Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan is a country in Central Asia, landlocked and highly mountainous. This sheer wall of mountains has helped the country, over millennia of habitation, to retain much of its ancient culture and traditions. However, as a central land-link between the East and West, Kyrgyzstan played a crucial role in the continuation of the Silk Road and as such was exposed to goods and ideas from the world’s largest empires.

In the modern era, Kyrgyzstan is a country for the explorers, the adventurers, those who seek clear star-laden skies, epic climbing routes on the faces of the Tien Shan mountain range, and the friendliness of the natives whose hospitality offers a brief, yet needed, respite from the wilderness. Kyrgyzstan’s main draws are not its architecture and arts, like other components of the Silk Road, but for the ruggedness of the gorgeous wilderness preserved by the semi-nomadic tribesmen who wander the plains. Explore twisting paths that meander through aromatic walnut forests, splash in bubbling streams that lead to monumental glacial lakes such as Issyk-Kul, and explore numerous trekking paths through the Tien Shan mountains. Kyrgyzstan is not for the weak-hearted, but, if you are willing, you will discover untapped beauty.