The Pamir range, counting some of the highest mountains in the world, sitting on the famed the silk road, is also one of the most remote part of the world. Following the alleged footpath of Marco Polo, this trip takes us from the Wakhan Corridor into China through Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

A group of Kyrghyz women with their children in a valley. The Wakhan corridor is populated by Wakhis and Kyrghyz who came there in the 1930’s fleeing stalinist collectivisation.
Afghan border patrolmen armed with Ak-47 at the back of jeep driving along the Wakhan corridor. The region is flanked by borders with Pakistan, Tajikistan and China. The Wakhan is the only region in Afghanistan that has enjoyed peace while the rest
A group of Pashtun traders taking their recently purchased yaks along a steep gorge. During the short summer, traders from the lower plain of Afghanistan come to the Wakhan to buy yaks and sheeps from Wakhis and Kyrghyz nomads.
Riding a horse along a steep gorge.
Pashtun traders taking purchased yaks along a steep gorge towards the lower plains of Afghanistan.
A lone trader at the Daliz pass in the Wakhan
A wakhi woman, carrying her child, is bringing back water from the river to the summer settlment.
A young Kyrgyz girl collecting dry yak dung. At this altitude vegetation is rare and the Kyrgyz rely on dry dung for cooking and heating during the long frigid winter.
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Inside a Kyrgyz nomads yurt.
A Kyrgyz family inside their yurt.
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A Kyrgyz woman heading to milk her yak, at a summer settlement just hit by the first snow fall of the year.
High school students playing a game of volley-ball, before the start of the class. One of them has put his notebook by the net. The remoteness of the Wakhan makes it difficult for the youth to get education. Some NGOs have built schools and funded t
Border fences between Tajikistan and China in the Pamir njear Murghab. At the time when this was frontier between the Soviet Union and China, the fence used to be electrified.
Children playing in the village of Shaimak in Tajikistan, at the border with Afghanistan and China.
A boy at the window in Shaimak (Tajikistan) at the border with Afghanistan and China.
An old car parked in Shaimak (Tajikistan)
Kyrgyz nomads folding their summer camp, near Rangkul (Tajikistan)
Abandoned training equipment at a former military Soviet camp near Karakul Lake (Tajikistan)
An old soviet border post on the frontier between China and Tajikistan near Rangkul.
An old soviet border post on the frontier between China and Tajikistan near Rangkul.
The statue of a Soviet soldier at an abandoned military camp near the Karakul lake (Tajikistan).
A couple dancing in Murghab (Tajikistan)
Chinese workers from Sichuan, building a road linking Tajikistan with China near Sari Tash (Tajikistan).
Hundreds of Uyghur gathered in front Id Kah mosque in Kashgar (China). Such gatherings don’t happened anymore has the the practice of Islam is restricted in the region.
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Return to the Spice Islands (Indonesia - Maluku)