Salt Cave, Khoja Mumin Mountain, Vose District, Khatlon, Tajikistan

One of the landmarks of the Khatlon region, near the city of Vose, is Khoja Mumin Mountain. The people of Tajikistan see a product from this mountain on their tables daily: common salt. The Khoja Mumin plant is located at the foot of the mountain and produces this salt, supplying all of Tajikistan and also exporting it. According to expert estimates, the salt from Khoja Mumin Mountain could feed the entire world for a hundred years, so abundant are the deposits here.

Chapter 6: The Curse of the Circle of Darkness from Bear Metamorphoses

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Judging by the tracks, the Englishman, possessed by the jondor, after crossing the ridge, didn't descend but turned west. The altitude here, by the way, was considerable. A snow-covered section ran along the ridge's edge. After passing it, he turned. His path ran below the snow line but was still high up. Given how fast he was moving, one could only marvel at the Englishman's physical conditioning, whose name, incidentally, I still hadn't bothered to learn. If he continued like this without changing direction, he would eventually come out to a section of the highway between Ishkashim and Khorog. That road also ran along the border. Surely he wasn't going back to Afghanistan? That would be too much!

“God’s Eyes” Cave (Prohodna Cave), Iskar-Panega Eco-Park, Bulgaria

While roaming the web, I stumbled upon a stunning image — a cave with the piercing, eloquent name “God’s Eyes.” I was intrigued immediately.

A quick search brought up a mountain of websites describing this wonder. It turned out to be Prohodna Cave. It lies in Bulgaria, within the Iskar-Panega Eco-Park, near the village of Karlukovo. Just a stone’s throw from Sofia — a mere 112 kilometres. And although I was sincerely impressed, the place felt oddly familiar. A strange feeling, given that I’d never actually been to Bulgaria…

Hike to Adit in the Beggar Gorge, Varzob, Mountains of Tajikistan

We decided to hike from the Beggar gorge to the Ojuk gorge and wander around the ridge separating them. During this hike, we stumbled upon abandoned mines in the Beggar gorge. These abandoned mines, where fluorite used to be extracted, seemed interesting to me, so I decided to dedicate a separate photo review to them. I have already come across old mines in the Varzob gorge. Just this year, I did a photo review of such a hike, which can be viewed here if anyone is interested.".

Hike in the Arg Gorge, near Lake Iskanderkul, Fann Mountains, Tajikistan

In the Fan Mountains of Tajikistan, near Iskanderkul Lake, there is a river called Arg, which gives its name to the gorge. The Arg River is a tributary of the Sarytag River and one of the rivers that feeds Iskanderkul Lake. We were interested specifically in the Arg River, which is sometimes spelled ArX on maps, but I am more accustomed to ArG. We drove from the "Iskanderkul" tourist base to a fork in the road and continued on foot. From the beginning of the gorge, where the Arg River flows into the Sarytag, it was about four kilometers to the area we were interested in.

Hike to the Adit in Odjuk Gorge, Varzob, Mountains of Tajikistan

I was always amazed at why there was such a good, wide path in Odzhuk that went almost all the way through the canyon. It turned out to be an old dirt road that led to an abandoned mine where they mined or searched for something like fluorite until 1947. There are many such abandoned mines in the vicinity. Apparently, they dug and searched, but didn't find anything significant and abandoned them. Industrial fluorite mining may still be taking place in the Takob and Magof valleys, not far from here. Locals also call these mines quartz, but quartz is just a accompanying mineral of fluorite and is not of interest for development and mining, at least not the local variety.

The Cave of the Mountain Spirit — A Short Story

After hiking four kilometers up the gorge along the river, I reached a wide hollow nestled between mountain giants. Just above this spot, three small mountain rivers merged into a single stream. For reasons unknown to me, the locals called this hollow the "meadow of power." It was oval-shaped. At its northern end, near the confluence of the rivers, it was fringed by a juniper grove. A river meandered along its western edge, and to the east, an expanse of scree and enormous boulders encroached from a spur of the massif crowned by the peak of White Bars.