A Covid adventure
A few years ago, as COVID continued to spread throughout the world, preventing us from running any of our adventures, I was contacted by an NGO named 'Thirst Central Asia'. They had a potentially exciting project spanning Uzbekistan and Tajikistan...
Leaders gather for the conference.
Amu Darya River
Thirst focuses on raising awareness of the world’s water issues. It has recently been looking to focus on the Amu Darya River as a potential focal point for their next project.
The Amu Darya River runs through the heart of Central Asia, leading to the Aral Sea, which, since the 20th century, has receded so far as to leave coastal towns and villages in the middle of the desert.
This has caused untold ecological and social damage to the region, and therefore the perfect way to focus global attention on the issues of water in the region.
The Project
The focus of the project was an incredible lady called Mina who was planning to run a marathon every two days. It follows the route of the river, visiting local towns and villages, and highlighting the issues and challenges presented by the water situation in the region.
The project began at the Aral Sea and continued into Tajikistan. It went high into the Pamir mountains and ended at the Fedchenko glacier, which serves as the river’s source.
They reached out to me for my years of knowledge working in the region, and after some discussion, asked if I would consider joining as the Expedition Leader as they travelled across Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
This amazing project was also timed to coincide with the UN-Water Conference in Dushanbe. Delegates fly in from around the world to discuss potential solutions to the global water crisis.
With such a tantalising project being offered, I couldn’t say no!
The Adventure
Accepting, I spent two months on the road taking part in a Central Asian adventure. It ended up exceeding my expectations and brought me some of the wildest stories from the region to date.
We met government officials and city mayors, were greeted by the military, and even rubbed shoulders with world leaders.
I slept in everything from local homestays to the best hotels in the country and ate meals from street stalls to restaurants built for the country's top officials.
We brought Samarkand to a standstill and didn't even need to pass border checks in Tajikistan, followed by police escorts from the Secret Service.
Police and military prepare for a warm greeting.
Arrival in Tashkent
I knew it was going to be one hell of an adventure. As soon as my flight touched down in Tashkent, I calmly queued to pass through passport control at Tashkent International Airport.
I felt strangely reassured that its design and visa process had not changed in all the years I'd been visiting.
Feeling confident that I was now visa-free, which gave me a warm fuzzy feeling, I passed through the glass booth, collected my stamp (relieved that the official had stamped it on an already well-used page) and headed to collect my luggage.
The only difference was the mask-wearing crowds waiting eagerly for their bags.
The tail of an alsatian popped into view through the rubber flaps, cutting me off from my well-packed case. No sooner had I picked up my case than a young chap approached me and asked if I needed help. He then asked "Are you Mr Rich?" in a central Asian accent tinged with a knowing Russian accent. "Yes," I replied.
He then explained he was here to meet me and would look after me until the rest of the group (my team) arrived.
We walked outside into the warm night air. It was 2:30 a.m., and I still had a few hours to spare.
He asked if I wanted coffee... "Sure!".
He took control of my suitcase, tugging it along the curb and uneven tarmac road. I winced every time I heard the scrape of its soft canvas, but I was too tired and polite to interrupt.
We arrived at his car, and it was then I realised he wasn't just a guide or airport fixer but someone a little higher up the chain.
A brand new Mercedes S-Class sat in front of me, its shiny black paint glistening under the airport parking lights. my suitcase slipped into the trunk filling the void, and my day bag sat on the seat next to me. We then tore out of the carpark and into the night of Tashkent.
We stopped at a coffee shop. I was too tired to ask why it was still open at this ungodly hour, but the smell and the sight of this fresh brew settled my mind. I then asked "What do you do here?" to which he replied, "I'm a leader, like you!"
"Great, an expedition leader?" (I should change countries)!
"No, I'm the minister of sports!" He cheerfully replied.
It was at this moment that I realised this project was something else!
The Adventure Begins
During the project, I led a team from all over the world. It was a great opportunity to work with South African photographers, Australian support staff, Tajik guides, Uzbek fixers, and everybody in between.
There were, of course, occasional hitches during the trip.
The plan was to start in Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, head out to the Aral Sea to begin the run, and then arrive in Dushanbe for the water conference.
For the meeting, we would need to get large banners printed to show off our project to the various delegates. However, this needed to be arranged in Tajikistan and paid for in cash. This meant during our time in Tajikistan, I had to slowly withdraw 20,000 USD in cash over 10 days to get the printers paid in time.
A fun additional side-quest on top of the already difficult job!
Preparing for the Conference
As we prepared for the conference, I realized that, whilst I’d brought a shiny Central Asian suit for the event, I’d neglected to bring a shirt or shoes.
This meant I had to head out into Dushanbe in search of clothing that would fit me (I’m considerably taller than the average Central Asian).
Eventually, I found a shop selling larger clothes in a sale, although size 46 shoes were a bit trickier to locate!
You know when you've got big feet when you stroll through the shoe section of a central Asian market and no one hassles you!
Eventually, I had all my clothes prepped, all the banners were ready, and we headed to the conference.
The Big Event
The event was held in the Tajik Presidential Compound in Dushanbe. It was a rare chance for me to enter such a secretive complex.
The security was tight, very North Korean-esque, with no electrical items being permitted, and everybody subject to searches.
Finally, we got into the heart of the conference, with various meeting rooms running different-level conferences between delegates.
We were shown around by the local guides and, despite just being the support team, were treated with the same level of hospitality as the genuine delegates.
Whilst we were waiting around for things to kick off, I was standing chatting with our Tajik fixer. Neither of us realized as we stood there that the room was being sealed off as the meeting was about to begin.
Oblivious to the situation, I made a few jokes to the fixer about wanting to meet the President. As I’ve been travelling to the country for many years, I’d heard a huge amount about Tajikistan’s head of state, and this meeting would likely be my only chance to see him in person.
Meeting the President
As I made these jokes, the fixer leant over to me and said “If you want to meet the President, turn around”.
It turns out, the man himself was stood right behind me.
Slightly flustered, I just turned to him and said “I love your country” to which he shook my hand and replied, “Me too!”.
As the meeting got underway, and we tried to find a way to leave the sealed-off conference room, I made another joke about wishing we could join the conference.
Perhaps our fixer took me too seriously, but he went off to talk to very important people in suits, eventually coming back to tell me that the Slovak delegation hadn’t turned up. So, we could pretend to be from Slovakia and sit in on the meeting.
Rich represents a nation in his Central Asian suit.
Becoming Slovenia
Before I knew it, I was being fitted up with translation headphones and sat at a desk just behind the delegation from Slovenia.
The meeting itself was incredibly interesting, although many of the delegates appeared to be dozing off during the speeches. It was a fantastic insight both into the water situation in the region, but also a chance to see how these closed-door meetings are organised.
Marathon Speech
Finally, our marathon-running leader made her speech at the conference. And our team went to formally meet the Tajik President.
This was followed by a buffet dinner at the tea house inside the Presidential compound.
We had been invited to stay longer for the conferences and activities that would come in the days ahead, however, we had to continue our adventure as we were scheduled to spend the following few days journeying along the frontier between Tajikistan and Afghanistan...and that is another story.
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