Bamiyan Valley
A Treasure Lost Forever

This article describes a weekend trip to the most popular tourist destination in Afghanistan. It includes the Red City, Bamiyan Valley, and the Band-i-Amir Lakes.

Afghanistan's reputation as a land of contrasts is enhanced by its major tourist attraction, the Valley of Bamiyan. In a land where 96% of the people are Moslems, tourists can view the largest statue of Buddha in the world.

Harvest Time
The road to Bamiyan is unpaved but easily passable. As we bounce along along in the CARE MEDICO Volkswagen Van, farmers and families are preparing for winter. Harvesting is almost complete, fall plowing is underway and women spread corn from to on the roofs to dry.

Nothing is wasted in this arid land. Platter-sized patties of dry animal dung is carefully collected and stored on the roof for winter fuel. Young boys gather dead leaves from under the trees in large burlap sacks for animal feed. After a picnic lunch under some carefully irrigated poplar trees, we placed all our trash in a plastic bag to take with us. Our driver insisted that we leave it as the local people will find a use for every scrap.

Caravanserai
The high walls of a neglected Caravanserai rise on the hill above the road. Those who have read James Michener's book Caravans will remember that a Caravanserai is a haven for nomads. Once inside its walls a person was supposed to be safe. Even bitter enemies were supposed to live in peace inside the Caravanserai.

Red City
Eight hundred feet above the entrance to the Bamiyan Valley are the ruins of the Red City. This fortress of sun-dried red clay was once home to 3,000 people and was the primary defense for the valley during 12th and 13th centuries. In 1221 it was attack by the grandson of Genghis Kahn. The fort held and the grandson was killed. In revenge Genghis Khan himself attacked the valley and destroyed everything including the irrigation systems. The Red City was never rebuild after this attack. The ancient mud walls stand only because there is little rainfall in this desert country to destroy them.
Our guide was a local farmer who makes extra cash leading tours to the Red City. He skipped nimbly up the steep path wearing ill-fitting hard-soled shoes. We labored along slipping and sliding in our hiking boots. It did nothing for our egos to learn that this was his third trip of the morning.


The first level were the defensive building. The second the living quarters for the ordinary people and the top level at 1000 feet, the royal quarters. What a magnificent view the king enjoyed from his apartment. On one side the end of the Hindu Kush mountain range which continues into Chinas the Himalayan Mountains. On the other side stretches the Koh-I-Baba range on which the Red City is built. Between the two ranges the entrance to the lovely Bamiyan Valley.

On the way down we considered the people who had to carry food, water, and fuel up these cliffs every day. Perhaps they were not sorry it was destroyed.

The Beautiful Bamiyan Valley
The first sight of the Buddhas is breathtaking. During the Third and Fourth Century AD and before the introduction of Islam to this region a large Buddhist colony inhabited the valley. At one time more than 1,000 monks lived and prayed here in caved carved into the cliffs. They created two large figures of Buddha, one standing, the other seated.

The smaller Buddha is 125 feet high and was the first built. It is located in a parabolic niche in the vertical cliff. It was first carved in stone and then plastered with mud and straw and painted red. The roof and walls of the niche were decorated with frescoes, a few of which survive. A maze of tunnels, caves, and rooms encircles the statue. Today it is still possible to climb to the head.

Anne is standing on the left foot. (Arrow) Statue was defaced after the introduction of Islam. Notice the many caves and cells in the rock cliff. This statue was totally destroyed by the Taliban.

Four hundred yards along the cliff is the large standing Buddha. One hundred and seventy five feet high, it was built after the seated Buddha and is more elaborate. To form the realistic drape of the cloth, ropes were attached to the stone and then plastered with mud. During the ninth century, Islam was introduced into the country and the Islamic priests in their zeal for the newly introduced religion ordered the faces and hands of the statues destroyed. In the following centuries the caves were used as shelters by the numerous nomads whose fires blackened the ceilings.

Neglected the frescoes weathered away so that only a few speak for the former grandeur that existed. Today the Afghan government , recognizing the historical importance of the Bamiyan statues and with the help of archeological teams is working to protect what remains. An airport now brings tourists to the valley and a paved road is under consideration.

On a cliff opposite the Buddhas is the Bamiyan Hotel. Guests stay in tent-like structures called yerts. The yerts have electric lights which can be used only between 6 and 11 pm. Some have bathrooms with running water (not for drinking) and sanitary facilities. A kerosene heater is lighted each night ward off the chill of the mountain nights. The yert is furnished with felt rugs and cots. Sheep and goats graze on the flowers outside.

The best part of the Bamiyan Hotel is the magnificent view of the Buddhas on the opposite side of the valley and valley floor where the Afghan farmers go about their daily chores oblivious to the historical importance of their surroundings.

.Band-I-Amir Lakes
Few visitors to Bamiyan fail to continue on to the Band-I-Amir Lakes. The unpaved road climbs from the valley to the heights of 10,000 feet over barren desolate hills.

In the middle of October surrounding peaks are already snow covered. No trees grow here and the only plant life consists of red mounds of moss. In anticipation of the long winter ahead, men from the villages below climb up here to with their donkeys and harvest the moss with pick-axes. Back home the moss will be stored on the roofs for use as kindling for cooking and heating fires.

The men offer to sell passing tourists fossils Brahiopod shells they have found there in the sedimentary rock layers of the hills. These shells of marine animals are evidence that these mountains were at one time on the floor of the ocean.

Driving through this barren land we are surprised to come upon an Afghan cemetery with slab headstone and flags waving from long poles. The graves belong to ancestors of the Nomads who still wander through the mountains herding their sheep and goats.

The sapphire blue of the lakes stood in sharp contrast to the barren landscape. There are five lakes all formed by a natural dam of mineral deposits. The water is so clear, that we can see fish from the cliff 100 feet above. The dam of the main lake is 40 feet high and looks very much like the mineral deposits at Yellowstone National Park. The lake is 2 miles long and 500 yards wide.

The Afghans built a shrine here to Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the prophet Mohamed who legend says caused the lakes to be formed.

Below the dam are flour mills using water power to turn the mill stones. The miller and his helpers are covered in flour.

Despite warnings that the water was very cold, our group decides we must take a swim. I am however, the only one who actually got in the water and it was cold. The swim was very refreshing and I am glad I did it if only because so few people can say they swam in the Band-I-Amir Lakes in Afghanistan.