Why this ride
547 km from Vose’ to Vose’, about 9 h 26 of riding. On the way it passes Shahristoni Zoli Zar, Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal, Shahrtepa and back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Manzaratepa and Shahrtepa starting at Vose’
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 547 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 9 h 26
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Manzaratepa
Tepa means mound, and in southern Tajikistan the plains are dotted with them: hills built up over centuries from the remains of mud-brick towns, each layer burying the one before. Manzaratepa, near the town of Vose' in the Khatlon region, is one of these ancient settlement mounds, part of a network of sites in the fertile valleys between the Panj and Vakhsh rivers that were inhabited from the Bronze Age through the Kushan and early Islamic periods. Archaeological work has revealed traces of fortifications, houses and ceramics, and the sites are part of Tajikistan's long, rich and little-known history along the Silk Roads.
Read the complete Manzaratepa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Manzaratepa is where the day begins. Next is Shahristoni Zoli Zar.
2. Shahristoni Zoli Zar
Down in the far south of Tajikistan, in Khatlon province, the land flattens into the wide floodplain of the Panj, the river that forms the border with Afghanistan. The site named Shahristoni Zoli Zar lies in this country, some eighteen kilometres from Farkhor, and it is one of many ancient settlement mounds scattered across the region. Southern Tajikistan was part of ancient Bactria, later the heartland of the Kushan empire, and the fields here have yielded Buddhist and early Islamic remains. A shahriston, in the old local sense, was the inner walled town, and the name suggests that this mound once held a proper urban core.
Read the complete Shahristoni Zoli Zar write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Shahristoni Zoli Zar comes up about 99 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal.
3. Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal
Khuttal was a medieval kingdom in the south of what is now Tajikistan, centred on the fertile valleys between the Vakhsh and Panj rivers, and it flourished as a crossroads of trade and culture between Central Asia, Iran and India. The region's heritage includes the ruins of palaces, towns and religious buildings, such as the citadel of Hulbuk, near Vose', a royal residence from the ninth to the eleventh centuries, with richly decorated walls, and the town of Kulob, with the mausoleum of the fourteenth-century Sufi scholar Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani. Several of these sites have been nominated together for UNESCO recognition.
Read the complete Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 178 km into the recorded legs you reach Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal. Next is Shahrtepa.
4. Shahrtepa
Shahrtepa lies in the lowlands of southern Tajikistan, in Khatlon province, within sight of the Panj river and the Afghan hills beyond. The word tepa means a mound, and it is the right word: a mound that has built up over centuries as one settlement was layered over another, in the Bactrian country that Alexander crossed and that later fed the Kushan empire. A Buddhist temple site is linked with this area, a reminder that this was once a place where monks, merchants and caravans met on the way between India, Central Asia and China.
Read the complete Shahrtepa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Shahrtepa, about halfway. Next is back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal.
5. back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal sits at 366 km, about halfway. Next is back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar.
6. back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Shahristoni Zoli Zar write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar comes up about 455 km into the recorded legs. Next is Manzaratepa.
7. Manzaratepa
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Manzaratepa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Manzaratepa closes the day.
Leg by leg
Manzaratepa to Shahristoni Zoli Zar
Manzaratepa → Shahristoni Zoli Zar is 99 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Shahristoni Zoli Zar to Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal
Shahristoni Zoli Zar → Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal is 80 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal to Shahrtepa
Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal → Shahrtepa is 99 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Shahrtepa to back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal
Shahrtepa → back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal is 99 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal to back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar
back through Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal → back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar is 80 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar to Manzaratepa
back through Shahristoni Zoli Zar → Manzaratepa is 99 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.