Shahristoni Zoli Zar and Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Shahrtepa.

2. 2. 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 comes up about 57 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal.

3. 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 150 km into the recorded legs you reach Cultural Heritage Sites of Ancient Khuttal. Next is back through Shahrtepa.

4. 4. back through Shahrtepa

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   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

   back through Shahrtepa, late in the day. Next is Shahristoni Zoli Zar.

5. 5. 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 at Shahristoni Zoli Zar. That is the ride.