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CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE

Zoli Zard and Shahristoni Zoli Zar

Plan this ride

Recorded distance
207 km
Riding-time estimate
3 h 54
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: producer-declared routed record.

Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.

Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.

Open this ride in CurveScout

Why this ride

From Danghara it runs 207 km to Danghara; allow about 3 h 54 of riding. The stops in between: Manzaratepa, Shahristoni Zoli Zar and back through Manzaratepa. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,150 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

  1. 1. Zoli Zard

    Danghara lies in the south of Tajikistan, in the province of Khatlon, on the broad, hot plain between the Hissar mountains and the Panj river, which forms the border with Afghanistan. The point called Zoli Zard sits just outside the town, and the name, which means yellow water in Persian, probably refers to a stream or spring in the loess hills. The region is full of such sites, and many of them belong to the long Buddhist, Zoroastrian and later Islamic history of Bactria.

    Read the complete Zoli Zard write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Zoli Zard is where the day begins. Next is Manzaratepa.

  2. 2. 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 comes up about 74 km into the recorded legs. Next is Shahristoni Zoli Zar.

  3. 3. 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

    about 102 km into the recorded legs you reach Shahristoni Zoli Zar. Next is back through Manzaratepa.

  4. 4. back through 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

    back through Manzaratepa, late in the day. Next is Zoli Zard.

  5. 5. Zoli Zard

    Return visit. Read the place description above.

    Read the complete Zoli Zard write-up.

    Recorded stop-planning note

    May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

    Planning note

    Back at Zoli Zard. That is the ride.

Leg by leg

Zoli Zard to Manzaratepa

Zoli Zard → Manzaratepa is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Manzaratepa to Shahristoni Zoli Zar

Manzaratepa → Shahristoni Zoli Zar is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

Shahristoni Zoli Zar to back through Manzaratepa

Shahristoni Zoli Zar → back through Manzaratepa is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

back through Manzaratepa to Zoli Zard

back through Manzaratepa → Zoli Zard is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.

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