Khujand to Dushanbe used to be an all-day, knock-down, drag-out driving day. You went over three mountain ranges on dirt roads with cliffs right next to the road. Our understanding was that the situation has now been largely remedied by virtue of completing the M34 or Major Highway 34. Well, I never drove the old road but I can tell you that the new road can get your blood tingling on multiple occasions. It was an exciting adventure to cross over those mountains.

We crossed over the Turkistan Range, the Zeravshan Range, and the Gissar Range. When I say mountains, the peaks in these ranges are over 18,000 feet elevation. For that matter, Anzob Pass is over 11,000 feet elevation. And I’ll hold off telling you about the Anzob Tunnel or Independence Tunnel. A fellow traveler queried it before we started off and found out it’s called “the tunnel of death”.

We went in five small vehicles, four or five to a vehicle, like a camel train on the old Silk Road. It was very exciting. The first small van was filled with our suitcases. We ended up having to push it to get it started, so it was that kind of day. The mountains were a big climb, higher and higher we went. The views were magnificent at times. The valleys were thousands of feet below us and never to be survived if we left the road, just sheer drops. Most of the time, there were no barriers along the sides of the road. The edges of the roads seemed loose and crumbly. Some fellow passengers refused to look out and I’m not sure, but they might have been praying – and who could blame them. It was a great experience, past tense.

We saw all four seasons on our drive over the mountains. In the first photo, you can see spring on the Khujand side of the mountains. Despite this being June and very hot, flowers were blooming in abundance in the lower mountains.

Many of the mountains had no vegetation. The mountains are schists, sandstones, and limestones. Still, they were very interesting to see at times, like in the second photo. Of course, seeing boulders overhanging the road and seeing other places where boulders had fallen onto the road gave me a bit of a pause at times.

The higher we climbed, the steeper the mountains got and of course, we got into the snow country as well which you can see in the third photo. In this photo, you can see spring flowers in the foreground and snow up on the mountains.

You can see some high ground in the fourth photo. Again, peaks in these mountain ranges are over 18,000 feet elevation.

You can see one of our vans entering the Anzob Tunnel or Independence Tunnel in the lasts photo. Iran built this tunnel and the sign says Independence Tunnel. The tunnel is over three miles long. Inside the tunnel is dark with no lights. There are no road markings so every time you pass someone, it’s a bit like a game of chicken. Most people tend to drive in the center of the tunnel until someone starts coming in the opposite direction, then it’s time to move over – but how far? Parts of the tunnel had a lot of water on the roadway and sometimes loose gravel and big potholes. To say the least, it was a real adventure. But we made it out the other end, so I guess it’s not the tunnel of death, just the tunnel of fright! We went through quite a few tunnels on this road but the Anzob or Independence was the longest one.