#wakhan

[diemelusine]

View of flood plain cultivation in the Wakhan Corridor, Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan.

[lutnistas]

Wakhan Corridor - Panj River on the Tajik-Afgan Border ( Pamir Mountains / Tajikistan )

[peopleofafghanistan]

Kyrgyz women in the little Pamir.

Source: Silvia Alessi

[pollyj]

Samarkand cleans the house of any potential evil spirits by putting grains of “Spander” on top of hot amber. Spander (in Wakhi language) is a local mountain herb found fairly easily. Thanks to reader’s input, found out it’s called Esfand in English - here from the wiki page « The plant's seeds are especially noteworthy because they have seen continual use for thousands of years in the rites of many cultures. » It is sometimes used as an Ayahuasca analog 😳 All over the remote mountain world, from Buddhists temples to Sufi shrines, I have witnessed rituals associated with similar plants like the burning of Juniper started long ago by shamans of Siberia and Native Americans.

Matthieu Paley

[charleyzheng]

1.

Somewhere in a finger-shaped corner of Afghanistan called the Wakhan Corridor, in the dusty warmth of August, I am trekking as slowly as time seems to be moving. A plateau stretches into a distant horizon of vast peaks, as the alpine sun, intense at this elevation, bears down mercilessly. My hands, the only body parts that aren’t covered, are dark and dry, the texture of crinkly paper. My back is searing from an ill-fitting backpack. My calves burn. My right heel, inflamed by tendonitis, forces me into a somewhat staggered, unwieldy gait.

The insides of my stomach occasionally lurch and wriggle from whatever dodgy meat or silty mountain water I had imbibed in prior days, each passing wave of panic producing frantic dashes toward the nearest clump of boulders. I feel heavy and listless, hungry, and angry at having fallen so behind in my group, a caravan of intrepid hikers blazing up and down the steep hillsides ahead. It is mid morning — still only the beginning of our day, really — yet there is far more distance to cover before we can rest, and I’m fighting with myself whether I’m capable of any more steps, much less five or ten-thousand more.

[visitafghanistan]

Afghan girls in Wakhan Corridor, Badakhshan, Afghanistan. Taken in 2020. Paypal Donation: [email protected]

[tobias-marschall]

Permanence. A fire is kept alive throughout the day, warm water poured on our hands before each meal. The older the house, the darker its walls. #Afghanistan #Pamir #Wakhan #centralasia #Hands #water #tea #fire #ethnography #everyday #hospitality https://www.instagram.com/p/CFqkMf4hDY-/?igshid=1hgg9zpgjzetz

[salamalaikum]

Wakhan Valley, north-east Afghanistan by Geoffrey Deggens