HINDU KUSH

In July 1991 Isobel Shaw came over to me as I sat in the garden of the Hunza Inn in Gilgit and said "I was at the Ministry of Tourism in Islamabad two days ago, and on the desk of the Operations Chief there was a permit for Boroghil and it had your name on it!" 

In September that year, accompanied by Maqsood ul-Mulk of Ayun, Chitral, Tom Gilchrist and I became the first foreigners to be allowed up the Yarkun valley to Boroghil since Wilfred Thesiger in 1953. It was our intention to follow a route parallel with and just a few kilometers south of the Wakhan in Afghanistan, via the Karumbar and Chilinji passes to Baba Gundi Ziarat, the Chapursan valley and finally the village of Sost in upper Hunza. It took me three attempts before I finally crossed the Chilinji An in August 1994, and I subsequently crossed it four times before the tragic events of 9/11 changed our world for ever. I also made several other journies in the area, to places such as Darkot, Gazikistan and the Kalash valleys before that hateful day in 2001. These images are of journeys and people whose memories will remain some of my greatest treasures as long as I live.