Afghanistan Travel

Afghanistan Page 2

Afghanistan Links	After visiting Herat I returned to Kabul and then began my 8 hour drive to the north of the country. This road trip meant driving through Afghanistan's mountains and crossing several passes. We mostly passed through empty countryside but eventually the terrain flattened out and we found ourselves surrounded by dry land and occasional farms. The end of the trip was flat where we sometimes were able to drive as high as 90mph. These photos show some examples of the different type of mountains.

	Part of the trip took us through some tunnels, such as the one to the left that hugged the mountain so that rock slides would pass over. On the right is one of the real tunnels we went through that cut inside one of the large mountains. The tunnel was a gift from the Soviet Union, but the different wars Afghanistan went through left the inside badly damaged. Even with your lights on, with nothing to reflect the headlights the inside of the tunnel is almost completely black. Large puddles of water from leaks also make it an interesting ride.

Along most of the road was a fast flowing river that allows villages to survive in the otherwise dry land. Above are two photos of the river, one with sheep sleeping on the banks and the other a close up of the mountain spring water. On the left is a rice field in a small village. I saw many other crops as we drove north, even corn was being farmed here. One of the places I stopped by at had some domesticated camels who were grazing in the fields. I went up to take some photos and the kids that take care of them saw us and decided to try to show off by jumping on them. The camels had been happily eating and started screaming after they were interrupted. I seriously thought the kids were about to be attacked but they ended up winning the battle. On the lower left is one of the camels before his dinner was interrupted.


Some of the villages here were long abandoned and only the walls remained. This was a place where it seemed that little has changed over the past centuries. If it wasn't for the highway passing by I wonder how often people here would see foriegners or even Afghans from other cities. The man on the left is carrying an enormous amount of hay, something I'd normally expect a farm animal to deal. I suppose after a life time of this work he is probably incredibly strong and used to it. He would no doubt be prepared to climb Denali.

One place on the way north worth stopping at is the Takht caves. These caves were built in the 4th century by Buddhists, when it was Afghanistan's main religion. Rooms were carved out of the mountain that are connected by hallways with small holes in the top to allow sunlight. No one is sure how it was decorated or what artifacts were found here, but it is believed that small statues or other items were temporarily placed and moved to different sites instead of having permanent displays.

Finally after 8 hours of driving I reached the city of Mazar e Sharif, usually just called Mazar for short. The city itself didn't seem to look different or be unique from other places in Afghanistan, but I did notice a different fashion of burqas here. Blue were still the most popular, but I saw one gold and many white burqas that I hadn't seen anywhere else in Afghanistan. The statue on the left was at the southern entrance to Mazar, just for decorations, not a monument.

Once inside Mazar e Sharif, I found it to be kind of a smaller city with more of a village atmosphere. On the left are some Afghans riding in the back of a truck that we had come across on the highway. I took their picture and waved and most of them actually waved back and smiled. On the right is a horse pulled chariot I saw inside Mazar e Sharif, they seemed to be a popular way to travel here in the city.
No question about it, the highlight to a trip to Mazar is their famous blue mosque, also called the Shrine of Hazrat Ali. The son in law of the Prophet Mohammed, Ali ibn Abi Talib is considered to be Mohammed's successor by Shi'ites after his death, a belief that many argued about and ended up splitting the Muslim believers into two groups. Sunnis believe Ali was the fourth and final Rashidun, a religious leader in the community. Most agree Ali is buried in Najaf Iraq, but others believe he was transported to Afghanistan and is now buried in the blue mosque here in Mazar.

Like the Friday Mosque in Herat, the Blue Mosque in Mazar is decorated by thousands of tiles. Originally a shrine was built in this location and destroyed by Ghengis Khan in 1220A.D. In the 15th century it was rebuilt and over the years decorated until it looks like it does today.

Something unique at the Blue Mosque is that there are hundreds doves, and unlike other parts in Afghanistan every single one of them here is white. There is a local saying that if you bring a dove to the mosque, it will change to white within 40 days. Above are two shots of the white doves at the Blue Mosque. The photo on the upper left is perhaps the best shot I ever took; click here to purchase a large framed one

Another place near Mazar is called the nine column mosque, it is considered to be the oldest and first mosque in Afghanistan built by Arabs in the 9th century. Nothing much remains except for a few columns and arches and a man sleeping behind it in a cot taking donations.
Alexander the Great's empire also included Mazar over 2,000 years ago. Above is the remains of what was a village with fortified walls during his time. Everything was made of mud, so it 'melted' over the years and doesn't look interesting nowadays. The city walls on the right where in really bad shape but pretty well preserved compared to the rest of the village. I did a hike on top of the wall, jumping over large holes and wasp nests.

I'm not quite sure why, but the large ants on the left are seriously called infidel ants by Afghans. Perhaps they often invade homes and are annoying pests. They certainly were doing damage to Alexander the Great's compound here and had tunneled through large portions of it. The wasp nest on the upper right is another insect doing damage to the walls, there were enough of these guys in random places that I was nervous about walking around since bumping one of these could mean being attacked by a swarm. Aside from a painful death, it would certainly be a silly to visit Afghanistan and die from an alergic reaction after kicking a hornets nest.

I didn't get as many wildlife photos as I wanted in Afghanistan, but the first place I started was the gardens that I came across in my hotel. Above are two different types of bees that are probably found all over the world, maybe not so interesting! It would be nice to return to Afghanistan and do a trip focused on hiking and camping in the mountains near China where violence is relatively rare.

	These bugs looked like giant potato bugs or rolly pollys as we call them back home, just maybe 2 or 3 times larger. This is the only unique bug or animal I saw in Afghanistan that I had never seen before. In the left photo one of the bugs is eating one of his dead companions, suggesting that they eat anything. What makes this place pretty nasty is that these bugs are in a cemetery and there were tons of them walking around and coming out of the tunnels they built. The graves in this cemetery were built by poor people and where nothing more than a pile of dirt on top of the bodies. Its pretty obvious what the colony of bugs living here are using as food and must be a gruesome site underground.

	Some other exceptions to the bees and birds were some lizards I saw towards the end of my trip. The gecko on the left was pretty big, maybe 3 times the size of the smaller lizard on the right. I believe the lizard on the left is called a leopard gecko, common in many US pet stores, I'm not sure of the species of lizard on the right.

Mahta from USA: Your pictures and information about Afghanistan is nicely and thoughtfully organized, thank you. I am considering assisting an NGO in Afghanistan but as a woman, I am very afraid of the Taliban and while I do not mind wearing hijab, I am greatly against wearing a full burqu that has mesh over my eyes because I have heard it damages vision. Could you possibly tell me what cities impose these full burqus, and also, when were you there? Perhaps things have changed since then? Gratefully...

George: Hi Mahta. The main cities in Afghanistan where wearing the full burqa will be expected are in areas like Kanadahar and Jalabad. Though it's not legally enforced to wear them in these cities, the taliban has significant influence and control in this area and not doing so will only attract attention. If you stay in places like Kabul or Herat then wearing the hijab is fine. The taliban and al qaeda operate like the mafia; most of their attacks on individuals are planned out over time instead of being spontaneous. So in other words they will likely know you are in the country but you will be left alone as long as you don't make yourself stand out. They will be more focused on what they consider to be more important targets. As an example of standing out, one NGO was killed by the taliban in Kabul in October 08 for 'preaching Christianity'. Good luck and stay safe!

Phil from USA: Hi George- I really enjoyed this travelogue. Afghanistan has always seemed like an amazing place to me because of its traditions, violence, cultures and unbelievable architecture. I have been fortunate to meet an Afghan native who told me many stories from the country's past. Can you tell me more about how you decided to travel to Afghanistan and how you got around there? I would really like to know. Did you feel the violence is getting worse?

George: It sounds like my interests in traveling to Afghanistan where similar to yours. I know dozens of Afghans that live here in Virginia and the country has always appealed to me because it is almost never traveled by westerners and so little is known about it. Fly from Dubai to Kabul with Kam airlines, www.flykamair.com. Since I was fortunate enough not to have any violence directed towards me and I my time was measured in weeks not months I'm not really able to say if the violence has been getting worse or not based on my experience. Unfortunately everyone in the country did tell me things were getting worse so I just took there word for it.

Rohullah from Afghanistan: Hi George I am from Afghanistan and I am living in England for 2 years. I am a refugee. It was so nice to see the pictures you have put on this web. Thank you for this as it has made me very happy to see my country.

Naheed from Afghanistan: This is totally amazing, I love all the info here, thanks for posting this.

Hameed from Afghanistan: Hi George, Amazing photographs, I am a Journalist in Kandahar Afghanistan, i usually travel a lot in and outside of my country. I have taken some great pictures during my recent tour Herat, Mazar e Sharif and Kunduz Provinces, i thought i had the most amazing album of photographs but you totally made me wrong. as it seems from the photographs Afghanistan is very beautiful country i hope that one day securiy will get better and tourists from all over the world come to Afghanistan.

George: Thanks Hameed! I'm glad you enjoyed the photos. There are still plenty of beautiful things I haven't yet seen in Afghanistan, so as you know I'm only showing a small part. I'd love to return someday and visit Kandahar, Minaret of Jam, Bamiyan, and do some hiking and maybe even climbing in some of the tallest mountains in the world.

Dunia from Afghanistan: Wounderful and amazing............

Kaise from Australia: hello everybody my name is kaise im afghan and i love my afghani country afghanistan your pictures are very nice good photography george

Roh from Canada: I was born in afghanistan and i have visisted all these places and have seen every single thing you have shown. alot has changed.

Vinny from Fiji: its great to see pictures of places and Provinces in Afghanistan. I have been there several times over the Years through work however it will be wonderful to go back travelling, appreciate the Culture and local nationals despite all the security Risks. Met alot of generous, wonderful,friendly and amazing people.

Jake from Australia: Afghanistan is such a beautiful country, its sad that it has been torn apart by war.

Sarah from USA: Thank you so much for supplying an honest and beautiful snapshot of this often misrepresented nation! Afghanistan is truly a beautiful place with stunning culture and people. I hope very much to visit one day and I learned so much more from your blog - I appreciate your perspective. Thank you and God bless you more and more as you travel and write for others' eyes to be opened!

Shogofa from Afghanistan: Hello Mr George I am Shogofa Sahar 18 years old from Afghanistan studying in Turkey. I have a presentation. I was searching for some photos and information about my own country to put into my presentation slides. Fortunately I entered to your website and could find many beautiful pictures and useful information. It is just wonderful!!! Thanks for posting it.

Josh from UK: Wow! I really like how you have shown us how peaceful and unique Afghanistan really is!

Fawad from Afghanistan: hello my name is fawad and i am from AFGHANISTAN.but have been living in pakistan i have borned here.i have been to Afghanistan but only have seen Jalalabad our homeland.you showed something else to us.that was just supurb amazing i have never seen those places.so happy to know about our country and its beauties and history. i would to see all places but we cannot efford so and as you guys said security risk it makes us calm.so hopefully someday we will see our beautiful Afghanistan and all the countries.at last.thanks a bunch for the most beautiful pics.and may peace come to afg,thanks bye

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