Dawakul Lake is located 130km from kashgar, on the southeastern tip of the Taklimakan desert. Dawakul in Uyghur means “curing lake” and for many centuries people have visited the lake to swim in its waters seeking cures for their ailments.

From the lake you can look out to the vast Taklimakan desert and the sand dunes stretching away before you. At the lake shore locals oven bake delicious freshly caught fish, lamb and chicken which you can enjoy for your lunch. We will take a walk around the lake and enter into the desert. There is the option to experience ancient desert transportation by riding a camel or alternatively for a more modern exhilarating ride you have the opportunity to drive one of our dune buggies over the dunes. We can also trek through the desert for a couple of hours.

Corner Lake (Bulung Kul) is a tranquil shallow lake. Flowing into this lake is the Gaz River, originating from the Karakul Lake,

this river carries sand to the lake which has then been picked up by the wind and blown to create impressive sand covered mountains on the far side. You can take very nice photographs of the lake with stunning reflections of the sand mountains.

Karakoram Highway. Leaving Opal our journey will take us along the famous Karakoram Highway beginning in Kashgar and ending in Islamabad, Pakistan, this road is in excess of 1000km long.

It is renound as the highest paved boarder crossing in the World and is regarded as one of the Worlds most beautiful highways.

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Shipton’s Arch is the tallest natural arch in the World at a towering 500m high and 100m wide, meaning that a small airplane can pass through! It is one of the least well known top twenty natural wonders of the World. It was first documented after a visit in 1947 by English mountaineer Eric Shipton, who made the arch known to the West in his book Mountains of Tartary.

It stayed forgotten for many years due to its remote inaccessible location within the Kara Tagh (Black Mountain) range. It was only as recently as May 2000 that an expedition sponsored by National Geographic rediscovered the arch marking its position so that foreigners can now find it.
“This arch far exceeded all my expectations. It is quite simply breathtaking when the arch is revealed before your eyes at the summit of your uphill scramble and well worth the climb. Due to its extreme remoteness you can be overwhelmed by the absolute silence.”
Janina Henly Wales UK, March 2009

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Tashkorgan is an interesting small town located on the Pamir Plateau. This area was extremely isolated until the rebuilding of the Karakoram highway in 1987 and even today the local community still lives in a very traditional fashion with only a single road reaching here from Kashgar it has retained a certain uniqueness.

The population numbers around 33,000 people of which Tajik are the majority at 87%. Bordering this county are the countries of Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. This region is commonly known as the main road of the “old Silk Road” the main route leading from China to West Asia. The average elevation is 4000 meters.

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Kashgar is famous with its old town. It is located across road of the Id Kah mosque till reach to the Sunday market. The people who are living in old town are 100% Uyghur’s. They’ve been living in this old town since the city of kashgar is formed so it has a history of more then 2000years old. Read more »