Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Tajik Persian poetry is fused with mu-
sic by
hafiz
(bard musicians).
Falak
is a
popular form of melancholic folk music, of-
ten sung
a cappella
. Music and dance are
particularly popular among the Pamiri and
Kulyabi.
controlled trophy-hunting of these iconic
animals appears to have proven counter-
intuitively positive - foreign hunters pay
substantial tour fees (typically US$30,000
to US$60,000) which partly funds animal
protection program. Indeed when a hunt-
ing ban was attempted in 2008, the result
was more poaching and rising human con-
sumption of Marco Polo sheep-meat as an
alternative to mutton.
The Pamirs also support a tiny number
of snow leopards (www.snowleopard
conservancy.org). Around the Kayrakkum
Reservoir (east of Khojand in northern
Tajikistan) there's a critically threatened
population of goitered gazelles
(jeyran)
.
Of the country's many attractive bird
species, one of the most eye-catching is the
bright turquoise European Roller, often
seen around Garm. Some unique butterfly
species exist around Lake Sarez (see http://
dinets.info/parnassius.htm).
Environment
The Land
Landlocked Tajikistan is Central Asia's
smallest republic. Although the western
third is lowland plain, more than half of
Tajikistan lies above 3000m, whether as
the consistantly high Pamir Plateau in the
east or a series of deep valleys and tower-
ing mountain ranges in the centre and
north. At 7495m, Koh-i Somoni (former
Pik Kommunizma), is the highest peak in
the former Soviet Union and its tributary
Fedchenko Glacier, at 72km, is one of the
world's longest. However, for pure specta-
cle, the most beautiful formations are ar-
guably those in the spiky Fan Mountains,
along with the distinctive knob-headed
Peak Engels (6507m), one of the world's
toughest climbs.
Tajikistan's most significant rivers in-
clude Pyanj, which forms the Afghanistan
border, and the Surkhob/Vakhsh whose
potential for hydroelectric power genera-
tion holds both promise and danger. The
mountainous eastern border with China
was redrawn in 2011, ceding around 1%
of Tajikistan's territory to its powerful
neighbour. To the north, Tajikistan's Stalin-
drawn jigsaw of borders with Kyrgyzstan
and Uzbekistan include the disconnected
Vorukh exclave of Tajik territory stranded
completely inside Kyrgyzstan's Fergana Val-
ley holdings.
For administrative purposes the coun-
try has three
viloyat
(provinces): Sughd
(Khojand), Khatlon (Kurgonteppa) and the
60,000-sq-km autonomous GBAO/Kohista-
ni Badakhshan (Khorog). That leaves much
of the central region (including the Garm
Valley) ruled directly from Dushanbe.
Environmental Issues
The 26,000-sq-km Tajik (Pamir) National
Park was founded in 1992 as the largest in
Central Asia, covering a whopping 18% of
Tajikistan. For years this was only really on
paper, but things might change somewhat
with the park's recognition as a Unesco
World Heritage Site in 2013.
The lack of burnable fuel in the eastern
Pamir has led to the disappearance of the
slow-growing (and fast-burning)
tersken
bush within a radius of 100km from Mur-
gab, adding to desertification in the tree-
less region. The population of Murgab is
considered environmentally unsustainable
despite the increasing use of solar and
wind power, with wind turbines now pro-
viding electricity to run the new mobile
phone transmitters.
Tajikistan's glaciers have been retreating,
often cited as a possible indicator of global
warming, though the latest reports ques-
tion the extent of this retreat.
Food & Drink
A popular lunch dish is
kurutob:
that's
fatir
bread morsels layered with onion,
tomato, parsley and coriander and doused
in a yoghurt-based sauce.
Chakka
(known
as
yakka
to Tajik speakers around Samar-
kand and Bukhara) is curd mixed with
herbs, typically served with flat bread. Less
Wildlife
A 2009 survey in Tajikistan's high Pamir
area found around 2400 ibex (
echki
or
kyzyl kyik
) and 23,000 Marco Polo sheep
(
arkhar
in Kyrgyz, www.wildlife-tajikistan.
org). Curiously in some areas, carefully
