GlobalTraces

Tajikistan 🤯 Yesterday we had a bit of a moment. A slide slope nearly collected us as we slipped off the track, buried in the left hand side and got very close to rolling. Again. More on that later. But today was much better! Glorious scenery, great light and now parked up at a high altitude dried lake plateau at 4300m surrounded by towering peaks. Travel fact: Tajikistan is a mountainous, landlocked country of around 10million people. The average height of the country is 3186m with mountains covering a little over 90% of the land. #photography #overlanding #tajikistan

GN Nostr! 🌅 Just spending our second night here. A desert at 4200m. Zero light pollution. Zero noise. Less oxygen than I’d like! #photography #overlandlife #pamirhighway #tajikistan

It’s the first day of school for many in the UK, and since Isla is 4 she’d be going in to reception class. Just because she lives in a truck travelling the world doesn’t mean she should miss out on this milestone, so this is here “first day of school” pictures in front of her home, in the Pamir Mountains, Tajikistan. Lessons today have been… - paddling in a mountain stream (water safety) - a walk in the mountains (mountain safety/PE) - rock collecting (geology) - where we are in the world (geography) …and some phonics and numbers on Reading Eggs and Khan Academy. #overlandlife #worldschooling #overlandfamily #photography

We stopped by a river to fill up the water tanks this morning. Suddenly from having seen no-one for 48hrs we had three other overlanders and three different vehicle styles turn up! Which of these four rigs would you choose and why? #overlandlife #overlandfamily #overlanding https://blossom.primal.net/a4fb9d194a7e7524efb92a39235685741502133ae05883cb07d0ed83984a9f5c.mov

Since we were parked literally in the middle of nowhere (we didn’t see or hear anything or anyone for 48hrs) I decided it was time for Jess to have a drone flying lesson. I’m the drone pilot, but also the more extreme off road driver, so I want to get Jess flying the drone too, so it’s not all on me. 3minutes in to her first flight… “how the f*** do you do this while we’re bouncing down the road in a moving truck and still keep the moving truck in the frame? 🤯” I’ll take that as a compliment that it’s not as easy as it looks 🤣 Will have to get her more practice. #drone #photography #overlanding

Wow! Thanks for following along all of you … we’ve just crossed 500 followers (sorry for missing whoever was the 500th!) Onwards to further growth of Nostr 🙌 This was us at Ak Baital pass, Tajikistan. #grownostr #overlanding

📍Lenin Peak, Kyrgyzstan I promised you some more Kyrgyzstan back catalog and since some of you liked the video format I figured I’d remix the video and collage style in one. Lenin Peak at 7134m is actually one of the easier mountains over 7000m to climb with no technical climbing needed on its main routes. Because of this and the well established base camps, it’s often used for training by folks heading to K2 or Everest. Like this style? Want more like this? #kyrgyzstan #overlandlife #travelfacts #photography https://blossom.primal.net/7cbf8e82a788af017a602df1cc113ed6803c6629c26eb1d1f92c88bc2529fe4f.mov

Postcards from Tajikistan… #1 If these mountains could only speak, the things they’d have seen would be enough to fill a library of books. Why? Because this is the Pamir Highway, part of the northern section of the ancient silk route, described by Marco Polo in the 13th Century. In fact, if you look closely at the bottom picture you may just be able to make out a Caravanserai, or ancient hotel. This section, about 40km north of Murghab, makes it very obvious to see why it was a popular route - the clear, wide valley pass, with a river running through it to provide drinking water, would have given a “path of least resistance” while travelling, even if that valley floor is at an altitude of 4000m, so the air is thin and movement, until you’re acclimated, steals your breath and leaves you needing a sit down in the shade. Shade arguably being the one thing this area is missing due to an environment that resembles a high altitude desert. #photography #silkroute #overlanding #tajikistan #borderlessliving

Overland life… there is always something to do to the vehicle… even when you think all is well! We’re parked a little over 4000m on the Pamir and this morning I came outside and spotted two little wet patches on the ground. A quick investigation showed it to be coolant. So a peak around and I found the two sources - rubber pipes on to metal pipes where the cooler temps at this altitude have caused the metal to contract allowing for a small weep around the joint. Solution? 8mm socket and a quick nip up. And then watch and wait. 🤞 #overlandlife #lifeontheroad #theresalwayssomething

📍Lake Karakul, Tajikistan. Is this the start of a “Postcards from Tajikistan” series to follow those from Kyrgyzstan? Maybe, time will tell. In the meantime, as I mentioned in the previous post, Lake Karakul is part of a UNESCO world heritage site. It’s split in to an east and west basin: a shallower eastern section and deeper western section. The lake, along with the islands located within, has been identified as and “Important Bird Area” by Birdlife International. #photography #globalexplorer #overlandfamily

Today was not short of views. We started at Lake Karakul, a 52km anechoic lake that’s said to have formed in an impact crater. At just about 3600m above sea level it’s a pretty spectacular spot - and is why it’s part of the Tajik National Park which was also inducted to the UNESCO world heritage list in 2013. This evening we’ve found a delightfully out of the way spot in the mountains. But the real highlight was the middle of the day - the Ak Baital pass. At 4655m above sea level, it’s the highest part of the M41 Pamir Highway. #photography #overlandlife #tajikistan

Expect lots of shots like this. This is the Pamir Highway. The long, lonesome road surrounded by epic mountains. Did you know that Tajikistan is 90% mountainous and about 50% of the land mass is over 3000m. If you’re a mountain lover, it’s the place to be. #photography #overlanding #tajikistan #centralasia #borderlessliving

You’ve twisted my arm… there will be more postcards from Kyrgyzstan, but back to the photos. Three pictures taken within an hour from three spots no more than 10m from each other. This was our last parkup officially in Kyrgyzstan and the middle image is looking towards Tajikistan and the Kyrzl-Art pass. This pass, at 4280m above sea level is in the Trans-Alay range and is rugged and dry mostly. Which is convenient because the “road” is treacherous in the wet with steep, muddy switchbacks that can be impossible to navigate when wet. Our border crossing was very quick - 22mins out of Kyrgyzstan (15mins of which was waiting for them to let us in) and then in to Tajikistan was less than 1hr. #photography #overlandfamily #decentralisedliving