All Around the World with the Most Travelled Indian
By Nitin Gairola
As some of you would know by now, my biggest travel project will take me to every desert in the world. So in this quest, recently my partner Richa and I decided to head north towards a region that is known as Central Asia. This is the region full of the ‘Stans’, which are the ex-USSR states that broke free in 1991 (along with Russia) as the mighty Soviet Union or USSR cracked. From these fractures the ‘Stans’ came out – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. And while Afghanistan and Pakistan may also be ‘Stans’ but they are not linked to these 5 in terms of recent culture. And funnily enough in these parts people were asking if we were from ‘Hindustan’? We nodded our heads, said yes and also added ‘India’ with a smile. They all smiled back to say that they know.
Of all the ex-USSR Stans, in my view there is no place more exotic than Tajikistan. And any driven traveller will tell you that it is the exotic that drives them the most. Tajikistan in some parts is truly cut off from our world and perhaps that is what makes it so appealing to travellers like me. My brother jokingly even asked if it were a real country when I told him about it. In a way this made me really happy. I felt as if we were going to a place not known to most people in the western world (my elder brother lives in London, UK)
But jokes apart, I am truly weary and wary of visiting places with souvenir shops selling fridge magnets and cities with illuminated ‘I love this place’ selfie-points. The word ‘selfie’ itself makes me cringe just as the terms ‘travel goals’ and ‘bucket list’ do (I don’t even want to write what ‘vacay’ does to me). So with this clarified, you know what makes me select the destinations that I do. Sadly even Tajikistan had a few ‘I love this place’ boards, so it is also changing. That’s why I am glad to have visited it before things change even more.
While planning this trip, I was told again and again that most of these countries are dangerous. My take is that these places are difficult but if you have your wits and common sense with you, they are no more dangerous than any other part of the world. When it comes to the cities and towns, I found the ones here to be vastly safer than those in Europe, USA, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile, besides all the countries of Central America. I found Uzbekistani cities & towns to be downright touristy – places such as Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva are not exotic in case one thought they are. They are beautiful no doubt but aren’t hidden gems by any stretch of the imagination. Rather they are like the Paris or Rome of Central Asia – Historic centers with good infrastructure and full blown, mind-numbing tourism. That’s why I was happy during the days when I was outside these towns and in my deserts and mountains. In Kazakhstan in fact there were remote lakes and forests too in the south-east edge of this very large nation. But most of our time was in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The extended time spent in these two countries was for a good reason too. It was of course for the deserts – the Kyzyl-Kum in Uzbekistan, Kara-Kum that is largely in Turkmenistan and the Ustyurt Plateau which is in the far west of Uzbekistan bordering Kazakhstan (where the Aral Sea once was before it dried up there). Besides these 3 deserts, we had cold barren lands in Tajikistan and even Kazakhstan’s far eastern end neighbouring western China. These were all the deserts that we could handle in one helping but we also saw one more which was not originally planned (I will reveal it in a later piece as it was part of a crazy plan). Richa and I have come back exhausted but super fulfilled and actualized after this adventure. I actually feel a lot of peace within since returning. It must be part-relief too.
The peace and relief would also be because of the realization that now I am really very close to my ‘all deserts of the world’ record. I just need to visit 8 more – These are in Iran, Ethiopia, Eretria, Djibouti, Somalia, Senegal and Namibia. And with that the record will be mine. I also know that now I am far ahead of others for anyone else to catch up since the last ones are some of the most dangerous as well especially the ones in Ethiopia, Eretria, Djibouti and Somalia. It’s an open challenge to anyone out there but as always do take it lightly – just with a pinch of salt. Life is far bigger than these silly records.
On a serious note, there is political turmoil in the wake of the civil war in Ethiopia that started in November 2020. The risk is especially real in the Tigray and Afar regions in the north which hold the volcanic Danakil Desert. This brutal situation is stopping me and others from visiting this beautiful desert right now. Besides Somalia has been in constant turmoil over the years and while you can get by as a ‘country collector’ (i.e. visit the capital and a few cities) the challenge comes when you are a ‘natural world’ traveller like me. Deserts by their very nature are at times places that outlaws call home, and the outlaws here are not to be messed with. The same is the story of the Senegal Desert and West African countries such as Chad and Mali (that’s where Timbuktu really is). Honestly West Africa in some parts, including Mali, is a no-go zone right now, just like North-East Africa (excluding Egypt). I wouldn’t advise anyone to be stupid enough to visit these countries presently. To achieve my ‘all deserts of the world’ record, I have to plan and tread very, very carefully.
But as of now, I can rest peacefully for a while after crossing off this part of the world that had been missed by me all these years. I am so glad we visited ‘Central Asia’ as it is popularly known in the west today and the ‘Silk Route’ as it was known in ancient times (the route that connected traders from Europe in the west to China in the East). It was a very special part of the world where we went deep inside the deserts, forests and mountains and also met many curious locals, some of whom were seeing Indians for the first time i.e. in real life. I say in ‘real life’ since almost everyone had seen Indians in ‘reel life’ through our Bollywood movies. They had danced to or sang Bollywood numbers and almost everyone knew Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and even Raj Kapoor. Strangely enough, after SRK (the clear favorite), it was Mithun Chakraborty who had the highest recall, in no small part because ‘Disco Dancer’ is a staple in their clubs and ‘after-8 bars’.
This was a magical visit in so many ways, but it was the barren cold mountains and the barren cold deserts that I will remember the most. But I will not forget the cold coniferous forests either. Overall you could say we indulged on the ‘deserts’ in this overland adventure, as we almost always do. And now I will indulge in another thing that I love very much – which is writing these stories for you and bringing them to your doorstep through the best newspaper in our mountains state.
Nitin Gairola is from Dehradun and has travelled the natural world more than almost any Indian ever. He has set world travel records certified by India Book of Records, has written for Lonely Planet, and holds National Geographic conservation certifications. He is also a senior corporate executive in an MNC and in his early days, used to be a published poet as well. More than anything else, he loves his Himalayan home. Reach him at: www.facebook.com/MostTravelledIndian/ ; www.instagram.com/MostTravelled_Indian/
