Is hiking solo in Tajikistan/Kygryzstan in May/June safe?

[Christian77]

80% of the shepherds I meet tell me that I will be eaten by wolves or bears because I'm traveling solo in the mountains. But zero tourist deaths or attacks in that regard. The wolves are the size of large coyotes here, and a danger only in winter to kids and small people. Bears are shy. I've found only two records of attacks in the last decade (one caused by a dog harassing a bear, and the other one being firewood gatherers getting mauled - but not killed). I only ever saw one bear. She was shy and she ran away, not even stopping to pose for a photo.

Shepherds are scared because they travel everywhere with defenseless mutton. The bears and wolves definitely try to eat their sheep.

Shepherd guardian dogs are very unfriendly. They will just bark if you stand your ground. But they are quite scary. Here's a low quality video of my dog encounters over three days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEvVubu ... TeppaTours (don't worry, this is not the Fann Mountains, but rather an area with heavy shepherd density).

You will know when you are getting close to a shepherd camp if you use OsmAnd (they are clearly marked, as opposed to other apps that don't show them).

Tajik, Uzbek and Pamiri shepherds are cool guys. But in the Fann mountains they are used to tourists and will probably just give you a friendly wave. In other areas with few tourists many of them invite you to their camp to hang out and have tea.

[raspberrysoda]

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thank you so much.