Your feedback on Kyrgyz + Tadjik - 2 weeks route in July

[adityarao310]

Hello experts
What do you guys think about this itinerary (weather gods willing, of course!)? Do you think the driving hours make sense or is this too tight? What can be changed?
We are 4 people in self drive 4 WD with basic camping gear.

• 7th July > Land at Bishkek in morning
  8th July > Toktogul (5 hrs drive)
  9th July > Osh (7 hrs drive)
  10th > Pik Lenin Basecamp (3.5 hrs to Sary Moghul + 1hr to basecamp = 4.5 hrs drive)
  11th > Tulpar Lake
  12th > Murghab (7 hrs drive)
  13th > Langar and around (7 hrs drive)
  14th > Langar and around
  15th > Khorog (6 hrs drive)
  16th > Murghab (7 hrs drive, via M41 this time)
  17th > Osh / Gulcha (8 hrs drive)
  18th > Osh / Gulcha
  19th > Song Kul Lake (7 hrs drive)
  20th > Cholpon Ata (4 hrs drive)
  21st > Bishkek (4 hrs drive)
  22nd > Buffer day
  23rd > Flight out of Bishkek

The details can also be found here >
Once done, will share with the whole group

[adityarao310]

Hi guys.. any help on this!?
Please

[sakara]

Possible but tight. Youll spend almost all days in the car. If thats your goal, why not. If you need more time you could still go from Osh directly to Bishkek in the end. Only one bufferday for this whole journey seems optimistic.
The driving times seem to be what local drivers need in good conditions. As you dont know the roads and have probably a calmer driving style you might need longer. How experienced are you as a 4WD driver?

[adityarao310]

Hi Sakara

Thanks so much for your reply. We did intend the trip to be about the road and camping, so we are kinda ok with more time in the car. Of course, everybody needs a break. And I am hoping those 2 days at Pik Lenin, Langar and Osh helps.. We are 3 drivers in the car.

2 of us have done the Ladakh trip in India which goes through passes higher than this, but that was on a bike! We are expert car drivers, but less experience with hard core off roading 4WD..

You have a good point on doing Osh > Bishkek directly in one day in case of emergencies.
Two quick questions :-

• Does anyone do Murghab > Osh directly? I have seen some reports of shared taxis doing that
  How long does Osh > Bishkek take if done in one day?

[sakara]

Hi: Osh-Murgab directly is possible, shared taxi drivers do it. I only did it in winterby shared taxi. Once 12 hours, once 40hours (!) due to heavy snow.
I also did the Bishkek - Osh Road only in winter, took us 10 to 18hours (again, heavy snowfall). Aparentlythe road is pretty ok without snow, no need for 4wd. The danger will be other vehicles.

[adityarao310]

Hi would you know what are the spots where we can find fuel along this route?

[bwv812]

Fuel is easy to find at service stations in Kyrgyzstan, and is much cheaper than in Tajikistan. Top up in Sary Tash before you leave the country, while in the pamirs there may not be official service stations but there's usually somewhere you can get fuel in every village of any size (Murghab and Khorog for sure, but even places like Alichur have been able to resupply motorcycles), and people have also reported seeing tankers selling fuel along the M-41.

http://caravanistan.com/forum/viewtopic ... 038&p=3132