grass you had there, instead it was all bright yellow. It's amazing to see how similar our experiences were, yet so different. I see myself in them at times, especially with the thongs/jandals/flip-flops (whatever you call them) on. Haha. Love your videos!

[@TheWayOverland]

Ha thanks Kel, yes thongs though that can be quite misunderstood in other countries!! 🤣 Yeah we were very lucky with the timing with it being so green. I could imagine the roads are better though at the end of summer as they’ve had time to repair them after the winter?

[@deen8713]

Love Shourabd

[@jasurislamov91]

👍👍👍 Can't wait for next episode from Uzbekistan

[@TheWayOverland]

Might have to wait a few more eps for the Uzbek ones, have to explore the north of Tajikistan first! 🇹🇯

[@funnybones6131]

Wow 🤩 so scenic 😊

[@AmjadAli-rh8kh]

Amazing thanks 😊 guys super well done

[@TheWayOverland]

Thanks!

[@shahnawazhanjra6531]

U both awesome GOD blessing you " you may live long 👍♥️👍♥️🇵🇰

[@TheWayOverland]

Shukriya 🙂

[@khyber8250]

👍👍👍 beautiful

[@TheWayOverland]

Thanks!

[@johndiaz7240]

Not to envious or jealous of the places you two have been or the Cruiser you travel in , not much. Hope wherever you are now you are healthy and safe.

[@TheWayOverland]

Haha, thanks John, happy to let you live vicariously through the videos...

[@alamiriphoto5588]

The road is mighty and dangerous at these times

[@TheWayOverland]

Thankfully we’ve got the Troopy! 🚐

[@farazhassan6417]

Lovely, again to see you guys back on KZbin with new video, allow me to be jealous :) and be safe, BTW all these countries are very safe to travel, how is your experience? Cheers!

[@TheWayOverland]

Thanks! We had no issues with security in 'The Stans'.

[@texacola]

Troopies don't get dirty, they get more interesting with more tales to tell :)

[@TheWayOverland]

🤣 think the Troopy’s got a few yarns to tell around the camp fire now then!

[@tuhintarafdar7986]

it looks like jispa valley..india

[@Nickle314]

Would be really useful for a video on the China crossing.

[@TheWayOverland]

There is one, just on Patreon though.

[@natureandlife2255]

Takecare it looks very dangerous.

[@ambindia]

Have driven from Dushanbe to Osh on the M 41 . Around 2008. Do not recall seeing so many unpaved sections, nor river crossings of this kind. Did you deviate in places?

[@TheWayOverland]

Yep, we took the Wakhan route via Khorugh.

[@ambindia]

@@TheWayOverland So did I. I guess the state of M 41 varies greatly from time to time.

[@AlexSmith-ln1tv]

Can you please tell me the name of the song in the beginning? Sounds like Khruangbin

[@TheWayOverland]

It does sound like Khruangbin though it's an artist called Arc de Soleil, song is called Mumbo Sugar.

[@AlexSmith-ln1tv]

@@TheWayOverland beauty! Thanks for the introduction to a new cool band 😁

[@ayshiysh7867]

Are you still in Pakistan

[@TheWayOverland]

No? This is Tajikistan.

[@JohnHMoore]

Oh, man, we have to wait a week for the TUNNEL OF DEATH?!? ;-)

[@hell1120]

Paypal..

[@FrozenVision11]

Can't be safe traveling all over the world without any tour guide in every country....

[@JohnHMoore]

Why are there mines in that area? Maybe you just answered as I was typing this... a civil war? Dang, take those signs very seriously and don't get out of your car. If this is a big road for overlanding tourers, maybe they should have those signs in more that whatever language that is (not sure that it's Russian)?

[@TheWayOverland]

Correct, civil war. The last century has been a bit up and down for Tajikistan. Thankfully the images on the signs gave the message across pretty well, we found it interesting though that there were shepherds and sheep roaming the fields? Risky business!