Photos

Silkroad travels: Khargush pass

On our way from the Wakhan valley up the Khargush pass to the Pamir plateau we took this picture at 3790 m altitude, near the Khargush checkpoint. The pass itself is 4345 m high. The landscape has visibly been modelled by glaciers. Koh-e-Pamir (6320 m) is hidden in clouds.

I cite Marco Polo ("The Travels") once more: "When the traveller leaves this place (that is Wakhan valley, red.) he goes three day's journey towards the north-east, through mountains all the time, climbing so high that it is said to be the highest place in the world." Marco Polo dictated this from memory in his prison cell many years later, the experience unforgotten. We will not forget it either.