22 July 2014 / leggypeggy

Three years later I make it to a Kyrgyz waterfall

African Trails, countryside, hiking, Jeti-Öghüz, Kyrgyzstan, overland travel, scenery, travel, waterfalls

In search of a waterfall

No one should accuse me of rushing into things—at least not when it comes to things (namely me) going up and especially me going down slippery paths. Whenever we scramble along gravelly, muddy or just plain steep terrain, I swear a lot and regularly remind Poor John that the chances of me falling are slim, but the consequences of me falling are great. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do me much good. By the time I say the words ‘the chances of me falling’, he has shot ahead about 50 metres with his head and shoulders hunched forward and his hands clasped behind his back. If you follow this blog, you will know this stance.

Near the beginning of the uphill

Of course, my pleadings are in the hope that one day he’ll stay close by and offer a helping hand or a willing shoulder. Instead I have to foist myself on other men or women who seem to be steady on their feet and who make the mistake of staying anywhere near me. So all this explanation is a lead-up to my second stab at reaching the waterfall near Jeti-Öghüz (more about this soon) in Kyrgyzstan. My first stab was in 2011 on our London to Sydney overland. That year, the group set out with a guide who swore he knew the way (but didn’t). They (not including me) got there in the end with a lot of detours, missed turns, and slipping and sliding in the mud.

Farther up the hill—a bit

I intended to make it to the waterfall, but back-tracked across a small (but raging) stream to keep Lin company. She had tried her best to cross that stream, but the slippery rocks were just too daunting. I sympathised and (if I confess) wasn’t all that keen to slog up the muddy hill before me. It had been raining steadily, and it might still have been drizzling. Fortunately my memory is a little foggy on that count. But the others pressed on because the guide said the waterfall was only 30 minutes away from where I turned back. Not true. Lin and I waited more than an hour (more like two) for the group to return. After no sign of them, we headed back to the village to have lunch. We’re supportive like that. In the end, the group took so long to return that Lin and I actually became quite worried, but a couple of hours later we saw them trudging along the path towards us.

As waterfalls go, this one is not all that impressive or am I just hard to please?

Poor John’s first words were You would have hated it. Very slippery and muddy! Norman (Lin’s hubby) had a more colourful story. He found the path to be especially slippery and dangerous (so yes, I would have hated it). He said he struggled to make progress UNTIL he looked up and saw Poor John, with his hands clasped behind his back, powering up the hill. Norman said I thought if Poor John could do it, so could I, so I clasped my hands behind my back and powered up the hill.

Our camping spot in 2014—in that big green patch. Can you make out the truck and our tents just to the left of the trees? We’re about halfway up to the waterfall

So fast-forward to 2014. We’ve camped at Jeti-Öghüz again and much, much closer to the start of the walk. In fact, we’ve knocked off about two hours of walking on the flat and lower hills. The sun is out, Poor John sort of remembers the way and I have plenty of time to make a second stab at it. So Nicola, Poor John and I set out. Poor John reckons the waterfall is about an hour away.

A small settlement near Jeti-Öghüz

A local store with a resident falcon

We strolled through a couple of small settlements and crossed a couple of rough timber bridges. Then we hit a really, really steep bit where even the goats were struggling. Mind you the three-legged goats were having more trouble than the four-legged ones. Okay I’m stopping here, I said. I don’t like going up and I know I’ll hate coming down.

Nicola takes a break in a steep (it’s steeper than it looks) and gravelly bit. She’s picking out a sheep for the barbecue (just kidding)

But then we saw a couple of other walkers quite high above us (even people we knew). They were striding confidently along the right (almost level) path. So I relented and kept going up until we reached the path that wasn’t quite so challenging. There were plenty of other scary spots, but Andy was with us by then (rather we were with him) so he became my convenient ‘crutch’ for the rest of the walk. And we made it to the waterfall, which we all had to admit was only just worth the effort. The views, on the other hand, were well worth the trouble. I nearly went over a cliff just short of the falls. We came upon a group of Kyrgyz men who had spent their morning drinking vodka at the falls. They were leaving—stumbling up the hill—as we arrived and desperate to have their photos taken with us.

The merrymakers approach. The white-shirted one nearly sent me over the edge

As they rushed towards us, a jovial but very wobbly fellow lurched forward and nearly pushed me over the edge. Luckily I already had a death grip on a tree stump. So I made it to the waterfall—AND BACK. Funny how coming back was so much easier. I only swore a couple of times.

Hungry?
You may be hungry after seeing all those sheep in the mountains. May I suggest the lamb pilaff recipe from my cooking blog.