http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/01/22/...html?rel=rosEP

This is bad news. My current plans are to pass through there in about 4 months’ time.

This could be a game changer. I sincerely hope not though ..

Needless to say, my condolences and thoughts go out to the families and friends of those killed and injured. They were, of course, just doing their job of escorting and 'protecting' a western overlander - free of charge.

This incident does, however, raise questions about 'responsibilities' (on both sides of the equation!)
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My condolences the families and friends of those killed. They were just doing their job of course .. ‘protecting’ a western overlander. This raises a question or two about ‘responsibilities’ (on both sides of the equation!)

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Right Way Round ...

Why? It is not the first incident there, recently.

Why not another route through this area? Why through Balochistan?

Surfy

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast

If you know better routes, I'm sure many would like to know what they are.

Thank you for responding.

Going south from Lahore around the bottom of Afghanistan is my second choice. I really wanted to go north via the KKH and then west through the Stans, but I fear I will get there too early in the season and find that the road is still closed. This northern route isn’t totally safe either of course. Besides, as you probably already know, going through the China section of the KKH is an expensive business, especially when you are not part of a group. It may be too late to organise this now in any case

Riding down to Multan-Sukkur-Sibi to Quetta and the Taftan / Iranian border, therefore, has become my alternative plan. I have been reliably informed, despite other recent chilling events, that it really will not be too much of a problem. Clearly there's some naivety going on here - on my part especially.

After yesterday's tragic incident at Mastung, how must that young Spaniard be feeling right now? At least six deaths, plus casualties have occurred, all members of his Pakistani band of escorts. With this in mind, I now cannot simply turn-up in that region, all wide-eyed - and no doubt unwanted - and ask more young men to put their lives at risk, just to self-satisfy my artless travelling ego? Under the circumstances, I do not think the Quetta-Taftan route can be an option for me now.

So what are the alternatives?

I am considering:

• Going down the eastern side of Pakistan from Lahore; well away from Afghanistan and Taliban territory. Then turn west and ride along the Makran Coastal Hwy and try to cross into Iran via the Mand-Pishin border, which is supposed to be opening-up according to a recent news article. If possible, this should be a safer crossing, compared to Taftan.

• Attempt to ship, air-freight ideally, from Karachi to somewhere well over and away from the Pak-Iran border; like into the UAE or Oman - and then ferry up from Dubai and enter Iran through the seaport of Bandar Abbas.

• Worst case scenario: whimp-out and forget Pakistan altogether; instead air-freight from somewhere inside India (say Mumbai) to some other airport west of Pakistan.

But I really do not want to skip Pakistan if I can help it, nor Iran for that matter.

Got some more suggestions / ideas.. anyone?
:confused1:

Cheers

Keith

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Right Way Round ...

Hi Keith

We crossed Pak in 2011 and did the KKH to avoid the dodgy western provinces. When we left Oz heading for UK we hadn't finalised our route. We organised the China leg while on the road. Don't let the rumours cloud your judgement. Speak to the agents in China and get a quote. Our 6 day transit was approx. $2500 inc hotels, guide, driver for guide etc. Sure, more expensive than 'normal' overlanding but what price would you put on the dreadful experience that just happened.
It's not like the KKH is a hardship, yes it costs a bit more but the scenery is brilliant, the people lovely and the overall experience was the highlight of or 15,000 mile trip

Best of luck mate, have fun

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www.wollongongtowoolwich.co.uk

Interesting reading... Quite a lot of scary stories at the moment..
While I'm positive that the "locals are friendly" there seem to be a lot of external influences.

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Mark
http://chasingdreams2014.blogspot.co.uk/

"Going down the eastern side of Pakistan from Lahore; well away from Afghanistan and Taliban territory. Then turn west and ride along the Makran Coastal Hwy and try to cross into Iran via the Mand-Pishin border, which is supposed to be opening-up according to a recent news article. If possible, this should be a safer crossing, compared to Taftan. "

At least back in -07 when I went through there, the main road (Taftan-Dalbandin-Quetta) was actually considered to be the safest route, or the only one where the government has some sort of hold. Permits would have been required for the Makran coast route, and it was devastated by floods (or so I read, didn't go there myself).

It could be an option to research, but at least up until now, very few Westerners have gone that way (and unless it's changed just recently, you'd still need to cross at Taftan/Mir Javeh).

Keith when we arranged the China leg they told is they needed 3 months to arrange it, but, our friend Karwan joined our bunch with way less lead time, maybe a month. You may be able to work into a group going north. What month were you planning to go?

$2500 sounds about right without a group for china but it's way less in a group. More fun too doing the KKH & the china bureaucratic shuffle in convoy. Plus Kyrgyzstan is just fantastic.

Do reach out to MAP, motorcyclist Assn of Pakistan. Great bunch of riders & they have a FB page. They can advise about seasons, road conditions, crossing lake Attabad...

Depending on the timing are you riding Ladakh? Or you could kill time in Rajasthan...

Oh come to think about it, air freight from Lahore I think is an option. One of our group sent his bike from there. Not sure he is reachable at the moment but holler if you want me to try.

Xxoo good luck!

Si

Hiya Si - thanks for your input.

Yes, after some additional research my preferred route is definitely north through China to the Stans beyond. Trouble is, with the allotted time I have set aside, I’m likely to arrive at the start of the KKH (say Chilās) by around the second week in May.

The road is supposed to 'officially' open for business on May-1st, which at first view seems like perfect timing .. BUT obviously the prevailing conditions at that time will dictate whether or not the route is actually passable. There can be no guarantees that early in the season of course.

Here are a couple of pictures taken by fellow travellers around Kyrgyzstan during mid-late June last year:


Irkeshtam Pass


Dolina Pass

Arriving in the region a whole month earlier than mid-June might result in a hold-up simply waiting for the conditions to improve. As I will be constrained to a fairly strict time budget (as usual!), any serious delay will be an issue.

In short, if I want to go north, then to play safe I should probably think about pushing back my start date by at least a month, or maybe even two. This in itself will cause headaches, as there are time limits on (a) my carnet, in Nepal, (b) my already arranged Indian visa, plus (c) work commitments etc. Besides, the plane tickets back to KTM are already booked and paid for. Nothing that can’t be fixed with money (and time) I guess .. of which I have limited supplies!

Verdict: 'play even safer' and go south this time around; it’ll be hotter than hell at that time of year, but at least I'll be able to keep on the move ..

.. then last week's dreadful incident occurred, which has thrown a seriously large spanner in the works!

Mehmet is coming-up with some suggestions - and we're PM'ing each other. He's already given the heads-up to the members of MAP who are also on the case.

It'll all work out, I'm sure Si .. quite literally, one way or the other.

Thanks again [and congratulations!! ... ]

K&E

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Right Way Round ...

If one of the Southern border crossings opens up I am thinking of seeing if I use it to stay as far sough as I can. then maybe get on the Thar express (with bike) and get into India that way!

pishin, nasirabad, turbatormara, hingol national park, winder, karachi

The Thar express leaves from Karachi will cross the border at point Zero and munanao, then on to Jodhpur.

Any one got some thoughts on this!

Also If you have a sat phone as emergency communication, you can be arrested in India, as they require a special license for them!

The other possibility is to use the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas and get passage with your bike to Mumbai!

Any and all feed back would be appreciated!

Hello,

today in the spanish newspaper El Pais is an articel what really happend to the spanish biker.The guy filmed everything.
El ciclista atacado en Pakistán asegura que los polícias muertos no lo escoltaban | Política | EL PAÍS

Mike

The video is... shocking...

Hello,

yes the video is shocking,but it give us a good idea about the situation there.And the guy was realy lucky that he was traveling by car and not by motorbike.Because in the case he would be dead.

Mike

Sorry to disappoint you but the Taftan-MirJavah is the only working border between Iran and Pakistan for foreigners. All others are for the locals and even I cant cross it being a resident of Lahore.


Omar