GMargot Flügel-Anhalt has always liked to travel. But since her retirement, the tours of the social worker have become longer and more dangerous: as a 64-year-old she drove to Central Asia on a motorcycle, as a 65-year-old with an old Benz via India to Laos and as a 68-year-old with a Lada Niva to Nanga Parbat im Himalayas. On the last two tours, she crossed Iran and Pakistan. “The hospitable people and the fantastically beautiful landscapes make up for the effort on this route,” says the adventuress and bestselling author.
WELT: You gave away your Benz C 180, which you drove to Laos in 2019/2020, there. Why did you choose a Lada for your next trip the following year, was the Benz unreliable?
Margot Flügel-Anhalt: The Benz was great. The brake hose leaked only once and the brakes failed, but I didn’t have many more problems on the 18,000-kilometer trip to Southeast Asia. That’s why I bought another Benz after my return, a used E 240 with 170 hp and leather seats. But for my tour to Nanga Parbat it was out of the question. On the pothole-strewn mountain roads, I needed a four-wheel drive vehicle.
In Pakistan, Margot Flügel-Anhalt was repeatedly confronted with flooded streets
What: Polyglot
WELT: And if you had chosen the northern route, i.e. on the Pamir Highway through Tajikistan and then further on the Karakoram Highway through western China to northern Pakistan? Your new Benz would have easily covered the distance even without all-wheel drive.
Wing Anhalt: That was not up for debate last year because China had completely sealed itself off from the outside world due to the pandemic. And I didn’t want to postpone the trip. That’s why I only had the direct trail through Iran and Pakistan. Beijing has relaxed its corona regime, but to the best of my knowledge it is still not possible to enter China with your own vehicle from Tajikistan via the Kulma Pass.
WELT: Does that mean that anyone who wants to go to India and on to Southeast Asia still has to take the Iran-Pakistan route?
Wing Anhalt: Yes, and even if the northern route is passable again – the Pamir Highway is a gravel road. And the Karakoram Highway, which was developed by the Chinese, is by no means as perfect as you might imagine.
WELT: After all, buses have been running regularly across the Chinese-Pakistani border on the Karakoram Highway for some time now. And where they drive, cars can probably get through.
Wing Anhalt: I only know the Pakistani side of the Karakorum Highway, ie the 400-kilometer stretch between Islamabad and the Khunjerab Pass; I got there by then, at an altitude of around 4700 meters. Sure, the road is passable as long as there are no falling rocks or torrents washing everything away. But you always have to reckon with that in the Himalayas. Likewise in the mountainous western part of Pakistan, and this region called Balochistan has to be passed through by anyone who wants to go to India or Southeast Asia. In this respect, you should either have an all-terrain motorcycle or a vehicle with all-wheel drive.
WELT: And what else?
Wing Anhalt: courage and confidence. Because in the western part of Pakistan, the long-distance road runs close to the Afghan border.
Wearing a headscarf: Margot Flügel-Anhalt in front of the clay wall of a 300-year-old house in Iran
What: Polyglot
WELT: You mean that a meeting with the Taliban cannot be ruled out?
Wing Anhalt: Yes, that’s why Levies, armed Pakistani security forces, escort all travelers from the Iran-Pakistan border to Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan.
WELT: Do you also have a police escort in the hotel?
Wing Anhalt: Always in Balochistan and Quetta, sometimes in some other provinces and cities. It’s much worse, however, if you don’t have to sleep in the hotel but at the police station. In 2022 I had this “pleasure” several times when driving the Lada. The severe flood disaster in Pakistan, in which more than 1,700 people lost their lives, had made the roads impassable. Getting to Quetta was not possible, and the Levies insisted that I sleep at the police station.
WELT: A number of travelers to Pakistan have already reported on overnight stays in police shelters…
Wing Anhalt: This is not uncommon, even outside of the monsoon season. There are usually no reasons for this. Or it is only said succinctly that the travelers would be housed in the police stations for their own protection.
WELT: How can travelers prepare themselves for such situations?
Wing Anhalt: With patience, humor, drinking water and something to eat. A sleeping bag and toiletries don’t hurt either. In addition to the police and military, only prisoners spend the night in the police stations, and no effort is made for them.
WELT: Can such forced stays be shortened or at least made more pleasant with baksheesh?
Wing Anhalt: Normally you only stay one night in a police station. I never paid a bribe.
WELT: And in Iran, what is the worst that travelers can expect there?
Wing Anhalt: In Iran, fuel shortages are currently a major problem, as is the fact that there is no internet in conflict situations. In order to be able to find your way around in traffic and to book hotels in advance – which I would always advise – you should load a paid VPN onto your cell phone, virtual networks cannot be easily blocked by the security police. And very important: Never film or photograph in sensitive areas, such as near barracks, military facilities or industrial plants.
WELT: The fastest route across Iran to the Pakistani border crossing at Mirjaveh is through the desert. Is there accommodation there?
Wing Anhalt: Yes, hostels have opened in every major town along the road, even in small settlements. Most of them can also be booked online.
Toudeshk in Iran: In the Guesthouse Tak Taku, Margot Flügel-Anhalt takes a seat on a BSA, the motorbike belonging to the host Mohammad
What: Polyglot
WELT: Do you keep your headscarf on in the car on cross-country journeys?
Wing Anhalt: At least it was close by for me to put on quickly in case I ran into a control. Iranian women are prosecuted by the vice squad if they remove their headscarves while driving.
WELT: Now the vice squad is history…
Wing Anhalt: I recently spoke about this topic on a talk show. After that, friends who are from Iran and saw the show told me that the vice squad still exists. And I think so too, because it fits with the terrible news of the last few weeks about executions of demonstrators.
WELT: Iranians are predominantly Shia, Pakistanis Sunni – does that make a difference for travelers?
Wing Anhalt: As a traveller, you will not be affected by religious problems if you stick to the dress code and treat people with respect, regardless of their religion. In the larger cities of the Pakistani provinces of Sindh and Punjab, women dress in a Western style, and in the Hunza Valley in the north-east of the country, where mainly Ismailis live, women can also learn a trade. However, the majority of Pakistani women are veiled, and in Balochistan you don’t even see veiled women in public, or only very rarely.
WELT: And still a solo foreigner like you can tour Pakistan?
Wing Anhalt: Pakistan needs tourism, it is an important source of income. People respect older women like me. And I’m not a victim, which means I distance myself in good time if a situation threatens to become ambiguous.
Pakistan: After the young men have played volleyball, they invite Margot Flügel-Anhalt to tea
What: Polyglot
WELT: Would you have liked to have had a man by your side in such situations?
Wing Anhalt: I travel consciously and like to travel alone. If I were traveling with a man, nobody in Iran and Pakistan would probably speak to me, only to the male companion. When I travel alone, I experience an incredible amount of helpfulness and hospitality.
WELT: The destination of your journey was Nanga Parbat, which rises not far from the Karakorum Highway. What ideas did you have of the eight-thousander?
Wing Anhalt: In the run-up to the trip, I dealt intensively with Nanga Parbat and its history as the glorified “Mountain of Fate of the Germans”. Before Herman Buhl climbed it for the first time in 1953, it became an icy grave for many mountaineers. They took the risk because they wanted to experience the fascination that emanates from Nanga Parbat.
WELT: Did the mountain cast its spell on you too?
Wing Anhalt: Absolutely. I was very fortunate to experience a moonless night near it, at an altitude of about 4500 meters. In this absolute darkness, the Nanga Parbat seemed to glow from within. I heard the thundering avalanches, the cracking and bursting of the glaciers. That was pure luck for me. The 22,000 kilometer journey was worth it for that alone.
Pausing during the descent over the glacier on Nanga Parbat: For Margot Flügel-Anhalt, the journey was worth it
What: Polyglot
WELT: Speaking of which: did the Lada bravely hold out there and back?
Wing Anhalt: The Russian off-road vehicle was heavily demanded. Due to the mud and water in Pakistan, the voltage regulator in the alternator broke, the fourth gear in the transmission gave up the ghost, the driver’s seat is broken. But everything could be repaired by competent craftsmen on the way. And I got home safely.
Margot Flügel-Anhalt has written three books about her travels; after “Über Grenzen” and “Einfach Abfahrn” “Hoch. Out: My Journey to the People of the World’s Highest Mountains”, Polyglott Verlag, 240 pages, 18.99 euros. In it, the 69-year-old describes her three-month tour to Nanga Parbat.
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Source: WORLD | Nele Wuerzbach