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PAMIR AND WAKHAN (8 stories) All Galleries

A walk through time, Afghanistan - 2017

253 images Created 25 Jan 2021

Extract from the text by Paul Salopek:

"Paley was voluble and earthy, a French Zorba. He was joining me for a rare foot crossing of Afghanistan’s Wakhan corridor, a forgotten redoubt tucked high behind the mountain walls of the Hindu Kush. In the mornings he performed yoga on the road to soothe a tricky back. Expanded font settings on my laptop were my own concessions to middle age. But I didn’t feel old. Not at all. Walking the Earth makes you a child again. By the time I eventually reach Tierra del Fuego, my destination six or seven years away, I will be newborn.
I glanced back.
Paley was doing a Wakhi dance now—paddling his arms and shimmying his hips along the desolate banks of the Panj. Across the glacial currents in Afghanistan, a few delighted Wakhi shepherds in dirt-brown shalwar kameezes gathered to mimic his moves. Everyone dances in Afghanistan."

Full story here : https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/09/across-the-roof-of-the-world-as-a-historic-journey-proceeds/

This story is part of the Out of Eden project: Paul Salopek’s 21,000-mile odyssey is a decade-long experiment in slow journalism. Moving at the beat of his footsteps, Paul is walking the pathways of the first humans who migrated out of Africa in the Stone Age and made the Earth ours.
More on Out of Eden: https://outofedenwalknonprofit.org/
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  • The end of the lower valley of the Wakhan – you can see the mountain walls in the distance, that’s where we are heading. A girl is twisting the tail of the family cow, to make it hurry home…  The life of the Wakhi people, in the Wakhan corridor, amongst the Pamir mountains. Trekking with Paul Salopek.
    MM8717_170911_07880.jpg
  • This is early morning during what’s known as the Holiday of sacrifice (Eid-e Qurban) – one of the most important Muslim holidays where they slaughter one sheep from their herd. Drop of blood from the sheep on their forehead.
    MM8717_170901_04115.jpg
  • On a roof of her house, a woman takes a break in a tent made of branches and sometimes used for the warmer days in summer.<br />
The traditional life of the Wakhi people, in the Wakhan corridor, amongst the Pamir mountains.
    MM8717_170829_03213.jpg
  • Group of men going to carry hay. The traditional life of the Wakhi people, in the Wakhan corridor, amongst the Pamir mountains.  Early morning, this group of men, most of them are relatives, get together, carrying this wooden tools, like gigantic food clips. They are used to clip huge quantity of hay in it, and bring it to a shed. Without a strong sense of community, you could not survive there.
    MM8717_170831_03864.jpg
  • Flames come out of  the "dildung" also known as Tandoor (traditional cylindrical oven) while the daughter of Nida Khan prepares salty milk tea. Pots of water are constantly being heated up throughout the day and used for cooking, drinking or washing hands and face. The traditional life of the Wakhi people, in the Wakhan corridor, amongst the Pamir mountains.
    MM8717_170903_04973.jpg
  • Kosim and son Ato Mohammed. At the hotsprings above a village. It’s a great luxury to have a hot spring, it means it’s easy to was yourself and your cloth all year round. There is obviously no running water in people’s home. The traditional life of the Wakhi people, in the Wakhan corridor, amongst the Pamir mountains.
    MM8717_170906_06129.jpg
  • The small school funded by the Aga Khan Foundation.  Wakhis are Ismaili, thei spiritual leader is the Aga Khan – the Aga Khan foundation is very influencial in the region and one of the corner stone of the organization is education.<br />
The traditional life of the Wakhi people, in the Wakhan corridor, amongst the Pamir mountains.
    MM8717_170828_02055.jpg
  • This is Bejoda and her son Javed, as I enter their house for tea. There are only about 70.000 Wakhis and they are split between Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan and China, all in the Pamir mountains. They speak an Indo-European language, it’s a very poetic language. The traditional life of the Wakhi people, in the Wakhan corridor, amongst the Pamir mountains.
    MM8717_170828_02192.jpg
  • Two young girls (Anor Gul, 6 and Gul Shira, 7) just stepped out of the house to meet with boys and go get wood – one of the many chores. They are walking past bushes of seabuck thorn, a fast growing bush used as fuel and to fence off animals.<br />
The traditional life of the Wakhi people, in the Wakhan corridor, amongst the Pamir mountains.
    MM8717_170829_02870.jpg
  • Return of the herds in the evening. Animal husbandry is a big part of life in the Wakhan – there are high pasture and the herds return in the evening. Sheep is for eating of course, but it’s also used in barter, to acquire goods like extra flour etc.<br />
The traditional life of the Wakhi people, in the Wakhan corridor, amongst the Pamir mountains.
    MM8717_170829_03237.jpg
  • Poymona is 11 years old. He is just returning from herding the village’s 100 sheep or so. While at it, he collected wood for his home. <br />
The traditional life of the Wakhi people, in the Wakhan corridor, amongst the Pamir mountains.
    MM8717_170829_03223.jpg
  • These women are talking in the shade of this + - 400 old tree. It’s one of the many holy places in the Wakhan, called Ostone. They are cleaning the floor of the small pieces of wood that fell overnight and then putting them away behind them, at the base of the tree. Although they are muslims, many of their religious practices show the herirage pf previous beliefs like animism, fire worshipping, Buddhism etc This shrine named "Saïd Brom". In the village of Kipkut. The traditional life of the Wakhi people, in the Wakhan corridor, amongst the Pamir mountains.
    MM8717_170903_05321.jpg
  • Bakh Shoh (left) and his relative. They are about to go in the field for work, wearing their everyday cloth. In Wakhan, work tasks are interchangeable, there is equality between sexes, that’s mainly due to the fact that here everyone is Ismaili, a branch of Islam that is very liberal whose spiritual leader is the Aga Khan – a multimillionaire, Harvard graduate living in Europe.
    MM8717_170912_08084.jpg
  • A woman breastfeeding with her family around. Family life in a Wakhi home. The traditional life of the Wakhi people, in the Wakhan corridor, amongst the Pamir mountains.
    MM8717_170901_04510.jpg
  • Women disperse at the end of an official opening of an itinerant school aimed at educating women and their children. The school was initiated by the Rupani foundation.  The life of the Wakhi people, in the Wakhan corridor, amongst the Pamir mountains. Trekking with Paul Salopek.
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  • Aziz Begum is readjusting her veil after I took pictures of her and her brothers. The traditional life of the Wakhi people, in the Wakhan corridor, amongst the Pamir mountains.
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  • Girl. The traditional life of the Wakhi people, in the Wakhan corridor, amongst the Pamir mountains.
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  • Abdul Qadir, a dombra musician and a Police man. The traditional life of the Wakhi people, in the Wakhan corridor, amongst the Pamir mountains.
    MM8717_170826_01244.jpg
  • A women breastfeeding her newly born.  The traditional life of the Wakhi people, in the Wakhan corridor, amongst the Pamir mountains.
    MM8717_170827_01558.jpg
  • Girl taking care of the family herd.  The traditional life of the Wakhi people, in the Wakhan corridor, amongst the Pamir mountains.
    MM8717_170827_01687.jpg
  • A boy protects himself from the heat of the fire that his mother started in the main room of his house. She will prepare salty milk tea for the boy. People from this region used to be Zoroastrian (Fire and Sun worshippers) before they converted to Islam few hundred years ago. <br />
The traditional life of the Wakhi people, in the Wakhan corridor, amongst the Pamir mountains.
    MM8717_170828_02223.jpg
  • A man carrying hay. <br />
The traditional life of the Wakhi people, in the Wakhan corridor, amongst the Pamir mountains.
    MM8717_170828_02472.jpg
  • Father and son. Nazir Dod and his son Farzod. At the house of Arif Baig. <br />
The traditional life of the Wakhi people, in the Wakhan corridor, amongst the Pamir mountains.
    MM8717_170828_02514.jpg
  • At the house of Arif Baig. The man here is an opium addict, and his niece takes care of him. Opium is brought from the lower valley and used to relief pain, when someone is sick.<br />
The traditional life of the Wakhi people, in the Wakhan corridor, amongst the Pamir mountains.
    MM8717_170828_02538.jpg
  • Bibi Hawa (red shirt) and Gul Shera on the look out for stray calves. <br />
The traditional life of the Wakhi people, in the Wakhan corridor, amongst the Pamir mountains.
    MM8717_170828_02545.jpg
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