About their adventure they realised a website "In the Footsteps of Marco Polo ".
Marco Polo's Guide to Afghanistan
With the new Netflix series Marco Polo still running, it's a good moment and look back with me to a journey, not so long ago:
Two Americans retrace the steps of the 13th-century Italian merchant through a harsh land of tough, hospitable people
After seeing this article Francis O' Donnell wrote me the following additional information which puts one and another in the right perspective:
The dream was to be the first expedition in history to retrace the entire route of Marco Polo, and by some miracle we did so. We came to find however there are many gray areas, places lost forever in the annals of time. So when Smithsonian , who vetted our journey thoroughly stated that “ They are almost certainly the first to approximate Polo's steps through Eurasia entirely by land and sea, without resorting to helicopters or airplanes”, that was confirmation and validation enough for use ! We had informed them of our intentions before leaving , and stayed in contact with them through our liaisons back home during our travels. When they heard we had successfully completed the Afghan leg of our journey , they asked us to write an article for their magazine. What an honor, we felt , one of the most prestigious and highly regarded magazines on art , history and culture , in the world, to be in it's pages would certainly help us in the furtherance of our effort. We were in financial trouble at that point and our success was anything but guaranteed. Reaching Beijing in late February 1994 ,it was cold and gray , so we hunkered down in the Chinese capital for two weeks. We locked ourselves away in our room and wrote , we did little sight seeing or the work we needed to in our pursuit of looking for and documenting what we could of Marco's account , we seldom went out. We believed we had submitted a strong piece , crossed our fingers and continued on. Several weeks later we got the word they had rejected our article , saying “ There was to much action in it and it read like something from soldier of fortune “. This was a blow in several ways , there would be no money for the article , rejection is never a good feeling, but in the past we had always been able to use the negativity of others , to harden , motivate and inspire ourselves “ We will show them “ was how we handled nay sayers. I can't tell you how many people , scholars and other so called “experts “ who told us it can't be done , and if it can, it isn't going to be by you two ! This time was different , it took the wind out of my partners sails , as he felt somehow perhaps his photo's were not up to par, and played a part in their decision. I assured him that was “ Nonsense “ and that he was an excellent photographer. I continued saying “ We had nothing to worry about , that we needed to stay focused on the mission, that was what counted ! “ First things first, let us put the horse before the cart as it were. In truth I told him, we had yet to accomplish anything extraordinary , and when we got home, having been successful, things would be different. The truth was we had , we had done something extraordinary , we had been the first westerners in a generation to enter and cross the Wakhan corridor. A place we knew before we left home would be the crowning jewel of our expedition and it was . In the town of Ishkashim which is split and divided by a branch of the Oxus river , I stood looking out at the mighty spires guarding the entrance. The Hindu Kush to the south and the Pamirs , the Roof of the world to the north. Marked on our map, which we first plotted at home , it was one of the obstacles, if crossed would separate us from all the failed attempts before us . There I contemplated , asking the universe why , why is it me ? Why am I being so blessed , knowing that soon I would traverse that mythic corridor . The Wakhan, a lost and all but forgotten secret passage into the back door of China. The other obstacles were getting into Iran , our biggest challenge as Americans and traversing the entire southern route along the Silk Road which at that time was mostly closed and off limits to foreigners and there were others in fact we had just barely survived, one the Afghan civil war. The reason for our Smithsonian disappointment.
The soviet Army left Afghanistan in 1989 , via the “Friendship bridge “ Uzbekistan. In 1993 after weeks of interrogation and consternation the newly FSB , former KGB, finally relented and let us cross into war torn Afghanistan. This too was no small feet , as Americans, our country helped the Mujahedin insurgents defeat the soviet forces . I am sure they would have rather bit off their tongue then see us cross . We were the first westerners to do so , aside from United Nations and other NGO types. What ensued was indeed something out of soldier of fortune as we were captured in a fire fight , ironically by the descendants of the very same tribe of people, Polo described as almost capturing him but killing and enslaving many of his companions . We came under the protection of an Afghan warlord and crossed the bulk of the country with our own heavily armed contingent of bodyguards. 1993/4 was part of an era called the “ Warlord period “. In many ways it was more dangerous than the Soviet and Taliban periods and subsequent American intervention ! There was a total power vacuum and all out anarchy among the different Afghan Mujaheddin factions that were vying for power. A paradise , or hell on earth , these are the two visions we had of Afghanistan. In the Wakhan area people only knew Marco Polo by the sheep that has been given his name as he was the first to describe to western science the “ Ovis Poli “. Everywhere else we encountered fierce, strong , proud and handsome people, friendly and giving . People who on the whole ached for peace and an end to war . The peace that we wholeheartedly prayed for in the Smithsonian article and one that the country is so deserving of and is still sadly illusive. Tragically the misery continues, with no end in sight. God help Afghanistan. Upon returning home the response we got from all the major media players was “ Isn't that nice , well congratulations but we are so sorry, Americas aren't interested in this part of the world … now if you had something on national parks ? “ America in it's never ending self involvement was to busy making money during the dot com bubble to worry about the mess left behind in Afghanistan or the formation of Al - Qaeda and the blow back that was impending. It was like throwing pearls before swine . It wasn't until 911 that people woke up to the world . That morning , before the second plane hit the towers Denis called me and said “ The key to the whole thing is Pakistan” . An insight and a word, I didn't hear come out of any TV pundits mouth for over a week ! After the initial shock wore off , I picked up the phone and called the Smithsonian. I had kept my foot in the door , staying in touch with the editor in chief , sending him Christmas cards and e- mailing him now and then on a variety of subjects over the years. The outcome was the article “ Marco Polo's guide to Afghanistan “ of which I am proud but doesn't come close to doing our story justice. Even this follow up is extremely compressed.
I will leave it as Marco did more than 700 years ago … “ I haven't told you half of what I have seen “ !
Written By Francis O'Donnell
If after reading of this story from Francis O'Donnell you would like to know what is so special about the Wakhan corridor, read the following article in National Geographic from April 2014, more than 10 years later!
Wakhan National Park—the country's second such sanctuary—protects mountains, snow leopards, and indigenous people.
A caravan of traders pick through high mountains of the Wakhan District in winter 2011. The region has just been named Afghanistan's second national park.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MATTHIEU PALEY, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
PUBLISHED APRIL 4, 2014
Afghanistan announced the creation of its second national park this week, a new protected area that is 25 percent larger than Yellowstone National Park in the U.S.
Wakhan National Park encompasses soaring mountains, alpine grasslands, and unique wildlife in the northeastern part of Afghanistan, where it will preserve the traditional ways of life practiced by communities inside its borders.
Prince Mostapha Zaher, the director-general of Afghanistan's National Environmental Protection Agency, called it "one of the last truly wild places on the planet." Zaher said his grandfather, King Zaher Shah, had first dreamed of creating a national park in the area in the 1950s.
"We can prove that the cause of protecting the environment and wildlife can also be utilized as an instrument of peace and tolerance," said Zaher.
"The government of Afghanistan understands that it is absolutely essential for reconstruction to protect its natural resources," adds Peter Zahler, the deputy director of the Asia program for the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, which worked with the Afghan government to establish the park.
The founding of the vast new park—which is 4,200 square miles (about a million hectares)—builds on the success Afghanistan has had with its first national park, Band-e Amir, which was designated in 2009.
"The communities in Band-e Amir love it," says Zahler. "[The park] has brought attention, tourists, and jobs. [So] the communities in Wakhan are really enthusiastic."
The Wakhan District—profiled in a February 2013 National Geographicmagazine feature—is a narrow corridor of land jutting off the northeastern tip of Afghanistan. It is bordered by Pakistan to the south, China to the east, and Tajikistan to the north. The region contains the headwaters of the Amu Darya River and is the place where the Hindu Kush and Pamir Mountains meet.
"It is a very isolated, cold, high mountain valley with peaks on both sides," says Zahler, who has been working on conservation in Afghanistan since 2006.
The wildlife of Wakhan, he adds, is "astonishingly diverse." It is a place where wolves, lynx, and brown bears from the north mix with snow leopards, stone martens, and the elusive Pallas's cat. It is also home to ibex, red foxes, and Marco Polo sheep—the world's largest wild sheep, with horns that stretch nearly six feet (two meters) from tip to tip. (See "Pictures: 'Lost' Leopard and Poachers Seen in Afghanistan.")
"The image of Afghanistan is of a dry, empty country," says Zahler, "but it has nine species of wild cats-as many as all of sub-Saharan Africa [which had 11 species before cheetahs and tigers were pushed out by hunters]."
The encampment of Kyzyl Qorum in Wakhan is a community of Kyrgyz herders who live in one of the world's most remote regions, near the Afghan borders with China, Tajikistan, and Pakistan.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MATTHIEU PALEY, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
A Park That Protects People
Wakhan National Park includes the entire Wakhan District, home to about 15,000 people, most of them ethnic Wakhi or Krygyz.
Thanks to an agreement with the Afghan government, the locals will be allowed to stay in the park. They will co-manage it with the federal government, and many will get jobs as rangers, managers, and other park personnel.
Local people will also be able to keep making a living off the land. The landscape is too high in altitude for much farming, Zahler says, so most people in Wakhan survive by herding livestock—largely sheep and goats, along with some cattle, horses, and domesticated yaks.
A precise management plan for the park still has to be worked out, but Zahler says the idea is to have different zones. Some zones will be wildlife reserves. Others will be set aside for multiple uses, including grazing.
The region has not faced many threats from logging because it is primarily above the treeline, or from mining because it is so remote, says Zahler. But it has suffered from poaching and overgrazing.
Zahler says enforcement at the new park should help, as should ongoing collaborative efforts with the local communities.
This field is near Sarhad village, which is inhabited by Wakhi people. Locals will continue to live and raise animals in the park. They'll also help manage and defend it.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MATTHIEU PALEY, NAITONAL GEOGRAPHIC
The Benefits of Tourism?
Each year about 100 to 300 international tourists visit the Wakhan corridor, Zahler says. "It's not a lot, but this is one of the most impoverished regions in Afghanistan, which is one of the more impoverished countries on the planet. It is an area that is desperate for help, and even a few tourists make a big difference." (See "Afghan Ski Challenge Promotes Tourism to War-Weary Hindu Kush.")
Accessibility is part of the problem. Getting to Wakhan takes some effort: An overland trip from Kabul takes a week. Though a new airstrip was recently added, many tourists still enter the area through Tajikistan, which has fewer security concerns.
In 2008, National Geographic Adventure magazine named Wakhan one of its "25 Best New Trips in the World." Zahler says he hopes the new national park will spark more visits as roads and trails are added and word gets out.
The Wakhan corridor, he adds, is "extremely safe—as safe as any high-mountain area can be." The region has not seen recent violence, the Taliban "have no interest in it," and the people "are very welcoming."
Still, he says, that success may hinge on the country's overall stability and security.
In the meantime, Zahler says his organization has proposed a comprehensive list of new parks for Afghanistan. The government is receptive to the idea, he says, and hopes to designate more over time.
When it comes to understanding the value of parks, says Zahler, "Afghanistan really gets it."
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