Caravanistan

Tiny bit of connection with my Tajik SIM card in Ishkashim, Qala Panja, and Khandood, otherwise zero connectivity.

I carried a satellite that let me text with folks back home, but there is NO local connection in most of the Wakhan.

I've been in touch with my Wakhi guide Ibrahim recently, and just wanted to make sure folks had the current contact info for him.

On Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/ibrahim.hamdard.100

Phone: +93 74 922 9030

He lives in Khandood, and has a small pharmacy there.

You’re very unlikely to find a donkey man who speaks any English. You also might have trouble choosing your own donkeyman. There’s a system, and whoever’s turn it is, that’s generally who you’ll get. That said, if you got an older (35-40) donkeyman who was from Sarhad, he would likely be pretty fami...

Here’s a note I just posted to the LP Tt in response to a question. Do you have a rough idea of your total on the ground costs for the month? ——————————- I didn’t do a very good job of tracking, and I went pretty deluxe (guide, horse), here’s a bit of a breakdown. Guide: $25 a day x 23 days Donkey a...

Just spent a fantastic month in the Afghan Wakhan, and wanted to report back a few things. Guides: My primary piece of advice, if you’re planning on using a guide, is to do everything in your power to get a Wakhi guide. It will give you a far more authentic local connection as you travel through the...

I’ve just returned from a month in the Afghan Wakhan (great trip!), and am going to be writing up a trip report, but wanted to get a bit of information out there more quickly. My biggest advice would be to do everything possible to get a Wakhi guide. None of the guides based out of Ishkashem are Wak...

Just returned from a month in the Afghan Wakhan (great trip, report coming), and wanted to relay an interesting experience regarding the rumored Chinese Road. I started my trip by walking from Qala-e-Panja to Sarhad, and that first day out of Qala I noticed this car coming up behind me but making ve...

Got my Afghan visa here in Khorog this morning, and was surprised that the price for US passport holders has jumped to $220, plus $50 “urgent” fee to get it in an hour rather than two days. There didn’t seem to be any room for negotiation on the fee.

Fantastically helpful, thanks!

I'm also curious if yo hired a guide just for the formalities in Ishkashim, or for the entire trek.

I'm planning a trip for this July, and have been in communication with Yar Mohammed about possibly hiring him, and have gotten a sense that he's trying to gouge me. We agreed to a per day price, which was already pretty steep, then he told me that it would not be him, but another guide who he would ...