Pamir Mountains, Tajikistan

Tajikistan is the smallest country in Central Asia and is well known for its 7000 m+ mountains. What brought me here was an opportunity to meet and live with a Tajik-Kyrgyz hunter and herder named Orozbek, who was based in the high and remote Pamir region of eastern Tajikistan, just 15 km north of the Wakhan region of Afghanistan. Below are photos of the Pamir Mountains and everyday life in the area.  

Orozbek, like all of the inhabitants of the far eastern Pamirs are Kyrgyz, an ethnicity which comprises only 2% of Tajikistan’s total population of 8 million. With the Eastern Pamir region declaring its independence from Tajikistan after the 1992 Civil War, various organisations such as the Murghab Ecotourism Association have been set up to develop and support community-based programmes to stimulate tourism to this much overlooked and isolated corner of Central Asia. 

Animal husbandry is a primary source of income for many people in the area, in addition to collecting fodder for sale. Alongside sheep, yak are reared in the valleys and the eastern Pamirs has the largest population of them. Pastorlists and nomads, be it the Tajik Kyrgyz, Afghan Wakhi or Pakistani Balti, all use yaks for the same purposes—meat, butter and cream production, load carrying, and producing every-day products from their hair, such as clothing or rope.

Aside from encouraging more visitors to the region, what we hoped to gain from our month with Orozbek was to document and share what daily life is like for an ordinary man and his family living on the roof of the world. For more Pamir Mountains photos and to learn more about life in the area, you can read my e-book—Eastern Tajikistan — A Visual Exploration of Life in the Pamirs published by The Ripcord Adventure Journal.

Golden, grassy humps stretching across a big plateau and filled with mini ponds.
A green UAZ Buhanka truck descends down a dirt track in the Alichur Mountains.
A glass bottle filled with marmot fat sits next to the dismembered remains of a marmot.
A graphic look at a red-gloved hand holding a glob of white marmot fat that's being stuffed into a glass bottle.
An old Soviet-era military gun station in southern Kyrgyzstan overlooks the road leading to Tajikistan.
The crumbling, ancient remains of a caravanserai overlooking a craggy alpine mountain range.
Close-up photo of teresken shrub, used for firewood, poking out of the dry earth with little red flowers.
A hunter holds a pair of binoculars in his hands in between looking for Argali mountain sheep.
A Tajik hunter wearing gloves stands on a small sprung trap to catch marmot.
Black and white landscape photo of three yurts in front of moody, shadowy mountains.
Black and white photo of a yak with a rope through its nose.
A small white Soviet-era Lada car parked on a dirt track in the Pamir Mountains.
Close-up photo of a petroglyph on shiny graphite dog. A small dog is barking at an ibex.
Three men holding up archaic, homemade fishing nets used for mountain fishing.
Three guys pull a yak as two guys push it towards a truck.
Black and white photo of a wild valley descending into the horizon towards Tajikistan's remote mountainous interior.
A small slab of rock with dried mumya secretions stuck on it, which can be used as a medicine.
Two men and a dog scramble up to the entrance of a Pamir Mountain cave.
A Kyrgyz man and European tourist pose for a photo in front of a mountain yurt.
A collection of remains left in the dirt by ancient hunters living in Tajikistan.
Black and white image of a Kyrgyz herder surrounded by dust and yaks, measuring his lasso rope.
A man with a metal stake for digging plants throws a teresken shrub through the air.
A dog walks past the camera as one man inspects the entrance of a large mountain cave.
A Tajik hunter in a mountain valley looks through his binoculars.
Small shoots of green tea leaves poking out of the dry soil.
Close-up look at three brown rocks made of clusters of little balls known as mumya, which has medicinal properties.
The silhouette of a man at the entrance of a massive cave high in the Pamir Mountains.
A man scythes tall green grass on the Alichur Plains.
The remains of stone walls which formed an old caravanserai.
Two Tajik truck drivers stand beside three others for a photo and wave.
A young dog sits in front of a dead marmot.
A man pedals a bike with his friend on the back as they ride past a radioactive warning sign in the Pamir Mountains.
A black and white wide view of the ancient remains of Bazar Dara caravanserai, nestled in a Pamir Mountains valley.
Three men stood around a yak which has its horns tied up with rope.
A single plant stem with dried red berries on it which are used for making tea.
Portrait of two men fishing on a sun-kissed Pamir mountain plateau.
Looking up towards tall limestone cliffs showing the entrance to two big cave entrance in eastern Tajikistan.
Kyrgyz fisherman smiles as he holds up two large fish caught in the Pamirs.
Wide angle view of Bazar Dara ancient caravanserai tucked away in a remote Pamir mountain valley.
Two men huddled over the remains of a marmot that's been caught for its meat.
Two men crouch down next to a dead marmot caught with a snare trap.
A low roofed house bellowing smoke into the early morning light.
Looking out from inside of an old tin mine towards the exit which is walled up with stones.
A Tajik-Kyrgyz man wearing camouflage carries a big bundle of teresken shrub on his back.
A yak with rope looped around its horns puts up a fight as its pulled towards a truck.
Three men clamber up the side of a truck laden with cut grass.
A Kyrgyz herder holding a lasso walks towards a large herd of Pamir yaks.
A farming man drags a sled of cut grass across a flooded swampy plain in eastern Tajikistan.
An open palm holding a cluster of bones, firewood and charcoal left behind by ancient Pamir Mountains hunters.
A man poses in front of a stone wall forming the entrance of an old Tajik tin mine in the Pamir Mountains.
Two men, one holding a fishing net, lean into a small river to catch fish.
Portrait of a young girl with short hair beside the road, gazing into the distance and wearing a bright red t-shirt.
A group of eight Kyrgyz-Tajik people pose for a photo outside of a yurt.
A view of a remote peak with a giant snow-covered face, with a sandy desert in the foreground.
Man stepping on a hunting trap and pulling with hands to engage it.
Wide angle view of southern Alichursky Mountains covered in snow with a tiny village in the valley.
A fisherman walking away from the camera, towards a lake, with a net slung over his shoulder.
A man holds out a collection of handpicked green tea in his palm.
A group of boys, one with a bicycle, stand in front of an unusual and massive Soviet-era dome.
A man standing around a cut pile of teresken shrub bundles it together for transportation.
A man crouched down plants a snap trap on the edge of a marmot hole.
Two men lean on the side of a wooden truck fence posing for the camera.4
A large collection of peppercorn-like balls scattered over the ground of an abandoned Pamir Mountains mine.
A woman and two children mix a giant bowl of flower in the open air of the Pamir Mountains.
Two men crouched over a dusty marmot hole pull on a snare trap wire.
A group of men try to control a wildly bucking yak.
Close-up photo of a long horned goat petroglyph.
A single yurt in the dry Pamir mountains bellows smoke from its chimney.
Two men scramble up into a cave system at the foot of massive cliffs in eastern Tajikistan.
Three men looking down into a long and uninhabited valley in Tajikistan.
Two guys crouched beside a white Lada car in the Pamir Mountains.
A man stands at the entrance to a tall vertical cave entrance.
A sign leading from Kyrgyzstan to Tajikistan reads "Kyzyl Art Pass 4282m".
An enormous storm front passes over a stretch of desolate Pamir plateau.
A Kyrgyz man wearing camouflage bundles up teresken shrub on the high Pamir Mountains plateau.
A hunter crouching on the ground demonstrates how to use a handmade wire snare trap for marmot hunting.

My photography has been published in the following outlets:

Russia Beyond the Headlines logo.
Men's Running black text logo.
The New York Times logo.
Alpinist Magazine's logo.
ExplorersWeb online adventure news outlet logo.
Love Nature's logo with multiple colours and textures.
Russian Life logo in blue text.
Sidetracked Magazine logo in black and white.
Ripcord Adventure Journal logo in red, black and white.
Trek & Mountain Magazine's logo.
Geographical Magazine logo in white text with black background.
Action Asia Magazine logo.