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PAMIR AND WAKHAN (8 stories) All Galleries

Letters to the Pamir - 2005

119 images Created 20 Feb 2021

A chronological journey of our 2005 trip through the high Pamir mountains in Afghanistan, finding a path into Pakistan. That summer, Mareile and I walked over 300 kilometres with our donkey Clémentine. It was a crazy and unforgettable journey, and we had a mission… to deliver letters.

The Afghan Kyrgyz community living in the Pamir mountains escaped to Pakistan in the early 1980’s, walking out of the Pamir over high passes, worried about the incoming Russian invasion. They abandoned their yurts, leaving fires burning to make believe the yurts were inhabited. They took most of their herds with them, the exodus was of biblical proportion. They waited about 3 years in Pakistan and eventually were given political asylum in Turkey where they still live. But a small number never left to go to Turkey, they returned to the Afghan Pamir. The community was split. In 2004, I met the Afghan Kyrgyz community in Turkey to give them images of their relatives that stayed behind in Afghanistan. In return, many gave me letters and cassettes with recorded speeches to give to their relatives in the Afghan Pamir. I just had to go to deliver them...

In 2005, Mareile and I left to deliver those letters on foot, going from yurt camps to yurt camps, postman (and postwoman!) on the roof of the world, reuniting family members that had not heard from each others for 25 years.
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  • Arrival at Kabul Airport 7th July 2005 after obtaining special authoristaion from the Pakistan Ministry of Tourism (a "crash procedure"...) to enter Pakistan from the Wakhan Corridor in N-E Afghanistan.
    Afgh_Kyrg_002.jpg
  • On the road to the Wakhan Corridor, near the city of Pul-i-Kumbri. A woman wearing a white Burka waiting to get a ride.
    Afgh_Kyrg_003.jpg
  • Common sight in Afghanistan: we pass numerous carcasses of Russian tanks. <br />
En route to the Wakhan Corridor, in a public bus heading towards North Afghanistan and the city of Faizabad, capital of Badakhshan region.
    Afgh_Kyrg_004.jpg
  • Poppy fields. Between the town of Baharak and Ishkashim is where most of the opium is produced in Afghanistan - about 70% of the world's production.
    Afgh_Kyrg_009.jpg
  • Stuck yet again and this time rescued by the "King of the Road" (R). En route to the Wakhan Corridor, near Ishkashim.<br />
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Adventure through the Afghan Pamir mountains, among the Afghan Kyrgyz and into Pakistan's Karakoram mountains. July/August 2005. Afghanistan / Pakistan.
    Afgh_Kyrg_010.jpg
  • Hindukush range, North of the Panshir Valley, near Ishkashim, the entrance of the Wakhan Corridor.<br />
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Adventure through the Afghan Pamir mountains, among the Afghan Kyrgyz and into Pakistan's Karakoram mountains. July/August 2005. Afghanistan / Pakistan.
    Afgh_Kyrg_011.jpg
  • Mareile and Commander Wahid Khan's 2 assistants. We are trying to obtain a permission letter to enter the Wakhan Corridor and reach the Little Pamir range, on the Chinese, Tajik and Pakistan border. Without this letter, we can simply not go on... The interrogation is conducted in rusty Wakhi language. Ishkashim.
    Afgh_Kyrg_014.jpg
  • We hired that car in the Ishkashim bazaar to take us to Qala-i-panja, half way into the Wakhan Corridor. Along with 5 Wakhis, we soon realized we would be lucky to get anywhere since the car was literally falling apart. Here a sand storm didn't make things much easier.<br />
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Adventure through the Afghan Pamir mountains, among the Afghan Kyrgyz and into Pakistan's Karakoram mountains. July/August 2005. Afghanistan / Pakistan.
    Afgh_Kyrg_016.jpg
  • Mareile and Sala-u-din, son of Pir Shah Ismail, the Ismaili spiritual leader of the Wakhan corridor, and one of the passenger - looking for hard grounds to hopefully take our miserable vehicle a few meters further.<br />
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Adventure through the Afghan Pamir mountains, among the Afghan Kyrgyz and into Pakistan's Karakoram mountains. July/August 2005. Afghanistan / Pakistan.
    Afgh_Kyrg_018.jpg
  • In the sand storm: Mareile look like a ghost figure through the car window.<br />
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Adventure through the Afghan Pamir mountains, among the Afghan Kyrgyz and into Pakistan's Karakoram mountains. July/August 2005. Afghanistan / Pakistan.
    Afgh_Kyrg_020.jpg
  • Juma Amu, one of the passenger of our convoy waits patiently while our car is stuck yet again.<br />
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Adventure through the Afghan Pamir mountains, among the Afghan Kyrgyz and into Pakistan's Karakoram mountains. July/August 2005. Afghanistan / Pakistan.
    Afgh_Kyrg_024b.jpg
  • In Qala-i-panjah, we stay in the house of Pir Shah Ismail, the Ismaili spiritual leader of the Wakhan Corridor. Wakhi people are Ismaili muslims.<br />
Gul Asli, the niece of Pir Shah Ismail.
    Afgh_Kyrg_028a.jpg
  • The two blue-eyed Said: Said Abdul (brother of Pir Shah Ismail) and Said Wadir (his uncle.)<br />
In Qala-i-panjah, at Pir Shah Ismail's house, the spiritual leader of the Wakhan Corridor. Wakhi people are Ismaili muslims.
    Afgh_Kyrg_029.jpg
  • Our love of trekking with donkeys is irresistible: we decide to tackle the next 300Km through the Little Pamir and into Pakistan with this donkey as a companion. After much aimeless walk through Qala-i-panjah, we spot one that looks smart enough to join our husband-wife team - a pretty long legged, long eared donkey. Price: 150US$, Matriculate: Donkey G. <br />
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Adventure through the Afghan Pamir mountains, among the Afghan Kyrgyz and into Pakistan's Karakoram mountains. July/August 2005. Afghanistan / Pakistan.
    Afgh_Kyrg_031.jpg
  • Afgh_Kyrg_032.jpg
  • Green-eyed Gul returning from school. Wakhi girls are privileged in the sense that getting education is a priority among this Ismaili community. The Aga Khan, their spiritual leader says the following: "If you have 2 children, a boy and a girl, but not enough money to educate both kids: give education in priority to the girl - as a future mother, the girl will be the one later educating your grand children..." Sarhad Village, Wakhan Corridor.<br />
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Girl with green eyes from 2005, Bakhik. Father name Mazar, kipkut (photographed in 2017). Married in avegarch to Jumagul.
    Afgh_Kyrg_034_R.jpg
  • Wakhi man looking over his child in Sherk village.<br />
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Adventure through the Afghan Pamir mountains, among the Afghan Kyrgyz and into Pakistan's Karakoram mountains. July/August 2005. Afghanistan / Pakistan.
    Afgh_Kyrg_041.jpg
  • Shah Begun, a Wakhi woman from Sherk, starts the evening fire to bake Nan bread for dinner. Nan bread and milk is the standard dinner in summer in the Wakhan, one of Afghanistan's poorest region.<br />
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Adventure through the Afghan Pamir mountains, among the Afghan Kyrgyz and into Pakistan's Karakoram mountains. July/August 2005. Afghanistan / Pakistan.
    Afgh_Kyrg_043.jpg
  • After a night spent with some Pakistani Wakhi friends from Chapursan valley, we head on further into the Wakhan Corridor. Our donkey is very shy with waters, which worries us a bit... Ashur Baig leads him across turbulent water.<br />
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Adventure through the Afghan Pamir mountains, among the Afghan Kyrgyz and into Pakistan's Karakoram mountains. July/August 2005. Afghanistan / Pakistan.
    Afgh_Kyrg_045.jpg
  • View over Baba-Tangi (6513m). Behind this mountain, Pakistan and the village of Lasht in Chitral.<br />
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Adventure through the Afghan Pamir mountains, among the Afghan Kyrgyz and into Pakistan's Karakoram mountains. July/August 2005. Afghanistan / Pakistan.
    Afgh_Kyrg_048.jpg
  • Taste just like Perrier: a spring near Sarhad.<br />
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Adventure through the Afghan Pamir mountains, among the Afghan Kyrgyz and into Pakistan's Karakoram mountains. July/August 2005. Afghanistan / Pakistan.
    Afgh_Kyrg_049.jpg
  • Sarhad village, the end of the Wakhan Valley and the beginning of the real trek into the Little Pamir.<br />
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Adventure through the Afghan Pamir mountains, among the Afghan Kyrgyz and into Pakistan's Karakoram mountains. July/August 2005. Afghanistan / Pakistan.
    Afgh_Kyrg_050.jpg
  • Mareile doing laundry in Sarhad.<br />
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Adventure through the Afghan Pamir mountains, among the Afghan Kyrgyz and into Pakistan's Karakoram mountains. July/August 2005. Afghanistan / Pakistan.
    Afgh_Kyrg_052.jpg
  • Another one of the border guard crew in Sarhad, Wakhan.<br />
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Adventure through the Afghan Pamir mountains, among the Afghan Kyrgyz and into Pakistan's Karakoram mountains. July/August 2005. Afghanistan / Pakistan.
    Afgh_Kyrg_054.jpg
  • Geared with another authorisation "letter" (really, a scramble on a paper sheet)issued by the border guards in Sarhad, we finally leave Sarhad village for the Little Pamir. There are 4 passes between us and the Little Pamir - we (R) join a Kyrgyz caravan heading back to their home in the Little Pamir (L).<br />
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Adventure through the Afghan Pamir mountains, among the Afghan Kyrgyz and into Pakistan's Karakoram mountains. July/August 2005. Afghanistan / Pakistan.
    Afgh_Kyrg_066.jpg
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