Tajikistan Travel Forum

Hello,

Has anyone done the trip from Osh/Sary-Tash to Khorog recently ? How long does it take and how much does it cost ?
Information on the internet varies from tremendously from 2 day to more than a week (minimum !) and from $ 250 to over $ 1000 for a jeep/taxi. Can anyone recommend a travel agency that can organize transport at a reasonable price ?

Thank you for any help !

George

Hi George,
I travelled last July from Khorog to Osh, so I was with Tajik/Pamiri people.
But as I was doing some hikes and off-highway travels, I didn't do it in one step.
Khorog to Alichur, Alichur to Murghab and Murghab with side stops to Osh.
My first two legs won't help you pricewise, as it was too expensive (I think now) and not very much reliable. Murghab to Osh was 500 USD, but with the mentioned side trips.

I can highly recomment META:
http://phiproject.free.fr/index.htm
in Murghab. They would also organize a trip the other way round.
DO NOT even think of contacting Traveltajikistan or The Great Game Travel - they are born to take money out of your pocket for an arrogant behaviour and similar service as other reliable tour operators. Plus, they would charge you for their trip from Dushanbe to Osh, which is something like more than 700 km.

Some words about the price and time variations in what you hear:
1) if you travel with a tour operator, then you'll be quicker but will pay more. Always depending on the party you are with. More people in the car, less expensive for each;
2) if you go from Osh to Khorog, it will take you minimum 2 days for the 728 km of length. The street is simply not allowing racing down there.
3) tour operators (such as META and the aforementioned rip-off TT/GGT) will always calculate the price from x to y and back to x. In other words: from where they are based to where you get in the car to where you get out of the car and back to where they are based. META calculates with fair prices, they always adapt to the exchange rate and gas prices. Others don't (such as.. wel, I already mentioned this).

4) if you go on your own, you are dependant on vehicles going from x to y and moreover, vehicles, which can pick you up. The Pamir Highway is less travelled than it was in the years before, so usually, local cars, pick-ups, vans are full already (where full depends on their definition - more than I was used to, but this adds to the fun). So you are more likely to wait for more than some minutes, even hours or maybe a day or 2 to get your lift. But then it is maybe cheaper as these people won't charge you the travel back where they are based.

Does this help ?

I've found this report somewhere, may be it'll change your mind about travelling there. It is 2 years old, but I don't think big changes happened.
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I have a travel report about my experience in Dushanbe. It is from summer of 2005. I don’t think it would help those on a business trip stopover or those who may have a job and live there. I can’t imagine what kind of job because there is no money in the country.

In brief, do not go there as an independent traveler. Scam, cheating, and bribery are the way of life in Tajikistan. In a country where teaches’ income is 50 Somoni per month (1 Euro = 3.8 Somoni), hotels charge 75 Somoni for a room without water. Very much, like what you may expect in Eastern Europe or old Soviet Union. There was nothing to eat, nothing to fu*k.

Everyday, it was matter of survivor. Constant harassment from the local sheriff, local office of citizens, office of this and office of that. All sniffing around for a hand out or bribe. All were disappointed that I had all my papers and documents in order, …. at the cost of not having any fun and enjoyment. Taxies could be cheap if you lived there.

Best Regards

Viktor

This is rubbish, complete rubbish ! Maybe written by a otherwise spoilt-to-death rich pimp who never even did a research of the country where he was travelling to.

Maybe you could write where you did find this bullsh*t.

George, don't take anything for granted what is written there. Simply something by someone who should stay at home and not travel anywhere.

Ingrid

Trekki,

Did you arrange your transport with META before you entered Tajikistan or after you got there? I would like to arrange transport from Khorog-Murgab-Osh with them (much better than giving $$ to Great Game). However, I can get no response to my emails.

Do you have any advice?

Thanks!!
Frank

Hi Frank,

CONGRATULATIONS and thanks for your choice NOT to throw your $$$$ into the "abyss" of Great Game :-))
No, I did book META in Murghab. I flew from Dushanbe into Khorog, and took a driver from there to Bulunkul (which is "close" to Alichur), and from there a shared taxibus to Murghab, as I wanted to do some hikes here and there.

Depending how long you plan to stay in the Pamirs, there are several possibilities:
* you could fly to Khorog, stay there and check with Aga Khan foundation (they are close to the hospital) and see if they have any tours eastward along the highway. They have several cars and are constantly on the road to help the people (with medicine and stuff). I am pretty sure, they will give you a lift for an appropriate fee. The fees are usually calculated per kilometre.
* you can email to Markus Hauser, who did a big part of the work on the Pamir map. He knows the people of META (he is also on photos in META's HQ in Murghab), and I know that he planned to go back for some hiking. In my general tip no. 2 for Tajikistan I have a link to his website. There you can find his email.
(I prefer not to publish his email here, to avoid it being found through our post by the unevitable spammies).
He might tell you where or how to best contact them.

But:
if time allows I strongly strongly strongly recommend to stay in the Pamirs for a while - the country, landscape and people are just too precious to just race along the highway.

Markus can surely tell you why META does not reply to your eMails. It can be a question of electricity or internet access in general.
He might also tell you if there is a "new" counterpart to META based in Khorog. There should be one !

hope this helps :-)
Ingrid

Oh - hahaha, I am still laughing about the ridiculous comment of this victor2007 - just check when he/she/it registered and how many times he/she/it came back since......
This should "qualify" his reply :-))))))

Ingrid,

Thanks for the great information. I have emailed Markus to see if he can put me in touch with appropriate contacts. In fact, I already have his "Pamirs" map hanging on my wall - it gives me inspiration everyday!!

I do plan to spend some time in the Pamirs. My plan is to head into the Wakhan valley - from Khorog down to Iskashim, following the Afghan border and then meet up with the M41 highway again at Bulunkul (see - I know the map pretty well!). My problem is that I don't have a huge amount of time, so I don't want to waste days waiting for a car to be arranged. This is why I hope to reserve something in advance.

If I don't hear a response soon over email, i have decided to call some of the phone numbers listed on Pamirs.org. With Skype, this shouldn't be too bad -- although both my Tajik and my Russian is not so good (i mean, not even existing!!).

I thought of one more question: Do you remember what day of the week you took the Dushanbe-Khorog flight? do you know if they fly every day that the weather is clear? or is it only Monday, Tuesday, Friday or something similar?

Thanks again!!
Frank

Hi Frank :-)

haha, I did the same - the map was hanging on my wall already 5 months or so before the trip :-)

Yes, for the plan to go down to Ishkashim and then back to Bulunkul it is definitely better to reserve transport in advance !

I flew on a Friday. As far as I remember, they fly every day. I wrote about where to get the flight ticket in my Tajikistan page. With photo of the ticket shop location. But yes, they fly only if the weather is clear. You'll see why during the flight :-)

Keep me updated please, also if Markus responds. I am sure he will.

Oh, and make sure, you'll stay with Kyrgyz nomads at a point in time. They make the best yoghurt on earth and cook divine !

I envy you :-))

smiles from here :-)
Ingrid

Ingrid,

I will surely let you know how everything goes.

And by the way, I want to again thank you for your great travel pages. Your are an excellent supplement (or maybe substitute!!) to the Lonely Planet.

Frank

Oh, thanks - this makes me blush :-))
But it is fun to write :-))

Ingrid,

I promised you an update when I had one, so here it is:

Markus wrote me back to recommend I contact Acted in Dushanbe. They gave me an email address of META in Murgab. The person who responds to this email address (Aiymgul, the META manager) is very helpful and my travel plans are nearly set. Thanks to all the wonderful people who have helped - including you Miss Trekki!)

One additional note for others planning Central Asia trips: I used a company called Stantours for my GBAO permit. They are an EXCELLENT company, cheaper than Great Game, and with unbelievable service - they respond to eVERY request within 24 hours. I am also using them for the Turkmenistan part of my trip and for my Uzbek visa support.

Frank

GREAT !! I am really happy to hear this, Frank :-))

So this should be a new mail adress for META. Can you do me a favour please and send me this email-adress via VT mail ?

Oh, and may I quote you please for STANTOURS ? I would simply link this full post here to my tip about the permit in the TJ pages.
I really really like if any attention is been drawn away from the money men = Great Game and drawn to the locals :-)

Now if we could find a way to bring you and George together, as this would save you both money ! But George is travelling anti-clockwise to you.

smiles from here (= from me blushing :)
Ingrid

PS: I think I should know this Aiymgul from my META visit.

GBAO permits can now be obtained via embassies as well, at least in Europe. They cost € 20.-- and are stamped into your passport (well, at least that's what they said as I've just mailed our passports this week and haven't received them back.

It be interested in hearing which route is nicer from Khorog:

- Khorog - Jelandy - Alichur - Murgab
- Khorog - Wakhan Valley - Vrang - Khargush - Alichur - Murgab
- Khorog - Shokh Dara Valley - Javshanghuz - Alichur - Murgab

Thanks so much also for any other (recent) information on the Pamir Highway and also the trip Khojand - Iskander Lake - Dushanbe.

Hi Martin,

sorry, I just realised that I completely missed your post while I was travelling (in May). Given the time now (August) I assume you are already on the road, as you had your visa and permit procedure going on at the time of your post.

In case you still need to know:
I can only judge the Khorog - Jelandy - Alichur - Murghab route. It was marvellous, but quite "wide" open. I think, the other 2 are more narrow as the valleys are .. well, more narrow. And from what I got from the Hauser map, have more villages on the way. Next time, I'll travel along the Wakhan Valley :-)

all best
Ingrid

Hello Trekki,

Just a belated thank you for your kind advice. I lost track of this thread as I defered my Central Asia travel from this to (hopefully) next year due to a change of travel plans.