Caravans to Tartary

It was indeed once upon a time when two French youth must have looked at a map, searching for the ultimate in remoteness, and settled for the Wakhan salient, that geopolitical accident of the "Great Game" in Asia, the rivalry between Britain and Russia for dominance in Central Asia. The salient was a small bit of land, around 200 miles long, that was drawn on the maps to separate Czarist Russia from British India, connecting Afghanistan to China. And of all the dreamers who have looked at this map, Roland and Sabrina Michaud actually DID it - they went there, and with their youth and determination talked their way into one of the very last Bactrian camel winter caravan re-supply trips that ever occurred. Their pictures of a way of life that has now disappeared are haunting - a unique and most valuable documentary effort. At a time when so much of the world's attention was focused on a conflict in South East Asia, who could have known that this region would soon be engulfed in endless war, a tragedy occurring today. In addition to the Wakhan trip, they explored at leisure many of the villages just south of the Oxus (Amu Darya) river, the border between the then USSR and Afghanistan. It is here where their best portraits of the Afghans were done, and although not explicitly confirmed, no doubt Sabrina was instrumental in composing and taking the pictures of the women. They also managed to photograph a "bozkashi," a national sport of sorts, whereby horsemen struggle for control of a goat. Of the landscapes, my favorite is on page 36, a village with mulberry and poplars in early autumn. I agree with another reviewer that the text is somewhat overly romantic, and ignores the harsh realities of the existence so beautifully photographed. Furthermore, the text was eerily prophetic for the authors, specifically from the section on the Turkmenian wedding: "I like the peacefulness and serenity of these women. And if the carpets reflect their inner life, then I can even like their submission." A beautiful book, a valuable historical record of a departed world.

Roland and Sabrina Michaud spent 14 years wandering around Afghanistan before the Russian invasion and subsequent series of wars put an end to their travels. They must have taken a huge number of photographs, trying to preserve on film ways of life and the ancient landscape that was doomed to disappear under the guns of late 20th century wars. Those wars continue. Once, they took a trip with five Kirghiz camel drivers and their 17 camels up the Wakhan corridor--a strip of land separating the USSR from Pakistan and touching China. They also haunted the bazaars, the oases, the hills and valleys of northern Afghanistan, searching for the picturesque, the exotic, and the soul of peoples whose lives would soon be transformed. They took excellent pictures of everything. For photography, who could give them less than five stars ? As for the text, it's minimal, not overly informative, and maybe notable as much for what isn't said as for what is. I would have to say that the text is too romantic and does not extend to any politics whatsoever. It has been politics, however, that did this "exotic" world in. You wouldn't pick this book for the text, OK, but with the photos, you can't go wrong. Take a look.