Situated in the heart of Central Asia and along the ancient Silk Road. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan in the South, China in the East and Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in the North and West. With more than 93% of it’s 143’000 km2 mountainous and over 50% of its territory lying above 3000m, Tajikistan offers an impressive range of unique landscapes and climatic zones: from subtropical heat to arctic cold, from hot deserts to huge icy plateaus. Tajikistan is endowed with a stunning variety of flora and fauna is rich in striking contrasts. The country is home to the highest mountain of the former Soviet Union, the Peak Somoni (formerly peak Communism, 7495 m) as well as to its longest glacier (77km), named after the 19th century explorer Fedchenko.

Tajikistan history reaches back to the stone age, is linked to names like Cyrus and Darius, Alexander the Great, Marco Polo and Tamerlane and lived through the invasions of Arabs, Turks and Mongols.
Therefore a wide diversity of people and cultures is evident in different parts of the country. There are Tajiks, Kyrgyzs, Uzbeks, Russians, Tatars, Germans and other nationalities with an astonishing diversity in dialects and even languages (e.g. Badakshshani, Yaghnobi). The Tajiks themselves emerged from a succession of Iranian nations in the region over the past 2500 years, including the Bactrians, Sogdians, Parthians, Khorezmians and Scythes.
Tajikistan is not only beautiful but also a place of genuine, unadulterated hospitality. This small selection of pictures was taken in different corners and spots of Tajikistan during the authors travels throughout the country in the last 25 years.