Section #13: Sebiston to Levakant

It is about 140km (87 miles) from Sebiston to the end of the trail in the town of Levakant. I would carry all the food you need from Sebiston. The very small villages you pass through will have candy/snack stores at best.

Terrain will not be difficult, but you need to manage your water carefully. I’m very familiar with the second part of this route, as I’ve spent a lot of time in the Levakant area. Once you get to the Vakhsh River, the river is your drinking water source. It is always clear, as it is below large reservoirs. But you should filter and chemically treat the water as there are plenty of people and livestock living upstream. My local friends drink straight from the river, but you shouldn’t. Check the GPX files for the waypoints discussing water source. For the first half of the route (until you reach the Vakhsh River) my water commentary is speculation about springs and instructions to ask villagers about water. I’m not worried, friendly villagers will keep you hydrated.

A possible “annoyance” is the Baypaza (Boyghizi) hydroelectric dam. I haven’t been here, only to the three dams down river. An expat friend drove across the dam about 15 years ago and reported no problems. But I have no recent anecdotes. But you don’t need to cross the dam, just pass by it. It looks like there is a clear bypass road with no gates (the road connects villages to civilization).

The next possible obstacle is the footbridge over the Vakhsh River. Sometimes footbridges are taken down or fall down and they are not replaced. If this bridge is vital to livestock owners, then it will be maintained or replaced if there is a problem. But if it is, like some infrastructure, just an old Soviet era construction, then it might not have a value high enough for anybody to replace it. If it is not there when you get there, no problem. You do a riverside road walk to the village of Sangtuda. Then continue down to where the railway crosses the river. Cross the railroad bridge to the village of Zaghertut and rejoin the trail there. Are you allowed to cross the railroad bridge? I was able to walk across railroad bridges in this area as local people use them for shortcuts. But they have watchmen in little huts on one side of the bridge. Talking to one a few years back, he asked that I not linger on the bridge, but rather just walk steadily across. The railway managers asked for safety reasons - after a local person was killed by a train, that people not use the bridges as a scenic place to hang out. The photo below is the bridge to Levakant.

When you arrive in Levakant, you can stay in a hotel here, or take a quick taxi to the city of Bokhtar and stay in a hotel there. My recommendation is that, if it is late in the day when you are getting close to Levakant, you should just camp one more night in the foothills. The next morning catch a shared taxi from Levakant to Bokhtar, and then on to Dushanbe. The shared taxis all drop you off at Sakhovat Bazaar on the southside of Dushanbe. There will be plenty of city taxis with metered fares waiting at the crossroads by this bazaar.