Tajikistan Road Trip

From Dushanbe, I did a road trip north that should have taken about five hours. Several parts of the road were under construction, so I had a few delays along the way. Since Tajikistan is almost entirely covered by mountains, you’ll find yourself surrounded by impressive scenery almost as soon as you leave Dushanbe.

Along the highway I often noticed people selling these plants on the side of the road. It wasn’t until I later did some hiking that I finally got to taste one when a local I was with found some growing on the mountain. The lower stalk just after the red part is what’s edible. Surprisingly, the plant had a ton of flavor. I thought it tasted like a semi-sweet piece of celery with some Parmesan cheese!

If the Parmesan celery plant isn’t your thing, there’s no need to worry. The road trip north passes through plenty of small towns with gas stations and food for sale along the way. This little shop had dried fruits and nuts along with its own naturally cooled drink selection. The drinks were placed directly beneath ice-cold water flowing down from the mountain.

The Anzob Tunnel

Heading north from Dushanbe, you’ll occasionally pass through tunnels beneath the mountains. Most are relatively short, but the infamous Anzob Tunnel is about six kilometers long. At the time of my visit, the tunnel was still in terrible condition and felt almost unfinished.

There were workers inside, but it was so dark that I couldn’t even tell if they were locals or from another country. Most of the tunnel looked like the photos below, with almost complete darkness and sections of road in extremely bad condition. Despite the good weather outside, water constantly dripped inside the tunnel and formed puddles over giant potholes.

Some of the potholes were extremely deep, and there was no way to know how deep they were until you drove through them. Even though I was traveling in a jeep, one of the potholes suddenly dropped a wheel so far down that the chassis made a nasty grinding noise against the pavement. Driving through the tunnel was easily one of the more memorable parts of the road trip.

Mountain Scenery

The entire trip passed through mountains and waterfalls. Even though the distance wasn’t particularly long, the mountains seemed to constantly change in shape and color. Above are two waterfalls I passed along the highway, while the photos below show some of the different landscapes along the route.

Closer to Dushanbe, many of the mountains were green and covered with vegetation. As we traveled farther, the landscape changed dramatically and some of the mountains became much drier, with colorful exposed rock and an almost desert-like appearance.

Road Construction to Panjakent

Enjoying the scenery was what made the road trip so much fun, but that changed once we hit our first construction roadblock. The first delay only lasted about 15 minutes before we were on our way again. The next roadblock lasted almost three hours.

There weren’t that many cars waiting, which made the delay especially frustrating. At one point, a man who said his mother had passed away was allowed to drive through, and some of the other people waiting began getting angry. For a short period of time I thought an angry mob might actually form.

Above is a photo of some Chinese workers laying cables along the hillside. After the long roadblock, we came across the man in the other photo who ran up to the car and began singing a song, which at least helped improve the mood. The final part of our drive was through a rainstorm, and we didn’t arrive in Panjakent until after dark.

Returning to Dushanbe

On the return trip from Panjakent to Dushanbe, I passed this sheep herder in the road. I have no idea how many sheep he had, but it was definitely the largest herd I’d ever seen being led by one person. Somehow he kept them together in an incredibly tight group, and there were so many that when we passed through the middle it looked like a sea of sheep.