The hook
A high Silk Road valley where two colossal Buddhas once stood carved into the cliff until the Taliban dynamited them, and, over the ridge, a chain of impossibly blue lakes dammed by natural mineral walls.
01Why it's worth it
The Bamiyan Valley, in Afghanistan's central highlands, was a great Buddhist centre on the Silk Road, and for some fifteen hundred years two enormous standing Buddhas, the largest carved into the sandstone cliffs, presided over it, surrounded by painted caves. In 2001 the Taliban destroyed the statues with explosives, an act of cultural annihilation that shocked the world; the empty niches remain, haunting in their absence, a monument to what was lost. Nearby lies Band-e-Amir, Afghanistan's first national park, a series of deep sapphire-blue lakes held back by natural travertine dams high in the mountains, a place of startling beauty long sacred to locals. The region is the heartland of the Hazara people, who have suffered greatly. Afghanistan is under Taliban rule, gravely restrictive especially for women, and travel is strongly advised against; this entry records the valley's beauty and its wounds, not a recommendation to go.
02How to experience it
Not a travel recommendation: Afghanistan is under Taliban control, travel is strongly advised against, and conditions, especially for women, are severe. This stands as a record of Bamiyan's history, its destroyed Buddhas, and Band-e-Amir's lakes, and of the Hazara people of the region, in hope of a safer future. Support for Afghan heritage and people is the meaningful engagement now.