Chapursan Valley

Chapursan branches west from the Karakoram Highway near Sost and runs for some eighty kilometres towards the Wakhan, a high, dry valley at over three thousand metres inhabited by Wakhi people whose language and culture connect across the borders to Afghanistan and Tajikistan. A string of small villages, Kirmin, Kil, Reshit, Yishkuk and Zood Khun among them, farm the irrigated patches and graze yaks on the pastures above. At the head of the valley stands the shrine of Baba Ghundi, a saint credited with bringing Islam to the valley, whose autumn festival gathers people from the whole region; beyond it the track fades towards the Irshad pass, an old route into the Wakhan used by Kyrgyz herders. Tourism is young here, built on homestays and a handful of guesthouses, and the valley offers a quieter, more domestic version of the high Karakoram than the trekking circuits.

What to look for

• Wakhi villages - stone and mud houses, irrigation channels and poplar stands.
• Baba Ghundi shrine - the pilgrimage site at the head of the valley.
• Yak pastures - herding grounds running towards the Irshad pass.
• Homestay life - meals and lodging in family houses.

When to go

June to September; the valley is high and cold, and the road can be cut by snow or floods outside midsummer. The Baba Ghundi festival in early autumn is the cultural high point. Nights are near freezing even in July.

Before you go

Facilities are minimal: homestays, basic food, no fuel beyond Sost, patchy solar power and no mobile signal for much of the valley. The road is rough and flood-prone. Visitors are guests in conservative villages and should dress and behave accordingly. This is a place for slow travel, not sightseeing.

Nearby

Sost and the Khunjerab road are at the valley mouth; Shimshal lies south.

Key facts