Far and away the
best map of the Pamirs is Markus Hauser's "The Pamirs - a tourist map of
Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan, and background information on the region", 1:500 000, distributed
by Gekko Maps, Neuwiesenweg 1, CH-8132 Hinteregg, Switzerland; tel +41 44 980 6121,
fax +41 44 980 6122;
info@geckomaps.com
http://www.geckomaps.com.
This map also includes trekking routes and, on the back, interesting notes
on the Pamirs. The map is linked to an ecotourism project of the French NGO ACTED,
funded by the Swiss
Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and UNESCO.
Detailed Russian military maps (1:100,000 and 1:200,000) can be obtained
from GEO in Almaty, ulitsa Satpaeva 30v (between Manas and Auezova) - NB it's
off the map in the Lonely Planet book. Telephone 245-34-35. Until 2006,
they could also be downloaded from the
website of the library of the University of Berkeley; they are now
on
http://www.topomaps.eu/asia/tadj_100k.shtml
as TIFF files at a lower resolution but still useful (you will need
QuickTime player to view them and probably need to download them into Photoshop
to view them in detail).
The 1:1,450,000 map
published in 1992 by the Cartographic Centre of the Uzbek Ministry of
Defence gives a fairly good overview but lacks detail, although it
contains most place names and shows the contours - it also requires
knowledge of Cyrillic characters (obtainable at the bookshop on Rudaki
street in Dushanbe). The 1:500,000 Tactical Pilot Charts available in
the west (Stanfords in London) also give an overall idea, but despite
their being a satellite map they are actually disappointingly
inaccurate, and, due to the scale, also lack detail. There is
also the limited-extent 1:200,000 map Pamir - Trans Alai Mountains,
published by West Col Productions and Markus Hauser's 1:100,000 map "Pik Lenin",
also distributed by Gecko Maps (see above). Both are available at
Stanfords in London.
If you have any of these maps, be sure to keep them away from the
prying eyes of the Russian Border Forces or "KGB" who will be happy to
relieve you of them.
Links to websites with fairly good overview maps are given below. The
following maps may also be useful.
|
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Central Asia (Click
to enlarge).
©
Aga Khan Development Network
Tajikistan
©
Aga Khan Development Network
Gorno-Badakhshan
(with kind permission from
Markus Hauser)
Gorno-Badakhshan with
recommended itineraries
©
Aga Khan Development Network
Search the web using the terms Tajikistan and map, e.g.
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/tajikistan.html
http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/tajikist.pdf
http://www.grida.no/db/maps/prod/level3/id_1281.htm
http://www.lonelyplanet.com
The following website is useful in finding some specific places in
Tajikistan, and give longitude and latitude references:
http://www.traveljournals.net/explore/tadjikistan/
Markus Hauser maintains a "Pamir Archive" of historical documents concerning the Pamirs,
including old maps. A selection can be accessed on
http://www.angelfire.com/sd/tajikistanupdate/historicalmaps.htm
See also
http://www.aclib.tj/cd3/index_eng.html
Some time ago, under a mandate of SDC's special programme for the International
Year of Mountains (IYM2002), the Pamir Strategy Project of the University of Bern prepared
a Geographic Information System for Gorno-Badakhshan. To make the versatile database
available to organizations and interested users, the Centre for Development and Environment
(CDE) of the University of Bern has now developed an internet based interface (see also Section "References, Books and Links").
This WebGIS is designed for the visualization, query and download of spatial information.
It can be directly accessed at
http://www.pamir-gis.info or through CDE's home
page
http://www.cde.unibe.ch.
All text and
photographs (c) Robert Middleton 2002
Web master Romanyuk
Mikhail
