The worst way to start an expedition

OXUS
Three Women, One River
OXUS
Three Women, One River
OXUS
Three Women, One River
OXUS
Three Women, One River
OXUS
Three Women, One River

The worst way to start an expedition

The Oxus Expedition has been many years in the making. Oxus explorer Bill Colegrave laid down the challenge to Sophie at the Royal Geographical Society back in 2014, and in summer 2021, we finally thought we had all our ducks in a row to travel. Then the Taliban re-took control of Afghanistan, the government collapsed, and travel in and out of a deeply unstable country was the last thing on our minds.Three years on, the security situation in Afghanistan has improved. A small number of tour operators – including some from the UK – are even bringing foreign tourists to explore historic sites like the Bamiyan Buddhas, the Herat Citadel, and the Minaret of Jam. We planned, we liaised with local fixers, and decided it was time to try again.We booked flights for 23 July, late enough in the summer that the spring meltwaters would have subsided and the tributaries of the Oxus would be low enough to cross on pony or on foot. Everything was packed, the insurance in place. But less than 48 hours before departure, we received a message from our fixer, Azim, in Ishkashim:

I have very bad news for you that the Taliban closed the Wakhan Corridor for all travellers due to some issues with the Pakistan border at the Broghil Pass […] Emergencies happen, I don’t know how long it will be closed for all travellers.

 
The Oxus Expedition team raring to go
Sophia at Rokhat Teahouse
Sleeping Buddha from Ajina Teppe

Fighting back tears of frustration and disappointment, we had to make a decision fast. Should we cancel now, and maybe recoup some money on the flights, or fly to Dushanbe anyway and hope the problem would soon be resolved?

We flew. We called numerous contacts in Afghanistan and abroad to try and discover what was going on. Official information was hard to come by, so we pieced together a story from phone calls and tangentially related local media coverage. The road to the Wakhjir Pass – Afghanistan’s border with China – was finished. Taliban officials had conducted a border survey, and the Chinese Ambassador to Afghanistan had paid a visit to the Wakhan, too. Probably they are preparing to open the border crossing and allow the truck traffic to flow. Wary of foreign surveillance or interference at this sensitive time, the Taliban announced that nationals from NATO member countries would not be allowed to enter the Wakhan.

We could get a visa on arrival at the Sherkhan Bandar border post between Tajikistan and Afghanistan. We could enter Afghanistan, travel around, and visit any part of the country except the Wakhan Corridor, the one area which had always been accessible for tourists, which had a small but developing tourism sector, and was the only place we needed to visit. It seemed laughably unfair (though, for perspective, plenty of people – women in particular – have much bigger problems than this). There was, and still is, no indication as to when the restriction will be lifted.

For the first four, five days we stayed in Dushanbe, waiting. We repacked the expedition kit and caught up with friends and colleagues. We visited the Museum of Antiquities to see the 13m-long sleeping buddha from Ajina Teppe, and admired copies of the Oxus Treasure in the national Museum. We spent an evening at Hisor Fortress, watching couples in love take photos as the orange sun sank behind the mountains. There was time for a last visit to Rokhat Teahouse, a Dushanbe icon which has sadly been earmarked for demolition. Dushanbe is a pleasant enough city, and Miskola’s home town, but in late July 2024, it was not where we wanted to be. With no promising updates from Azim or anyone else, we rewrote our plans. We would travel the Tajik section of the Oxus, and if we heard that the Wakhan had reopened, head straight to the border. The Oxus Expedition would take place, but out of order.    

Dushanbe's new Parliament building
Sunset at Hisor Fortress

Packing for the Oxus Expedition

OXUS
Three Women, One River
OXUS
Three Women, One River
OXUS
Three Women, One River
OXUS
Three Women, One River
OXUS
Three Women, One River

PACKING FOR THE OXUS EXPEDITION

On my first long-distance overland expedition in 2008, we had four vehicles and more than 70 items of luggage. Yes, we were filming a documentary then, so there was a lot of video production kit, but there were also cases of books and maps, pretty much every item of kitchenware except the kitchen sink, clothing for alll seasons, and more than a hundred inflatable globes. If you can think of it, we probably packed it. It was incredibly stressful and time consuming to pack and empty a vehicle at each new destination, and goodness knows how much stuff was lost or stolen. My reaction for many years since is to travel as lightly as possible, preferably with hand luggage only. I’ve mastered only packing colour-coordinated clothing so everything can go with anything; rolling things almost to nothing; and washing what I can along the way so I don’t need spares.

Packing for the Oxus Expedition requires an approach between the two. I wrote an initial packing list for the trip in spring 2021, anticipating travelling that summer, and so have had plenty of time to refine it since. I laid out everything I thought i needed on the floor in one room so I could see everything at once, removed the duplicate items (even I’m not so accident prone that I need three separate first aid kits), and noticed a few things were missing. Most of the items that were AWOL, I found or bought, but infuriatingly I know there must be one bag somewhere with a collection of expedition clothing I put away for safe keeping. If only I knew where!

The items I packed loosely fall into four categories: clothing, hiking and camping, tech, and, specially for this expedition, river kit. Jack Wolfskin has generously sponsored the Oxus Expedition with most of our clothing and camping equipment, and we’ll write separate blogs on this items. I supplemented the clothing pile with walking socks, including two new pairs made from alpaca wool, which the manufacturers claim is particularly light and breathable; a wide brimmed sun hat; and some modest active wear by new brand Haya. I’ll blog about the Haya items on another occasion, but in essence Haya produces well-designed clothing that Muslim women will feel comfortable wearing to the gym and when playing sport.

For hiking and camping, our kit list is fairly standard: Jack Wolfskin has provided tents, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, 65-litre holdalls, and 28-litre rucksacks. I have also packed a sleeping bag liner for nights when it is warm, and also for when we are sleeping in homestays where the sheets and blankets are questionable.

There are lots of small items which make life easier. I took my tatty luggage scales on two previous Wakhan treks: by weighing each bag, I can be sure the ponies and donkeys aren’t overladen. I’ve got a head torch and a wind-up torch, a She-Wee and a luminous orange trowel for digging the necessary toilet hole, and a Leatherman multi-tool. In fact, I think the Leatherman is the only item which also came with me in 2008. 

have a full set of 1:100,000 scale maps of the Wakhan Corridor and have downloaded the Afghanistan maps to Maps.me on my phone as the app still works offline. Miskola has Markus Hauser’s excellent 1:500,000 scale maps of Southern Tajikistan and the Pamirs, plus a GPS unit which also records altitude. We do have a satellite phone, but there’s a question as to whether or not we will be allowed to take it into Afghanistan. There’s a bag of assorted chargers and power banks for laptops, phones, cameras, etc.

For the river, I wrote about the TVHR in a previous blog. It’s very low tech, but that means there’s less that can go wrong with it. Waders are bulky and quite heavy, but a necessity for standing around in the water, especially when said water has flowed off a glacier and is icily cold. I’ve packed a tape measure and a laser distance meter to measure the width of each channel, and also a rope throw bag, which is important for safety if someone gets swept off their feet in the river. Lastly, there’s a pair of hiking poles, gaffer tape, superglue, string, and cable ties in case we need to cobble together an extension for the TVHR, or repair anything on the vehicle or camping gear along the way. Like a first aid kit, they’re essential for any expedition.