Trekking to the waterfall of the Kuramin Range, Uzbekistan

Hello, today I prepared a photo report about my trip to the waterfall of the Kuramin ridge, which I made with the team of "Mysterious Uzbekistan" in early June.

Kuramin ridge is located near the city of Angren and near the border of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and it is a very picturesque place.

On the one hand, the existing quarantine restrictions annoy me but on the other hand there is a pleasant side - the morning departure from Tashkent takes place no earlier than half-past six. Those I can sleep a little bit more :). This time the group gathered very big - almost 30 people. It is seems that the people are tired to stay at home and already wants to be free. We gathered in the appointed place, loaded into cars and drove in caravan in the direction of Angren. Since quarantine restrictions still apply, we drove three people in a car.

Angren has several industrial enterprises, including two thermal power plants. Past one of them lay our way.

Having passed the station, we delved into the mountains. Soon, we arrived at the starting position of our track to the village called Lashkerek.

Our caravan famously taxied into the village and we unloaded the cars with a hubbub. Some guy ran in immediately, introducing himself as a forester and informed us that it was forbidden to walk here, this is a protected area, we are all contagious and we don’t have permits. Also one minibus has already arrived here with other tourists and therefore it is impossible to arrange crowds. But the guides had permissions with all signatures and seals. We had masks and antiseptics too. Therefore, the guides are not particularly listening to the wailing of the forester, gathered us in a large group and we hit the road. As the guides later explained to me, such an activity of the forester is explained not by concern for our health, but by a banal desire under the guise of a duty, to tear off a bribe from tourists for visiting the conservation area. That's just all the fees the organizers were paid, as evidenced by papers with impressive seals.

Throwing an irritated forester out of my head, I went up the path enjoying the views. The weather was beautiful, the sun was shining and a cool breeze was blowing. The path was wide and well trodden, and it was a pleasure to walk along it.

I don’t really like going in large groups. The problem is that a large group is usually stretched and the guides are forced to slow down the tourists who have gone ahead.

Soon we went to a stormy mountain river near which there was a whole heap of huge boulders and ran into a group of tourists who arrived a little earlier than us.

It was possible to cross the boulders along a narrow path and therefore a traffic jam soon formed from almost fifty tourists.

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In addition, a hefty but good-natured dog walked with another group. Seeing us, he ran up gaily wagging the stump of his tail. Of course, we shared our supplies with a local shaggy resident. It seems to me that he had a great meal during this campaign.

While both groups were crossing the stone shelf, I decided to photograph the surroundings and stumbled upon such an eerie installation.

Finally the groups crossed a let and we went firther. In order to avoid the recurrence of such crowds, as well as to stake out a place at the waterfall, we accelerated and overtook our competitors. After about an hour, we reached the finish line ...

... and began to rise to the waterfall.

And then a waterfall appeared. Not very large - 15 meters high but quite stormy.

As winners, we sat on the stones right near the waterfall and took out supplies that our shaggy comrade had not eaten. Which, by the way, somewhere evaporated. Since I was one of the first to come, by the time the retarded and tired participants of the trip were getting ready, I had already managed to eat, take a swim and take a picture of the local inhabitants.

Frankly speaking, I got bored. While the rest of the participants lunched, rested and bathed, I climbed up to the waterfall, went down, sat on the rocks again a little. And the participants continued to rest and swim ... I began to eagerly fidget on my rock. At the same time, I noticed a couple of people who also had time to relax and swim, and also languished in anticipation. Seeing this, the guides allowed us to go back on our own, without waiting for the main group.

I immediately jumped up and walked back, simultaneously photographing everything in a row.

When I almost reached the village, a cow blocked my path. When I saw her, I stopped. It stopped too. Since I am sometimes a gentleman, I decided to give way to the lady. I climbed a little up and walked around the cow to another path.

He slipped through the evening village of Lashkerek and went out to the already waiting drivers.

Drivers rejoiced when they saw me. Alas, I had to upset them and say that while I am alone, and the rest of the group will catch up later. We stood for almost forty minutes when three more members of the group appeared. Then a couple of tourists came up. It became clear that the main part of the group will not be very soon. Therefore drivers, after discussion with the guides, decided to send the car as it was full. They loaded us into two cars and sent us home. The sun was already setting and the sunset beautifully illuminated the mountains.

Only at the entrance to Tashkent, our driver got a call and reported that the rest of the group had just descended from the mountains. Well, in such separate trips here have their advantages - yes, it costs more, but it’s more convenient to go.

A few days later, "Mysterious Uzbekistan" released another announcement - a trip to the Kumbel petroglyphs, whose age is about 6-10 thousand years. Of course, I immediately signed up :). But more about that in my next post.

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