Khorog fighting outbreak - Pamir Highway closed
 

This might be interesting for anyone planning to go to the pamirs. A recent outbreak of violence in the GBAO region has led to a full close down of the Pamir region around Khorog.
For anyone heading that way: Change your travel plans!

Tajikistan Battle Leaves Dozens Dead - WSJ.com

Very sad news indeed. We met so many nice people when we were there a month ago, I hope it can be resolved without further bloodshed.

I'm leaving for Dushanbe tomorrow and should be there on Friday. I'll ask around and write here if there is anything interesting. Too many people heading that way this year. Would be a shame if we all have to cancel.

Hi everyone,

it's really terrible and we are trying to find out totady, if the boarder between Osh/ Kirgistan and Dushanbe/ Tadschikistan is open for foreign travellers.

So we can drive into Tadschikistan this way at least.

It's a real shame, that the Parmir is closed and we hope they do not destroy Khorog. We heard so many nice things about that town.

save travels for all

Alexandra

please report if the boarder crossing next to osh is open for tourists
so far, i read that this boarder crossing is only for locals

maybe an other alternative might be the bartang valley
does anybody know something about the current road condition? there were some landslides, but who knows if there might be allready cleared...

The president declared a ceasefire today. Hopfully this leads to reopen I g of the border. Here would still be
Any tourists stuck in The GBAO woe need to leave you would think

Hello

very sad news :(

I was there on the beginning of June (Dushanbe-Kalaikum-Khorog-Ishkasim-Langaar-Murgab-Sary Tash).

The border between Tajik and Kirghistan between Murgab and Sary Tash over Akt Baital Pass was open for travelers.

Hope it will be over, such a beautiful place with such nice people.

Ride safe,
Adrian

Good and bad news from Dushanbe. Bad stuff first - I've seen many many bikers heading back into Uzbekistan today. They have various despondent looks and have all given up on making it to the Pamirs anytime soon. One person tried to reach Khorog yesterday or the day before and was turned back by the military.

But here in the hotel things are a bit more positive. The situation in Khorog seems to be improving slightly. Phone communication is apparently back up and people, including tourists, have been allowed to leave the city.

No real news on whether the road is open for tourists heading into Khorog yet. A couple people left here this morning to attempt to get there. Will hear maybe tomorrow if they managed to make it.

There is also talk about taking the other 'road' through the mountains which starts about 60km north of Khorog - nobody really seems to know what the road is like but apparently several motorbikes and cyclists left to attempt it a few days ago.

I'm going to stay here for the weekend and will probably head down to the British embassy on Monday to see if they have anything useful to say. I very much doubt it though.

The general mood seems to be that in a week or two everything will be back to normal. Right now it is very fluid and information is still quite sketchy. There has been some concern about more fighters coming from Afghanistan through Ishkashim so will keep an eye on that.

I don't think anyone should cancel their plans just yet if they were planning on being here in (say) 2 weeks time, or if they have enough flexibility in their visa dates (unlike me).

Also, GBAO permits are being issued again in Dushanbe which can only be a good sign

Latest news is that the Pamir Highway, Wakhan valley and Sary Tash border crossing are all completely open. Am leaving Dushanbe today to give it a go so will report back in a couple days.

Good luck. I was just outskirts of Khorog with english friend Keith when fighting started last week. We stayed overnight in a truck terminal close to Khorog and during ceasefire which was i think tuesday or wednesday we were allowed to drive through city which has seen something like 30 hours of continuous fighting.

We met middle of city on northern shore after roadbridge UK biker with DZR400 who had earlier attempted to leave city to north but turned around in roadblock when facing big group of people.

He however followed us through few improvised roadblock just turned around in last roadblock which was BTR-80. Perhaps thing was that i was aimed with machinegun by a very nervous, young soldier who also jumped back and removed safety of machine gun. For a moment i thought he is going to shoot.

After leaving city there were few improvised roadblocks from stones and on last one we saw angry mob pulling Tadjiksistan families out from two cars after clearing of roadblock.

Tourists in area were quite safe (beside we met bicyclists who had to dodge bullets in city during fighting). Locals werent. We later heard that some were robbed while held on ground under gunpoint.

After incident in last roadblock i decited we have to get away from safe distance from Khorog as situation seemed to be tense and we rode roughly 100 km north and camped there after passing numerous roadblocks formed by goverment forces. During next night i watched at least two hour continous flashes of lights coming from direction of city and could hear distant voices of various caliber weapons.

We also met several bikers and bicyclists going into direction of Khorog and adviced them of situation. There is another northern route going from Rusan to Khorog very close to Kirgistan border. It should be passable with motorcycle but i dont know.

Good thing is that if situation is cleared.

I hope all is better next year for my Trip from the UK to Thailand as this was one of the parts i was really looking forward to.
Please keep us updated as things progress

Z

See also http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...russia-63697-4

post number 47 onwards.

Good luck if you try to get in.

Bad news, I lucked out. I made it to Kalaikhum but was turned around by the army on Thursday just outside the town. The police in Kalaikhum confirmed that the road is closed again. The Sary Tash border also appears to have been closed for several days now.

Coming back to Dushanbe I made it over the first mountain pass ok (apart from some nervous soldiers at the checkpoint at the top) but met some cyclists who were stuck at the checkpoint at the north/west side of the pass. The army was not letting them through for reasons that were not being explained at the time. I got in touch with some people in Dushanbe who said that the pass is closed in the direction of Kalaikhum but not going towards Dushanbe.

In Dushanbe I met back up with some Canadian backpackers who were also turned away at the same checkpoint. They reported that the southern road (through Kolyob) is also closed. Kalaikhum is inaccessible at the moment, at least for tourists. Locals appear to sometimes be allowed through.

A British cyclist who made it to Kalaikhum before the roads were closed managed to make it through the checkpoint where I was turned around without any bags. Haven't heard what has happened to him yet.

The Canadian couple spoke to the army who gave the impression that they are clearing out all the tourists from GBAO and are preparing to move back in.

I don't have the time to hang around here any longer and try again. But right now it looks to me that the Pamirs are completely off limits for the foreseeable future unless you want to try and sneak through the mountains somehow.

There are reports that the other border to Sary Tash (A372) which is normally closed to foreigners has been opened up and no special permit is required. This information has come from the Kyrgyz embassy in Dushanbe but I don't know how reliable it is. Everything is changing on a daily basis around here at the moment.

[QUOTE=Prisoner62113;388167The Canadian couple spoke to the army who gave the impression that they are clearing out all the tourists from GBAO and are preparing to move back in.
[/QUOTE]

Mmm if that is the case it very bad news indeed.

Not sure why the Tajik Grovernment needs to **** it up again, for the most part things were good for the bulk of the population from what we were had read and were told by locals. It was a nice peaceful spot.