Kyzylart - Bor Dobo border crossing (Murghab-Sary Tash)

[bwv812]

can you walk over this border point from kyrg to tajik?

Well, how are you planning on getting there? These borders are in the middle of nowhere, so it's not like you can catch a ride to a nearby village, walk the border, then hop into another car. The Tajik border is also at the top of the pass, and the Kyrgyz border is down in the Alay Valley, so it would be a very long walk even if you were able to be dropped at one of the border points. I suspect they would let you walk it, though.

[noahakinci]

ahha, i see. i wasnt aware of this. thanks!

[saydasvidanya]

In Osh now, with my own car (Dutch plates) and new Tajik e-visa in hand. Original plan was to make a loop through Tajikistan clockwise, entering Tajikistan at Bor dobo and leaving at Isfara-Batken. Reading the posts above about scams etc, I wonder if it would be less hassle to enter at Batken and leave at Bor dobo, or is the other border just as bad?
Any thoughts?

[steven]

Other border is just as bad. I think they communicate directly about their scams.

[Dany]

In Osh now, with my own car (Dutch plates) and new Tajik e-visa in hand. Original plan was to make a loop through Tajikistan clockwise, entering Tajikistan at Bor dobo and leaving at Isfara-Batken. Reading the posts above about scams etc, I wonder if it would be less hassle to enter at Batken and leave at Bor dobo, or is the other border just as bad?
Any thoughts?

Hi,
We Will cross this border tomorrow. Did you cross already? How was your expérience ?

[saydasvidanya]

Crossed the border about a week ago. The good news is e-visa is easily accepted here and further down the road. The rest of the crossing was quite the experience. Apocalyptic setting, snow storm, Guys popping out of small huts randomly, nobody bothers to wear more than part of their uniform - I've seen Congolese militias with more respect for dress code.
We gauged early on that "politely but firmly standing our ground" would not work here. It was either paying $$$ or going 'de Niro' on them.
We chose the latter and pulled a variation of the classic good cop / bad cop: good cop / mentally challenged and emotionally unstable cop - a part brilliantly played by my girlfriend.
Traffic police guy (blood shoot eyes, bottle of wodka a day, ptsd type) came first and wanted 14$ or 100 Tajik somoni. At which point my girlfriend pulled out 100 kyrgyz som (1:10th of the value) and offered this persistently. He lost his temper after about 5 minutes after which customs man appeared and tried to defuse the situation. We paid customs man the 25 dollars for temporary import of the car - which is legit, with traffic police man still swearing and shouting from another room. It became clear that he wouldn't give up, so in the end paid him his 14$, only after making him write a reciept, which sent his temper into hyperspace.
Next up, as we knew, were the guys from veterinary control.
I stayed in the car while my girlfriend gave them the performance of a lifetime, wearing a headscarf, clutching a 100 som note in a snowstorm at 4200 meters, the whole thing was oscar material.
In the end veterinary lost their patience and temper and the gate was opened without payment.

Long story short: 39$ were paid, high fives were exchanged, Tadzjikistan was enterred.

Now this worked for us, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as a general strategy. Nor do I condone hustling developping countries out of legitimate fees, but these were clearly scams.
I should also point out that during the whole ordeal not one member of this merry band of border clowns showed any interest in actually performing their jobs, ie by inspecting our car, our luggage, or desinfecting our tires.

This was easily both the worst and most memorable border crossing I ever got to exprience, but oh me oh my were those pamirs worth it!

[Biscotte Adventures]

We crossed from TJ to KGZ Aug 2016. Leaving TJ was no hassle, no fees. They took our vehicle customs docs at the first shack. Then another 200m further on, around the garage construction site, we got our passports stamped out.

There was a moment where the tajik gate guy asked me if i had paid the "vet and decontamination" fees...i just said yes and he didnt press the issue. So we scraped by that scam.

On entering KGZ, no hassles. No counting or verifying bills.

On the other hand we got charged 2500 KGS (som) as "environmental tax" for our vehicle. He proved this via flashing an "official" document. Hand written receipt.

Sounds sketchy to me.

[steven]

Hmm, first time I hear of this environmental tax. Very fishy.

[Biscotte Adventures]

Yes i figure it is a scam. If you scan the internet you see some evidence of this Environmental Tax...of course each of a different value (indicating a scam i guess).

There is a quiet reference to this tax in the Carivanistan border page for Kyrgyzstan.

www.aroundtheworldin800days.com/kyrgyzstan.html dated 2015
Quote: He asked for 1,000 Kyrgyz Som for ‘Ecology Tax’ (an official requirement).

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/n ... 16-a-88611
Quote: Exiting from Taj to Kyrg in Kyzyl-Art, you pay a pollution tax of 1000 somoni (15 $). You avoid this when you cross from Kaz to Kyrg,

[steven]

I dug a bit deeper into the eco tax. Turns out it does exist. It was 1000 som when introduced in 2015, but now seems to be 740 som according to 2 reports I read.