Kulyab: the gateway to the Tajik Pamir mountains

In southern Tajikistan, Kulyab remains one of the oldest cities in Central Asia, a departure point toward the remote Pamir Mountains.

Shared taxis remain the most common way to move toward the Pamir Mountains of Tajik.

The Mausoleum of Mir Said Ali Hamadoni, dedicated to a fourteenth-century Persian Sufi saint, remains the city's principal pilgrimage site.

Just steps away, the Bazaar of Kulyab animates trade in dried fruits, spices, and traditional Tajik fabrics according to age-old customs.

Moving southward you can reach the Afghan border, marked by the Panj River, which separates Tajikistan from northern Afghanistan.

In the evening, local restaurants serve osh, a pilaf rice dish shared by all Central Asian cultures of the region.

Kulyab, among Central Asia's oldest cities with over twenty-six centuries of documented history, maintained for centuries a strategic role along trade routes toward Afghanistan and India, a crossroads of diverse peoples and goods.

The Panj River, which marks the natural border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan near Kulyab, rises from the Pamir glaciers before flowing into the more celebrated Amu Darya river, historically known in the West as the Oxus.