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Trekking the Fann Mountains of Tajikistan is an adventure through one of Central Asia’s hidden gems. Here’s how to make it happen

Tajikistan is the smallest of the Central Asian republics. Landlocked, misshapen and squished and squeezed by its neighbours, it has remained largely undiscovered by tourists even though it was at the centre of the Silk Road for much of its past.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the country descended into a devasting five-year civil war. As such, it grappled with poverty and instability throughout the 1990s rendering the country unsafe and off-limits to foreign visitors.

Fast forward nearly three decades and the nascent tourism industry is still struggling to harness the country’s truly unique selling point: over 90% of its land is considered mountainous meaning that the best trekking in Central Asia is found in Tajikistan.

I joined a 15-day expedition with Epic Backpacker Tours and spent nine days trekking the Fann Mountains of Tajikistan, camping beside glittering emerald lakes, crossing thrilling alpine passes and visiting remote mountain communities. On either side of the trek, the tour took in the stunning Silk Road cities of Samarkand and Bukhara in Uzbekistan, making for a genuinely unique itinerary.

Here’s everything you need to know about trekking the Fann Mountains of Tajikistan.

Introducing the Fann Mountains

The Fanns are a sub-range of the Pamir-Alay, a mountain system considered part of the Pamirs. Known locally as the ‘roof of the world’, the Pamirs are at the centre of the so-called Pamir Knot – a confluence of the highest mountain ranges on the Eurasian continent – and rise to over 7,000m. They are also home to the world’s second-highest road, the Pamir Highway, after the Karakoram Highway in Pakistan and China.

The Fann Mountains, although lower, are no less stunningly scenic. Home to hundreds of peaks, several above 5,000m, the Fanns were the playground for mountaineers behind the Iron Curtain during Soviet times. The highest point is Chimtarga Peak at 5,489m.

The main gateway to the Fanns is Artuch, a trekking and mountaineering base, campsite and lodge located at 2,200m in the heart of the Fanns. The site was founded in 1971 as a base camp for Soviet mountaineering expeditions in the region. Like most visitors to…