Last week Griffdog and I tried to enter Afghanistan at the Ishkashim border with the intention of riding/driving as far along the Wakan Valley as possible given that its still early in the season.

Having stamped out of Tajikistan and arrived at the Afghan border the first thing we were asked for was our vehicle entry permit which, it transpires is NOT available at the border. The permit, known as a RUPOS must be purchased at the Afghan consulate in Khorog. No amount of negotiating, waiting for the captain to arrive, the captain calling his boss or phoning the consulate to ask if we could fax documents would get us in.

After years of waiting to be on the right continent to visit the Wakan I can't tell you how dissapointed I was.

Eventually we left my bike and Griffdog's Landrover in the Tajik army barracks and took a taxi from the border to Eskashim (9km/U$20), spent the night in a homestay/guesthouse (U$25pp) then another taxi back to the border (U$20) stopping to register our departure (U$10pp) in the village on the way out.

Before being allowed to leave I had to attend a meeting with what I can only describe as the village Girga and explain why we were leaving after just one night and not visiting the Wakan.

At the border we were shown a RUPOS taken from an A4 folder full of them. Printed on it in English was the price of U$100. The border guard told us that another U$100 (U$160 for US citizens) was also payable at the border. So that's U$100 for a visa + U$200 for your vehicle + U$50 (I believe) for a Wakan tourist permit to be purchased in Eskashim. Prices that come as quite a shock after Uzbekistan and Tajikistan!

I hope this will prevent anyone else from experiencing the same.

This is by far the diluted version of events. I'll post the full story in my next blog update as will Griffdog.

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ShortWayRound - OTR RTW since 2006

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