Ayni District – an administrative-territorial unit of Sughd Region – includes eight jamoats.

      So, today you wrote about jamoats. Maybe it sounds somehow unbelievable for the Republic of Tajikistan, but in fact this is the third level of administrative division in the Republic of Tajikistan, after provinces and districts. So, districts in Tajikistan are consisting of jamoats, or as they are often referred to in this country, of municipalities. Well, there is one jamoat, called Alichur jamoat which officially belongs to Murghob district of the Gorno-Badakshan Autonomous Region or Province; therefore that means that Alichur jamoat is located near the Chinese border. Well, the population of this Alichur jamoat is about two thousand residents, and because of that this is one of the most unpopulated areas in the Republic of Tajikistan. You know also that Tajikistan country has big vast water resources, or, as a matter of fact, quite a big area of this country is occupied by lakes and rivers; and lakes are covering about 2 % of the whole area of the Republic of Tajikistan. Well, there is also one idea; why not to write about one lake, called Sarez lake which, like many lakes in Tajikistan, is located in highland areas, and in fact this lake is, as also many lakes, located in the Pamir Mountains in the central-eastern part of Tajikistan in the Gorno-Badakshan Autonomous Region, in Rushon district, and its altitude is about three thousand and two hundred meters high, so that means that Sarez lake is a real high altitude lake with elevation of three thousand and two hundred meters. Depth of some seas can be smaller if you take, for example, some lakes in the Republic of Tajikistan blic, and especially lakes in the Pamir Mountains; the depth of these lakes can be very big, they may be deeper that some seas… So, there is Sarez Lake which average depth is about 200 m, and the deepest point of that Sarez Lake in Rushon district reaches about 500 m.

      28 May 2015, Thursday

      You already know most of geographic objects, but the most interesting ones still remain to be known, and rivers in the Republic of Tajikistan are to be written about; and why not to write about one river which flows through the Gorno-Badakshan Autonomous Region, and if you want to know to what district this river really flows, well, it will be Vanj district. As I am trying to remember, this is one of the seven districts in the Gorno-Badakshan Autonomous Region which is situated in southwest part of that autonomous province, and especially very close to the Afghanistan border, and it is the Yazgulyam River. So, this river is a tributary or a source river of the Panj River. There is no so much information available about this Yazgulyam River, exactly about the length of this river, but maybe it is not rather long, and probably like many other rivers in Tajikistan, and especially in southern Tajikistan, it has quite a fast current. Well, there was also very difficult to find any information about area where the Yazgulyam River flows into the Panj River. I don’t know, but you know, I love so much these areas of the Republic of Tajikistan, and especially south and east parts of this country. Not west, and not north, and maybe not the central parts of this Central Asia country, but only south and east parts of the Republic of Tajikistan. Why exactly only these places, maybe because I have some feelings in my heart which can be exactly the same as about that very remote places, places located in the Republic of Tajikistan and just really close to Afghanistan of the People’s Republic of China. Places which can give me something to see and feel, how it can be when you are not able to find any destination of choice from some situation which can be experienced in those areas. Just for a moment try to understand and to feel how it is when you are living in such areas where mountains take much space… Well, the poverty, maybe it’s not so hard to go through that, if you can really understand that you can do something but really live in some isolated places so characteristic to east parts of the Republic of Tajikistan. So there is one else river which starts in the Afghanistan territory, and its name is the Bartang River, it flows northwards to the border with the Republic of Tajikistan, the river crosses the border and the runs through the Tajikistan territory, and especially through Roshan district. So, probably, having got its name in Afghanistan as Bartang River in Tajikistan country this river has another name, and is called as Aksu River, and then as Murghob river, of course, in areas close to Murghob town. Passing the Murghob town the Murghob River runs to western parts of the Gorno-Badakshan Autonomous Region, and this river flows near the Sarez lake (which is situated in the Pamir Mountains in the Rushon district of the Republic of Tajikistan). So, after that this river turns south and crosses the border with Afghanistan. Well, maybe it should be noted that this river which is called as Murghob/ Aksu or Bartang river in Afghanistan it is called Bartang river, and in the Republic of Tajikistan this river is called as Murghob, near Murghob town in eastern parts of the Republic of Tajikistan, and as Aksu River. So in the Afghanistan territory this river flows into the Panj River which is a tributary of Amu Darya. So, it is also should be written that Aksu or Bartang river is a source river of the Panj river. Well, it’s also, of course, very interesting to know that this river, of course, flows through the highest mountainous places of the Republic of Tajikistan, of course, through the Pamir Mountains. So, the most part of the Murghob river length flows through Tajikistan, or the Pamir National Park territory, so, it is, as you know, the biggest Nature National Park in Tajikistan occupying about eighteen percent (18 %) of total area of the Republic, and there is one more interesting fact that the name of this river – Bartang – in English is meaning “the White Water”! Yes, it is true that the Aksu or Bartang River, or Murghob River, since this river has also the third name, has its starting point in north-eastern Afghanistan, i.e. in the Little Pamir Mountains, thus, these mountains are the second part, if I may say so, of the Pamir Mountains, but situated in the Afghanistan territory. So, in northeast Afghanistan the river Aksu has its beginning, and then runs northwards, to the Tajikistan borders.

      There are about four hundred and nine jamoats in the Republic of Tajikistan (409 jamoats).

      Alichur jamoat – in Murghob district.