A female going solo in Tajikistan

Intrepid reporter Caroline Eden negotiates the ‘Roof of the World’ – Tajikistan and the High Pamirs in Central Asia

Tajikistan may not have reached the top of most people’s ‘must-see’ destination lists quite yet, but this remote country is doing its best to attract tourists and to compete with its neighbours, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, both of which see quite a lot of tourist traffic.

Having read up on the country in the excellent Odyssey guide Tajikistan and the High Pamirs (£18.95) and having sourced a viable route with the Lonely Planet’s Central Asia (£17.99) I set off alone, armed only with these books, to see how I – a solo, vegetarian, non-Russian speaking female traveller – would cope with travel in this remote corner of Central Asia.

-snip-This had been arranged with an Aga Khan-funded initiative, PECTA (Pamirs Eco-tourism Association) who can arrange tailor-made trips to Pamiri villages with guides and drivers (www.pamirspecta.com).

Read at source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/holiday_type/adventure/article6900835.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=1491494