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Has anybody done this? Looking mostly at the Tian Shan mountains (obviously!) Would like to know people's experiences. Did you go with a trekking company, or DIY it? I'm keen to go but my partner is very concerned about how safe it is
It's very very safe...as far as being very safe in very remote places is.
The problem is that infrastructure is very limited, so if you want to do a solo trek, you'll have to make sure you have all the food/stuff you need to sustain yourself and also get yourself to the trail head.
It's the kind of place where i actually think booking yourself on a tour, or with a private guide isn't such a bad idea.
Amazing, thanks!
Have a search for silk road mountain race SRMR on Facebook.
Although they were obviously cycling you should get plenty of help.
Also check out Joanna lumleys TV series on the Silk Road. I'd love to go to Tash Tabat.
We did 3 weeks independent travel in Uzbekistan, a very different country but very easy and amazing. We included a multiday trek in the mountains approaching Kyrgyzstan but we booked it in advance. But great fun all the same.
Check out Ed Pratt's earlier YouTube stuff. He went around the world on a unicycle and spent quite a lot of time in Kyrgyzstan (mainly because he formed a relationship with a local girl).They travel around the County quite a bit and you get a good sense of what the remoter parts are like.
It's one of the few places that I would have loved to go back to, espicially for the trekking. This is sadly no longer an option for me. It's been about 10 years since I was there but back then it was certainly a very safe place to go, large US presence at the airport asI recall, and a fantastic place to visit. As with all these types of holiday if you are time poor (like most of us) then a guided trip might offer better value.
I’d love to go to Tash Tabat.
Do you mean Tash Rabat? I have a photo of that as my phone wallpaper.
Beautiful country, and surprisingly relaxed and upbeat compared to the other Stans I've been to. Where in Uzbekistan you have to keep your wits about you so as not to get ripped off by the police, I never felt unsafe or worried in Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek and Osh are quite developed, with tons to see and do, and I found the people pretty welcoming for the most part - or at worst totally unbothered by tourists.
There's an excellent community tourism board there, through which you can book stays with families, tours and the like ( https://cbtkyrgyzstan.kg/en/); and in general Kyrgyzstan just felt reasonably well set up for tourism compared to other stans, albeit still very much off the beaten track. I stayed with a family in a yurt up on a jailoo, organised through the local CBT office; a guy drove me up there in a Lada Niva and picked me up the next day. The family didn't speak a word of English, but fed me and plied me with fermented horse milk, and lent me a massive sheepskin coat when it started snowing (it was mid-July and 30c back in Bishkek :D).
In my limited experience I'd say it's entirely possible to arrange everything yourself, before you arrive and when you get there; but for the treks themselves I'd personally be considering something more organised, if only for things like transport at either end, etc.