afghanistan virtual tour

Matador Original Series

Meet Fatima Haidari, Afghanistan’s First Female Tour Guide

“ W hen I was seven years old, I gave tours to my sheep every day in the nature and high hills, to find food for themselves. I had no idea that being a tour guide was a real job.”

Before Fatima Haidari set a remarkable precedent in the tourism industry, these were the only “tours” available to Afghani women . Today, Haidari is Afghanistan’s first female tour guide, trailblazing a path for women in a country where doing so carries serious risks.

Globally, females represent only three percent of accredited adventure tour guides. This is largely due to cultural expectations in many regions of the world, and fewer opportunities for education, including language, business, and leadership training for women. Cultural obstacles are particularly crippling for women in Afghanistan, where they traditionally play subordinate roles and aren’t encouraged to pursue professional careers. The situation for women has deteriorated even more since the Taliban retook control of the country last year. Now, women are barred from most of the workforce and even from attending school past the sixth grade, the United Nations reports . Within this extremely unjust system, Haidari is seeking to break the mold.

When she started university, she was tasked with researching the tourist attractions of Afghanistan, mainly in the city of Herat. That’s when she first became acquainted with Afghanistan’s many cultural, natural, historical, and archaeological sites, and set out to educate others about her country’s beauty. Her goal was to change the perception of Afghanistan as a place defined by conflict, bombings, and draconian laws, and emphasize the stunning landscapes and historical attractions to be found there. She started posting about historical sites on a Facebook group, and soon, people began contacting her for tours of Herat.

Photo: Untamed Borders

“I decided to start giving tours despite knowing its dangers, because I strongly believed there should be somebody to start it, otherwise it will always remain an unaccepted job for women. I wanted it to inspire other women to have the courage to do what they like to do.”

Haidari currently works with Untamed Borders , an adventure travel company that brings people to some of the world’s most inaccessible places. Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, Haidari has been leading virtual tours from Italy, and looks forward to returning to in-person tours in Afghanistan once it’s safe to do so. We spoke to Haidari to learn all about her experience as Afghanistan’s first female tour guide, the struggles it entails, and her goals for the future.

Matador Network: What has been the toughest part about touring people around Afghanistan?

Haidari: Fighting with the society that was trying to bring me down. Strange looks on the streets, insulting me with their bad words, physical abuse, sending negative energy saying, “you’re a girl and can’t do this, do it with a male colleague, you’re putting the lives of tourists in danger, you became non-Muslim, it’s time to repent.” The only gun I used to fight with was just a smile to make them understand I won’t give up. They’re wrong, not me.

What needs to change in Afghanistan for more women to feel comfortable pursuing careers like yours?

Women should not accept the injustice, and all people should be educated to understand human rights and what’s right and wrong. There should be more national and international support for women’s education.

What is the most important thing you hope visitors learn about Afghanistan from your tours?

Afghanistan is beautiful and worth being seen. Everything is not negative about my country. People are hospitable, the culture is rich, and more importantly, Afghanistan is a part of the world we all are living in. An Afghanistan without peace is the world without peace. The world without Afghanistan is incomplete.

For the time being, you are only conducting virtual tours. Explain why, including why you temporarily left the country.

What I had been doing was a red flag for extremists against women’s social activities, and terrorist groups like the Taliban. Yes, I became a target to be killed specially when the Taliban arrived in Afghanistan. So I had to stay or live, and I decided to live. To live, the only way was to leave Afghanistan.

When I came to Italy I decided to not give up and continue fighting, not with guns but with my knowledge and love of my country. No matter how small or how far away I am, I wanted to continue giving tours and introducing my beautiful country to the world from a positive perspective, no matter how bad things get there. Virtual touring was a way I could continue to do my job but from a different window, while supporting female education in Afghanistan even if it’s hidden. So thank you to all those nice people who are supporting my girls out there in Afghanistan by participating in my virtual tours, and making me feel like I’m guiding tours again.

What are you most excited about in the near future?

It’s my job to never give up on the aims I have for future tourism of Afghanistan and women’s participation in it. If there are more people interested in participating and supporting Afghan girls’ education, I would like to expand from Herat and give tours to all the provinces of Afghanistan. Together we could help girls like me in Afghanistan to build their stories, and to be the changers, not the victims.

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Afghanistan’s First Female Travel Guide Is Giving a Virtual Tour of Herat

An inspiring t+l interview with this shepherd-turned-travel-guide. don’t miss her august 23 virtual tour of herat..

By: Nicola Chilton Published: Oct 06, 2023 11:14 AM UTC

Even without pandemic border closures, there are some places unfortunately unopen to tourism. Allow us to introduce you to travel hero Fatima Haidari, who wants to share all she knows and loves about one of the most beautiful countries on Earth: Afghanistan.

ON OCTOBER 10 , Fatima Haidari will guide a group of tourists on a journey through Central Afghanistan, taking in the bustling streets of the capital Kabul, the sweeping landscapes of Bamian and Ghor province, and the ancient sights of Herat, the country’s third largest city and a place that’s been a center of culture, art and poetry for centuries. As the first female tour guide in Afghanistan, these are all places Haidari knows well.

She’ll lead her guests to favorite spots like Bamian’s Buddhist caves, lakes the colour of lapis lazuli in Band e Amir, the 800-year-old Minaret of Jam in a remote valley in Ghor province, and Herat’s intricately tiled Great Mosque, imposing Citadel and the towering minarets of the Musalla complex.

But Haidari and her group won’t physically be in Afghanistan. The excursion is part of a series of virtual tours that she’s organizing with Untamed Borders , a travel company specializing in off-the-beaten-track adventures that has been working in the country since 2008, pioneering the first skiing and kayaking trips, and founding the Marathon of Afghanistan. 

Haidari left Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in 2021, and is determined to continue showing the beauty of her country from her current base in Italy . She’s also raising awareness and funds for charities that are continuing to offer education for girls – in secret – in Afghanistan, with proceeds from the tour’s US$60 participation fee supporting this work.

She hopes that the one-hour virtual tours will give her guests a sense of what they would experience if they joined her in person, as well as an insight into the realities of the current situation in the country. And for Haidari herself, although she’s conducting her tours from some 5,000 kilometers away, they still feel ‘real,’ she says: “I feel like I’m continuing to do my job.” 

She credits an unusual source as being the inspiration behind her career as a tour guide – the sheep she herded through the mountains of Afghanistan as a small girl. With nobody else to speak to, she started talking to them about nature, the mountains and waterfalls, and anything else that struck her as beautiful. “It may sound a little strange now, but when I started (working as a tour guide), it really connected back to when I was guiding a group of sheep,” she told Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia in an interview. “Being a shepherd helped me to be a good leader.”

Her family moved from the mountains to Herat, where she researched Afghanistan’s potential tourist attractions as part of her university studies. “I knew that when people around the world heard the name Afghanistan, only pictures of mines, explosions, terror and war came into their minds,” she says. “I really didn’t like that, so I decided to introduce Afghanistan in a positive way to the world, from the perspective of a woman.” 

Starting small, Haidari created a Facebook account that she populated with regular photos and posts. Her page gained traction among a community of curious travelers, and in early 2020 she was approached by two Ukrainians who asked her to guide them around Herat. 

“I was able to introduce the beauty of Afghanistan to them in a positive way, without the negatives of explosions or terror or bombing,” she says. Her hope was that her guests would go home and tell their friends about the country and what they experienced there. “I was a woman who, for the first time, didn’t think about what would happen after that,” she says. “That day was so nice and I was feeling so positive.”

Becoming a tour guide was not a decision that Haidari took lightly, and she struggled to convince her family to let her take on a job that was not generally accepted by society for a female in Afghanistan. “I was the only one of my siblings who was educated, and our neighbors and society judged me a lot for doing such a job,” she says. 

Her mother also opposed her decision at first, but eventually convinced the rest of the family to let her get on with it. Haidari understands her mother’s concerns all too well. “In a country where you go out in the morning and you’re not expected to come back alive, it was her right to be worried,” she says.

Haidari describes herself as “a changer, not a victim.” As she says, “I decided to change my life, to not accept being the victim of superstition, tradition, and what this society or community decides for us.” She hopes the sentiment can help to motivate others, and it’s this spirit that has carried her through times when the criticism and negativity around her career choice became almost too hard to bear. 

“I was telling myself, Fatima, what they are doing is just asking you to be stronger ,” she says. “It means you are just not strong enough yet, and you have to be stronger than they are.”

In the course of working as a tour guide in Afghanistan, Haidari faced stares and insults, and had stones thrown at her. “Even the educated people were telling me it was so dangerous for me as a girl, and that if I wanted to continue this job I should have a male colleague,” she recalls. But she was determined to carry on, believing that as a female tour guide, she could bring about a different understanding of her country for the many visitors who were as interested in Afghan women’s stories as they were in historical places. 

“I have lived these stories and can tell them in a way that men can’t,” she says. “These stories are not my own, but the stories of millions of women.”

To join Fatima Haidari and to support her chosen charities for women’s education, book your place on her next virtual tour of Herat on October 10, 2023, at 7 p.m. GMT through Untamed Borders .

• Afghanistan
• Fatima Haidari
• Female Travel Guide

Nicola Chilton

• Virtual Tour

Nicola Chilton is a Dubai-based multilingual writer and creative communications strategist with a passion for storytelling and all things travel. Nicola has been lucky enough to call the UK, Mexico, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand and currently the UAE home. Her first travel memory was crying on the deck of the cross-channel ferry from France to England .. Read More as a four-year-old because she didn't want the holiday to end. And she has been exploring ever since. Read Less

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Taliban takeover one year on: Afghanistan's only female guide is now running virtual tours

Although she is adjusting to her new life in italy, fatima haidari says her heart remains in her home country.

Fatima Haidari made headlines when she became Afghanistan's first female tour guide. All photos: Untamed Borders unless otherwise specified

When the Taliban seized control of Kabul last year, Fatima Haidari was forced to leave her loved ones behind and flee Afghanistan.

She was in danger as the only female tour guide in a country now in the clutches of a regime known for its brutality against women. With her story of success in the country’s tourism industry having been published around the world , she was believed to be a target for the extremist group.

She initially left her home in Herat and moved to the capital. However, within one month Kabul had also fallen and Haidari had to escape. What followed was a nail-biting journey including several attempts to reach the airport, death threats from the Taliban and the help of foreign soldiers.

Today, almost one year after arriving in Italy and having endured more horrors than most could imagine in a lifetime, Haidari is turning 24.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Fatima Haidari (@fatima.haidari786)

However, just like last year's birthday spent hiding in Kabul, she isn't celebrating. Though, she does have one birthday wish — that the Taliban will allow girls in Afghanistan to go back to school.

According to Unicef, more than 850,000 girls have been prevented from attending secondary school since the Taliban seized control.

One of the lucky ones who managed to flee, Haidari has been given a fully funded scholarship to one of the best universities in Italy on a course she’s looking forward to starting after the summer. She’s also continuing to do what she does best, guide travellers around Afghanistan, even if it is virtually.

A 1,400-year-old mosque, ancient bazaars and traditional teahouses

Picking up her guide duties with Untamed Borders, a travel operator specialising in trips to less-trodden parts of the world, Haidari's next virtual tour will take place on August 23. Travellers keen to find out more about Afghanistan can join her for an exploration of Herat, the country's third-largest city.

Designed to give participants a glimpse into her home country, the tours — which Haidari has already hosted a handful of — involve stories about Afghanistan, its people, its culture and its tumultuous history.

Guiding guests virtually though the city, which is located more than 800 kilometres from Kabul, she takes travellers to the 1,400-year-old Great Mosque, through the Herat citadel and to the city’s bustling bazaars and traditional teahouses. Haidari explains how her interaction with lovers of travel over the years prompted her to launch the digital experiences.

“Travellers are always going to be the people who see Afghanistan, and other parts of the world, differently," she says. "You cannot feel or you do not understand a country's residents until you visit them, that’s when you see, that’s when you get an idea. And, when the Taliban took Afghanistan, it was the travellers, the people who had been here, who I saw working so hard to help.”

For James Willcox, founder of Untamed Borders, the virtual tour is a chance to remember the cultural wealth of Afghanistan, despite the ongoing situation.

“Nothing beats being somewhere in person, but the chance for Fatima to be able to continue showing her home town to our guests, even though she cannot be there in person, is important in its own right," he says. "We’ve taken guests to Herat since 2008 and it’s an incredible city, with Afghanistan’s most architecturally complete medieval city centre.

“Much of its most striking architecture dates back to the Timurid Empire and was actually commissioned by a woman — Queen Gawhar Shad, the wife of Timurid ruler Shahrukh. Having a female tour guide in Afghanistan gives guests an additional insight into a part of life often unseen there — and that's the life of women in Afghanistan.”

Shining a light on turmoil in Afghanistan

These are no ordinary tours. Haidari also takes the opportunity to tell people about the situation in Afghanistan today — something she describes as nothing other than “hell”.

She says the Taliban are “forcing women to marry them and sexually or physically abusing them". She adds: "Women are not allowed to go out without a chaperone, people lost their jobs, things are three times more expensive and women are now only allowed to be housewives, with no access to education."

Shining a light on what’s happening at the hands of the extremist group also gives Haidari the opportunity to raise awareness of the plight of girls trapped in the country. The tours cost $60, and money raised helps to pay for books, stationery and teachers’ fees in a country where girls are largely banned from going to school.

Haidari is more determined than ever to help women in Afghanistan receive an education.

Born in a rural village in the Ghor province, one of the country’s poorest regions, she knows first-hand what it's like to grow up in a place where education for girls is almost non-existent.

One of seven children, Haidari refused to follow the same path of her sisters who were both married by the age of 15 and instead begged her parents to send her to school.

Burning books as the Taliban took over

When the family moved to Herat in the wake of Taliban attacks, she taught herself at home and graduated from Herat University. During her studies, she also started a voluntary teaching group for girls. However, after the Taliban takeover, Haidari and 10 female colleagues were forced to burn books and papers. They were also forced to close the teaching centre. In January , some of her students returned to the classroom, this time in a secret location, and started learning again under the guidance of one of Haidari’s friends.

“The girls send me videos about their writing and their stories, and it makes me so happy. Inside all the limitations, the darkness and the restrictions, these girls are acting like a light,” she says.

As well as helping to fund the education programme, the tours have also helped Haidari find some peace. “It’s very healing. I feel like I'm doing my job in Afghanistan, just guiding my guests all around,” she says.

“It was a hard decision to leave, because I have done so many things out there. The hardest part was to leave all my loved ones behind in the worst situation of our lives, just to save my life. But I knew that if the Taliban captured me, they would also hurt my family and my loved ones.”

However, her escape from Kabul was anything but simple.

Death threats and panic attacks

Armed with a visa secured by her former employer, Haidari was booked on a flight to Pakistan. As fate would have it, the day she was due to depart was the same day the Taliban captured Kabul and, instead of flying to safety, she found herself wandering the streets of the capital.

“I walked from 8am to 8pm, all the time thinking it was the last day of my life and wondering what it would be like to die at the hands of the Taliban,” she says. Later that evening, she received a call from someone at the home of her former tour operator, telling her to seek refuge there. Two days later, they helped to book her on to a flight to the US.

“We tried to get to the airport, but it was so crowded," she says . “There were so many Taliban members, gunshots and crowds of people, some were injured, others had lost their children and many had been killed. A woman I was with fainted because she couldn’t breathe and when we tried to help her, a Taliban member stopped me with a gun in my face and threatened to kill me. It was so horrible, we decided we couldn’t try any more.”

Dejected, the women returned to the city. But two days later, Haidari was ready to try again — this time with a group of about 25 people who were booked on a flight to Poland. Once more, the situation was too dangerous and after several attempts to make it to the airport , the group decided to retreat.

Stopping for water on their way back into the city, they chanced upon a government official who offered to help them reach the airport safely, in exchange for money.

After handing over the cash, the group successfully reached an area of the airport guarded by foreign military. After a few hours, an Italian soldier asked for their passports and ushered them through the gate to a waiting plane.

Haidari arrived in Italy on August 23 to start her new life; a life now plagued with sleepless nights and panic attacks.

“The last panic attack happened not very long ago. When they happen, I lose control of myself. Last time, I went outside on the street where cars were driving up and down, and I was just asking anyone to help me," she says. "I thought somebody's trying to hurt me, somebody's trying to kill me.”

An unrelenting sense of guilt also consumes her. “I feel guilty for leaving all those people behind in the days they really needed me," she says. "It’s like I left one part of myself in Afghanistan and one part is here. Sometimes my heart is completely out there in Afghanistan, thinking of the women and the situation out there.”

A reimagined bucket list

With near-perfect English and a smile concealing the terror she has lived, Haidari is all too aware of the positives of her situation.

“The people here have been nice to me and really try to make me feel at home," she says. "And, I am a person who loves culture, so of course there’s plenty of that and amazing tourist attractions for me here in Italy.”

Her passion for travel remains pure. “Travelling is understanding the world. Not going to places only to enjoy them, but also to understand them," she says. "When you go to a country, you experience the life of a real local. The world of travel is an amazing world and I'm so, so happy I’m in this world.”

However, with her entire family remaining in Afghanistan, Haidari’s travel goals have changed.

“When I was younger, I read about a woman who wanted to go to Tibet but she was not allowed, so she learnt the language and the culture, and managed to go in as if she were Tibetan," she says. "I always said that one day I would do the same and go discover Tibet in my own way.

"Now, that’s not my dream. Now, going back to Afghanistan, to my country, is my dream — even if it means going as a tourist.”

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Afghanistan refugee uses Zoom to offer virtual tours of her homeland

The 24-year-old worked as a tour guide in Herat before fleeing when the Taliban took power in August 2021, and is now studying international politics at Milan’s Bocconi university

Forced to flee by the Taliban, Fatima Haidari now offers virtual tours of Afghanistan from her new home in Italy – with the proceeds funding secret English classes for women there.

From her student flatshare in Milan, Haidari leads cyber-tourists around the western Afghan city of Herat, using Zoom to show them the grand mosque with its glazed tiles, the citadel and the bustling bazaar.

The 24-year-old worked as a tour guide in Herat before fleeing when the Taliban took power in August 2021, and is now studying international politics at Milan’s Bocconi university.

But she remains passionate about showing outsiders the beauty of her country, even if few tourists currently dare visit.

“When you hear about Afghanistan, you think of war, terror and bombs,” Haidari told AFP in the little kitchen she shares with four other students.

“I want to show the world the beauty of the country, its culture and its history.”

Organised through British tour operator Untamed Borders, the events draw people from Britain to Australia, Germany and India.

A third of the money goes towards secret English classes for young women back in Afghanistan.

The Taliban have imposed harsh restrictions on women since returning to power, including closing secondary schools and universities for girls and women.

Haidari herself faced insults after becoming the first female tourist guide in Afghanistan.

Local religious leaders accused her of “doing the devil’s work”, particularly when accompanying men, while boys threw stones at her in the street.

‘The power of our pens’

Haidari is passionate about education, after battling her whole life for access to books.

Growing up in the mountains in the central region of Ghor, the youngest of seven children, her parents made her look after the sheep.

“I would take the sheep out to graze by the river where the boys had school and secretly listen to their lessons,” she recalled.

“As I didn’t have a pen, I would write in the sand or in clay.”

When she was 10, her impoverished family moved to Herat, where they could not afford to send her to school.

For three years she worked at night on home-made items such as traditional clothes, to raise enough money to pay for classes and text books.

She managed to persuade her parents to allow her to go to university in Herat, where she began studying journalism in 2019.

“They wanted me to become a perfect housewife. But I didn’t want to follow the same path as my two sisters and face an arranged marriage,” Haidari said.

In September last year, she joined around 20 refugee students welcomed by Bocconi University in Milan.

‘Buried alive’

Wearing a black headscarf and leather gilet, jeans tucked into her boots and her laptop in a bag on her back, she looks like any other student on campus.

But she never forgets the plight of women back home.

“They are confined to the house, it is as if they are locked in a prison or in a grave where they are buried alive,” she said.

Haidari is a member of Afghanistan’s minority Hazara community, Shiites in a majority Sunni nation who have been targeted by the Islamic State (IS) group.

When the Taliban arrived, she was warned by the local tour operator she worked for that she might be a target, and fled.

Leaving Afghanistan was traumatic. At Kabul airport, there were desperate scenes as thousands of people tried to get a flight out.

“The Taliban were hitting the crowd with Kalashnikovs, bullets were whizzing by my ears and a young girl collapsed dead next to me. I thought I was in a horror movie, but it was real,” she recalled.

She was unable to get onto flights to the United States and Poland, but got on a plane to Rome.

She still dreams of returning home “to set up my own travel agency and hire women as guides”.

But “as long as the Taliban are in Afghanistan, it is no longer my home,” she said.

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Virtual Tour of Kabul

Tue, Aug 24, 2021 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)

Tickets ($11.75) here .

Join a local virtual guide as we explore the ancient and modern city of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan!

About this event

Given the tumultuous events of the past week, we want our guides to showcase the majesty and history of a land whose culture has survived for centuries. This event is not a political event, nor does it in any way respect the events of the past week. Rather, it is meant to honor the legacy of the city with hope that freedom and democratic ideals one day return soon to celebrate their centuries-old legacy.

Once was the capital of the Mughal Empire, today it is the center of world news and conflicting ancient and modern cultures and religious ideals. Yet, the beauty and history of the magnificent city are not to be missed. While it is unlikely you may be touring Kabul anytime soon, tonight act as a virtual tourist and student as our virtual guide takes us around the city (and surrounding areas) for a rare look into the capital of Afghanistan.

Our virtual tour will experience the most historical parts of Kabul such as Babur garden, Darul Aman Palace, Eidgah Great Mosque, Bala Hissar fortress Queen’s Palace, The National Museum of Afghanistan, and much more

We will also experience some highlights of the city HERAT, including the Citadel of Herat, also known as the Citadel of Alexander.

Note: All Zoom links to attend the tour will be sent 5 to 10 minutes before the event (to the email you register with).

EVENT START TIME IS BASED ON EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME (EDT). HOWEVER, POST RECORDINGS CAN BE SENT IF THE TIME IS INCONVENIENT.

Afghanistan’s first female tour guide

Fatima haidari’s good city guide to herat.

Take a virtual tour of Herat, Afghanistan, with the country’s first female guide – Fatima Haidari tells of her life in the city, of leaving it, and of returning virtually

Katie Dancey-Downs

I have lived a story that maybe some people can’t imagine.

In the bustling Old Bazaar of Herat, you’ll see spun wool and traditional men’s clothes, hand-sewn and embroidered with details. Once, it was Fatima Haidari’s job to make these handicrafts.

She stayed up as late into the night as she could manage, so that she could fund a basic education. Years later, she led tour groups through this Bazaar, showing them the items she once crafted. She knows how much time and love women put into making these items to earn an income, so pointing them out is a special moment on her tour of Herat.

This, of course, was before the Taliban regained control. Fatima was the first female tour guide in Afghanistan. Now there are none. 

For Fatima, Herat was a city of opportunities. Displaced from a war-torn village in Afghanistan at the age of ten, this new place gave her the opportunity to attend school for the first time in her life. In her village, she’d studied books at home, but was desperate to be in a classroom. But once in Herat, she was too old for starting school. The only option was private schooling, and the family’s economic situation couldn’t take the burden. That’s when Fatima began making handicrafts in order to buy books and pay for classes, paving the way for an education, and eventually working for tour operators – including Untamed Borders – and as a radio host.

Once Fatima began leading groups of tourists around her beloved city, CNN got wind of her groundbreaking job. She made the tough decision to tell her story – the double-edged sword of raising her profile and putting her within the sights of terrorist groups. But she wanted other women and girls to know about the possibilities for them.

And then came the Taliban takeover.

Fatima found out she was on the list of targets. Once the Taliban captured Herat, for the safety of herself and her loved ones, Fatima had to leave for Kabul, before being evacuated to Italy.

But from a computer screen in Milan, the 24-year-old is still leading tours of her home city. Through adventure travel company Untamed Borders , Fatima is giving people access to Herat, showing them that there’s more to the country than war and terror.

As people from across the world join one of Fatima’s exclusive tours of Herat, she begins by taking them to the Great Mosque. Even from the pictures, without the sounds, weather or smells of Herat, the blue and azure tiles plastering the mosque are breathtaking. She tells them about the city once famous for its wine, walking them through its history through pictures and videos. 

“Untamed Borders is committed to working with women in conservative countries where their opportunities in the workforce may be limited,” James Willcox, the travel organisation’s founder, tells TOPIA. “As soon as Fatima came onto our radar, we knew she was perfect. She already had a travel blog and had that passion that all good guides need.”

This bold company takes people to some of the most inaccessible places. In fact, James is planning to relaunch in-person trips to Afghanistan soon.

Q&A: Fatima Haidari

To find out everything about Herat, you’ll have to join Fatima’s Untamed Borders tour – the fee for which is split between Fatima and the underground women’s education group in Afghanistan that she supports. But until then, this is a flavour. From her new home in Milan, Fatima told TOPIA how the city has changed her life.

What does Herat mean to you?

Herat is the city where I could find myself, I could know myself better. Before Herat, I was living in an outlying and deprived village where education was forbidden for girls. Herat was a city of opportunities for me.

There was an organisation which offered free English classes for refugee girls. And since I was an internal refugee in Herat, I could take that opportunity. And after eight months, they selected me as an English assistant teacher. They paid me $50 per month. And at the same time, I stopped making handicrafts. In Afghanistan, it was enough to continue my school.

I had to convince my family to let me go to university because I didn’t want to stop there. My father, he was telling me, “It’s enough for you as a girl, that you know reading and writing.” Also, my mother was worried because university was far away from our town. In a country where you go out in the morning and you do not expect to come back alive at night, I think it was her right to be worried. I convinced them. I wanted to study journalism because when I was working as a shepherd in the high hills, I learned the world of education for the first time listening to the old radio of my father. Also, there were a lot of women’s stories around me. I’ve seen women who have been sexually abused, who were beaten by their husbands, and it was so painful for me.

I wanted to cover women’s stories . Journalism was not an easy thing to choose, because it’s a challenging job for women in Afghanistan, because there were so many women journalists who have been kidnapped, killed and robbed. So that was one of the reasons my family didn’t want me to go.

How did you start the classes for educating girls?

Together with ten of my friends who were my classmates, we decided to establish our own organisation. Although we didn’t have any money. The very first people who were listening to our idea were laughing at us because they were thinking, “How without any money, can you open an organisation?” But we decided to go door to door to the people who were working in offices. At first they were laughing at us, but once they saw we were so determined to open the organisation they helped us. One of them gave us chairs, one of them gave us a desk, one of them blackboards and one of them carpets, one of them just a little bit of money.

Finally, after three months, we could establish our own organisation. The girls in our town were deprived of getting an education. We were all women and it was for women, so they could trust us. And within three months, we had 300 women students.

How did you become Afghanistan’s first female tour guide?

I got a project from the university to do research about Afghanistan’s historical attractions. Afghanistan has so many positive things. Anybody in the world who hears the name Afghanistan, pictures only exclusion, terror, or war . I really didn’t like that. So I created a Facebook account, and I joined an English group. As I was doing my research about Afghanistan’s attractions, I was also posting in that English group, because I wanted to reflect Afghanistan positively from the perspective of a woman. There were some travellers in that group who were attracted to my posts, they commented, and I was quite enjoying posting and reading the positive comments.

One day, two travellers from Ukraine contacted me, “Hi Fatima, we really loved your posts. And now we are interested in coming to Afghanistan. And surely we want to come to visit you and your city. So if it’s possible, can you show us around?”

For me, it was the start of a change. I could talk about Herat to them positively, about Afghanistan, about women, about culture . And they could talk about Afghanistan positively to their friends. It is the way to change the world.

I guided them for two days in Herat, and after they left they suggested me to the Untamed Borders company.

I always loved to guide my sheep into nature in the mountains, but I never thought one day I could do the same thing with humans. I was always talking to my sheep when I was a shepherd. Sometimes I felt they understood me more than anybody in my life because people always laughed at my dreams. 

Was it tough to be a female tour guide in Afghanistan?

I think one thing that people were interested in about me guiding them was women’s stories . And they loved me to describe them because I have lived the story.

Actually, it was not very easy to be a tour guide there because it was not accepted in the society. According to them, I was spreading evil or transferring Western ideas to the local women. My father was telling me it’s dangerous and my mum was worried. Once I’d convinced my family I had to fight with society . They looked at me strangely, insulting me with their words, they hit me with stones. Even the people working in historical attractions were telling me, “If you want to continue the job, you have to have a man. You’re not only putting your life in danger but also your guests.”

They were trying to scare me off doing my job. I used to fight with them with just a smile. And I think a smile was enough for me to make them understand that no, I’m not wrong, I’m strong enough to continue my job.

I have a motto – to be a changer, not a victim. You never choose your birthplace, but you can choose the way you live your life.

You never choose your birthplace, but you can choose the way you live your life.

What’s beautiful about Herat for you?

There are so many shrines and the culture is beautiful. People are hospitable. There were so many festivals, and people absolutely loved to offer local foods to my guests.

It has been a place for many empires, from the Mongols and Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, and the Timurid Empire… Once it was part of Iran. It’s very similar to Iran and some people call it Small Iran.

Guests often said when they came to Afghanistan, “Everybody was discouraging us. It’s dangerous for you. But now when we go back, we will encourage others to go to Afghanistan – it’s completely different from what the media reflects to the world.” Of course, we cannot ignore war, terror or those things in Afghanistan, but not in every part of Afghanistan. I mean, I’m talking before the Taliban.

Fatima ‘s Herat

Fatima shares some of her favourite Herat spots to experience, from the bazaars to the teahouses.

1. Great Mosque of Herat

“Herat Mosque is one of the most beautiful mosques in the world, and visitors loved it. It is one of the biggest mosques in Asia and the fifth biggest in the world [according to some reports]. People always say they didn’t think they’d feel this peaceful there. I could hardly convince my guests to leave when it was time. It is so nicely detailed with turquoise and colourful tiles.

The central tile factory is in the Great Mosque. They have very simple tools – and are continuing the job of their fathers. Even if you don’t buy any, there’s an exhibition of tiles every day, so you can go and see the process of how people are making and designing them.

2. Teahouses

“The Old Bazaar of Herat has some teahouses, they’re 100 or 200 years old. They’re special teahouses, because the people who work there are so lovely, and at the same time they’re continuing the job of their fathers. They only have very simple green or black tea, perhaps with chocolate. The teahouses are so small and they were designed with handmade carpets, one of Herat’s biggest trades.

In the Timurid time – for families with low income – sewing carpets was one of their jobs. The whole family gathered together, they drank tea, listened to music, and sewed carpets. The carpets are handmade, with highly-detailed designs, and made from love. They believe that carpets and tea are connected to each other. Tea is what makes sewing the carpets more joyful.

The people working at the local teahouses have their own stories. I would take my guests there during the day to enjoy a cheap, simple cup of tea, but at the same time listen to the locals. For my guests, drinking in one of our local teahouses was so joyful and interesting. For most tour guides, who were men, it was meaningless to take guests into simple teahouses. But for me, it was something that my guests loved the most.

3. Goharshād’s Women’s Garden

“Timurid, which is a great Persian empire, transferred their capital to Herat. And in their empire, there was a woman, or a queen, called Goharshād. She worked a lot on Herat’s culture and archaeological sites. She was the one who commissioned the minarets, a university, and also a special garden where women could do sports. Those were places I could proudly introduce to my guests.

Very early in the morning, women would go cycling or do sports there. It was a safe women-only place because women were not allowed to do sports on the streets or in other places. But that was a place where a woman could run, cycle, or have a picnic.

4. The sounds of Herat

“There were a lot of local music shops and local singers. Those singers, they knew me, so they loved to offer their music to the tourists. They played local instruments or they sang for them. They loved it – they even invited those singers to their hotels to sing for them.

5. Souvenirs from the Old Bazaar

“Herat is the city of souvenirs in Afghanistan. Most of my guests loved to buy a small, handmade carpet, saffron or sweets. There is the Old Bazaar of Afghanistan and Herat has an antique bazaar. There is traditional jewellery – stones, silver, copper, gold from the empires’ times – and musical instruments for sale. Pottery is very famous in Herat.

I think the Old Bazaar is one of the places the guests loved most because the Silk Road in Afghanistan once crossed there and there are traditional Herat streets. You can experience the traditional life of Afghanistan and the traditional activities. It was an international spot once.

6. The Citadel

“The Citadel was first established in 330 BC. It’s now a big castle, but a woman called Shamiran, she first gathered people to make a base to defend the city against attackers. She built it, but once Alexander the Great came, he completely destroyed it and built a new castle. It has been quite a popular place for the military – it’s been a military base, a political spot, and the king’s family’s private place. People used to dance and have their own concerts there. It’s lovely, because there are so many stories inside.

Inspired? Delve further

What’s so good about this.

To answer that question, let’s ask another. Why visit Herat? 

Untamed Borders founder James Willcox says:  “Afghanistan was the first country where Untamed Borders started guiding back in 2008, and we have pioneered all sorts of trips and projects there, from skiing and marathons to horseback riding and kayaking. The decision to start working again in Afghanistan was not easy, but ultimately our mission is to engage and exchange through tourism. Our aim is to give our guests a complete view of the country they’re visiting, giving information on historical, cultural and geopolitical topics. In turn, the guests begin to understand countries that have gone through conflict, while also experiencing what daily life is like for people who live there.”

Fatima says: “The first reason is myself. I have lived a story that maybe some people can’t imagine. At the same time I’ve seen the stories of women who are suffering now, so I want to support them. When the Taliban arrived in Afghanistan they closed the door to education for those girls. It would be nice for them to join and support secret education for those girls, and it works for the guests. I’m continuing my job and they feel like I’m guiding them. Not virtually but in reality.”

You can book virtual tours of Herat with Fatima Haidari at Untamed Borders . The next dates are 17 January, 7 February and 7 March 2023, starting at 7pm UK time and lasting around one hour.

Meet the writer

When she’s not pretending to be a beaver holding back the rivers , Katie Dancey-Downs is a freelance writer and journalist with a passion for human stories, nature and culture. She is also assistant editor at Index on Censorship, an award-winning quarterly magazine. She’s travelled the world to report on issues such as vegan activism in Toronto, regenerative farming in India, and the destruction of Sacred Natural Sites in Kenya. She can usually be found with her head in a book, stomping through the forest, or wishing she looked cool on a surfboard. @Katie_Dancey .

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Untamed Borders Launches a Second Virtual Tour Route of Afghanistan

by Eliana Willis 18 September 2023, 06:25 119 Views

Afghanistan’s first ever female tour guide is launching a second virtual tour with Untamed Borders, after the success of her first online sessions, showcasing Herat.

Fatima Haidari used to offer in person guiding around the city with the adventure travel company, but had to flee for her safety when the Taliban retook control of the nation in 2021.

Ever since Fatima has offered online tours for tourists from around the world and will soon be launching a new route covering Central Afghanistan.

The new offering, which includes a Q&A session with Fatima, will cover an area spanning from the capital Kabul in the east, to the central Bamian Province, Ghor Province and finishing in Herat, in the west.

Virtual tourism is a fast-growing industry – a report by Fortune Business Insights found the virtual tour software market is expected to grow from $384million in 2023 to $941.3million by 2030.

In the past year alone the industry grew by around $44million.

The COVID pandemic played an important role in making tourism providers, tourist boards and museums think differently about how they deliver their services or showcase their venues, during the times of restrictions.

This opened many people’s eyes to the benefits of virtual tours, helping transport people to locations, attractions or museums for a fraction of the price of a holiday.

This trend has continued post pandemic, with more people now eco-conscious and the cost-of-living crisis, in places like the UK, having an impact on how much disposal income people have.

Virtual tours allow people to sample corners of the globe, which they may never otherwise have opportunity to travel to, and are an accessible form of tourism, which has little impact on the environment, especially in comparison to flying.

Untamed Borders Founder James Willcox says, “We never envisaged running virtual tours, but when Fatima had to leave Afghanistan, we wanted to find a way to support her.

Fatima has always been an excellent tour guide, and we really enjoyed working with her in Herat, so helping Fatima to continue her work in some way was important to us.

The tours offer a fascinating insight into life in Afghanistan and although virtual tourism will never replace the sensory overload of an actual trip to a country, they offer the next best thing for someone who can’t travel to the nation.”

New virtual tour includes one Afghanistan’s most beautiful regions

For Fatima the new virtual tour, which she will be offering through Untamed Borders, has a particularly special place in her heart.

It includes the stunning Bamian Province, an area of immense natural beauty, which includes the beautiful Band-e-Amir Lakes and National Park, which became Afghanistan’s first national park in 2009.

This region is symbolic – historically women in Bamian Province enjoyed relatively more freedom than elsewhere in the country, however, this has also recently changed under the Taliban – with women banned from Band-e-Amir.

Fatima says people deserve to be able to see this natural gem and she is looking forward to showing the positive side of her nation…

“Bamian has always been my favourite place, it’s a paradise and traditionally peaceful, with beauty and also freedom for men and women.

I was also born in Ghor Province, lived in Herat for many years, where I also guided, and I’ve spent time in Kabul.

So for me, this new virtual tour feels like a personal journey.”

For Fatima, the virtual tours are helping her to remain in close connection with her homeland and serve a greater purpose than just showcasing the nation’s beauty, as Fatima explains….

“I feel like I’m fighting back against the Taliban and defying their restrictions.

I’m not only personally disobeying their restrictions, but I am also helping to support 4 regular classes for women to study in Afghanistan and other people are helping too.”

New virtual tour helps fund women’s education in Afghanistan

Behind closed doors women in Afghanistan are taking a stand, with some brave women setting up secret schools.

The risks are high, but the uptake is increasing, with projects like Untamed Borders’ virtual tours, providing a vital source of funding to pay for the teachers’ time, along with books and other learning material at the classes, as Fatima explains…

“At the classes the aim is to offer the girls and women English skills, which can help create opportunities abroad.

The sessions also offer the women mental health support and advice, with many people suffering mental health difficulties due to the changes brought in by the Taliban.

The aim is to help empower women, offer support, some language skills and give them more information about women’s rights.”.

Along with Fatima’s own work to support these classes financially, some guests on the virtual tours also kindly donate personally to help further the work.

The Afghanistan Central Route virtual tour with Fatima launches in October, with the first session bookable now on the Untamed Borders website.

Fatima is also continuing with her Herat virtual tours, which are also bookable on the Untamed Borders website.

Source: Organisations & Operators - breakingtravelnews

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Afghanistan Tours

Join one of our tours in afghanistan.

Afghanistan has been going non-stop through different historical episodes and moments since 1979, when tribal people rebelled against the Communist party, originating into a war between the Soviet Union and the Mujahideen, which lasted until 1989.

The Soviets were defeated but then, Mujahideen war lords began to fight each other over power, impoverishing the country even more.

Fed up with all that warlordism and disappointed that Islamic law had not been installed after the communists were kicked out, a former Mujahideen founded a movement named Taliban in the city of Kandahar. That man was Mullah Omar, the historical leader of the Taliban.

The Taliban quickly took over the whole Kandahar province and, by 1996, they controlled 90% of Afghanistan’s territory, including Kabul, ruling until 2001.

Then, the American Invasion came, beginning a useless war that took the life of thousands of people.

In 2021, the Americans withdrew and the Taliban took over again, and that’s the episode you’ll be witnessing in this expedition.

Afghanistan, however, is more than Taliban and war, but this Central Asian and former Silk Road country is a melting point of cultures and civilisations, visible in the extreme ethnic diversity, but also a jaw-dropping destination filled with mind-blowing shrines, historical bazaars, kind-hearted people and some of the most incredibly mesmerising landscapes ever, once traveled by Alexander the Great.

This is one of the most incredible countries in the world, and this is your chance to explore it.

what travelers say about us

need to know for your Afghanistan travel tour

How to get a visa.

The easiest place where to get an Afghan visa is at either the Embassy of Dubai, Islamabad and Doha.

Is it safe?

Before the Taliban took over the country in the summer of 2021, the country was going through a civil war. Now that the Americans left and the Afghan Army isn’t fighting the Taliban anymore, the country is finally safe, from a tourist perspective.

Which nationalities can join our Afghanistan tours?

All nationalities are welcome, including Americans.

Our scheduled group tours for Afghanistan

From Kabul to Bamyan, Minaret of Jam, Mazar, Kandahar, and the Wakhan Corridor, our Afghanistan tours cover pretty much the entire country.

Typically, we have 10-day tours to Afghanistan composed of 11 people, always led by a tour leader, either myself (Joan Torres) or someone from my team, besides an Afghan tour guide.

Upcoming Afghanistan Tours

These are all our upcoming tours in Afghanistan

Afghanistan with Herat & Kandahar

Join us in Afghanistan this spring to discover the lush green areas of Bamyan, Kabul, Herat and orthodox area of Kandahar

Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan

The ultimate summer adventure into one of the most isolated and fascinating regions in Central Asia

Afghanistan with Minaret of Jam

Join us in Afghanistan on an epic overlanding adventure to the Minaret of Jam!

Afghanistan Expedition (in Spanish)

Our classic Afghanistan Expedition but for Spanish-speaking travelers!

Afghanistan in October

Join us in Afghanistan during one of the best months of the year to travel there

Afghanistan in winter

All our afghanistan group tours include.

Domestic flights

Accommodation

Permits and security clearance for driving around Taliban-Afghanistan

Private transportation around Afghanistan

Letter of Invitation needed for the visa

English-speaking Afghan guide

European tour leader

Entrance fees to all places listed in the itinerary

Visa advice and support

Private, tailored trips for Afghanistan

Do you want to travel solo, or with a group of friends?

From short trips in Kabul to compelling multi-day itineraries, we are able to design any sort of adventure based on your needs, 365 days a year.

If you can’t afford a private, solo trip, we can also help you find other partners to travel with.

Tell us your dates

When do you want to travel to Afghanistan

Which places do you want to visit

We will design the perfect itinerary based on your needs

Where do you want to start from

Kabul International Airport or overlanding from Pakistan?

Sample itinerary for our Afghanistan vacations tours

Here’s our standard 10-day tour we offer on most of our expeditions.

Day 1 – Arrival in Kabul

• Day 1 is the arrival day, a day which we will spend picking you up from airport and checking in the hotel, as well as giving you a warm welcome through an introductory briefing on Afghanistan.
• In the evening, we will go all together for a traditional Afghan meal.
• Overnight in Kabul.

Day 2 – Full day in Kabul

• Early morning and before our visit, we should go to the market to buy some local clothes, something which is strictly necessary to blend in (to a certain extent) with the local population.
• Then, we will head to Old Kabul, walking slowly through all the different bazaars, including the worldwide famous bird market , a photogenic bazaar where they sell different types of birds as pets, one of the top tourist attractions in Kabul.
• After a hearty meal, we will travel west of Kabul to spend the afternoon and evening in Sakhi Shrine, a mini version of the Blue Mosque in Mazar and also one of the most stunning mosques in all Afghanistan.

Day 3 – Mazar-e-Shariff

• At 11:30am, we will catch a flight to Mazar e-Sheriff, a northern city close to the Uzbekistan border, the reason why here you find a large population of Uzbeks.
• From the airport, we will drive straight to Balkh, an ancient city once the centre of Buddhism, Sufism and Zoroastrianism. Among other landmarks, we will visit Bala Hisar – the ancient citadel built by Alexander the Great when he destroyed the Kurush (Persian empire) – and Parsa Mosque.
• Then, we will head back to Mazar to spend the entire afternoon in the Blue Mosque, one of the highlights in all Afghanistan, a huge shrine composed of mind-blowing turquoise patterns that comes to life with the thousands of worshippers that visit it every single day. It’s a place not to rush, so we will take our time there.
• Overnight in Mazar-e-Shariff

Day 4 – Bamyan

• This is an exciting day, for two different reasons.
• On the one hand, few are the travelers who have done this journey by road, since the area between both destinations used to be extremely dangerous before the Taliban took over, but not anymore.
• On the other hand, we will drive through the Hindu Kush range, witnessing amazing landscapes and passing through 5 different provinces: Bamyan, Parwan, Bghlan, Samangan and Balkh.
• We will arrive in Bamyan in the evening. Overnight in Bamyan.

Day 5 – Exploring the city of Bamyan

• Bamyan is a Hazara town and the only sort of tourist-friendly place in all Afghanistan. It’s located at the heart of the Hindu Kush, in a stunningly beautiful area surrounded by mountains and lush, green fields, but also a region with rich in ancient history.
• Early morning, we will pay a visit to the giant Buddhas that were carved from the rocks back in the 6th century, but unfortunately destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. The big Buddha-shaped holes they left behind are impressive though, and the views from the top even more.
• Right after eating a traditional regional meal, we will head to historical Shahr-e Gholghola also (City of Screams), a 13th century city in Bamyan, that was conquered by Gengis Khan after months of surrounding.
• The evening will be spent on top of a mountain with awesome views of the mountains. Overnight in Bamyan.

Day 6 – Band-e-Ameer National Park

• Band-e-Ameer is a UNESCO World Heritage and also the only National Park in all Afghanistan, a set of deep-blue lakes absolutely jaw-dropping.
• The best way to get an impression of its size is by circling the lakes on foot, so we will do a small trek, while choosing the best spot for a picnic lunch.
• After enjoying the lakes, we will drive back to Bamyan, not without enjoying the landscapes this region can bless us with on the way. Overnight in Bamyan.

Day 7 – Bamyan to Ghazni

• The drive to Ghazni from Bamyan will go through an actual off the beaten path region in Afghanistan, passing by isolated villages in the middle of the desert.
• The drive will take 4 hours.
• Upon arrival in Ghazni, we will have lunch, and then we will visit the Ghaznavid minarets, two masterpieces of Islamic engineering from the 12th century.
• Overnight in Ghazni.

Day 8 – Drive to Kandahar

• The driver to Kandahar is pretty long – around 6 hours – but it goes through the former battle zone of the USA against the Taliban, so expect to see a lot of abandoned American tanks and military trucks.
• We expect to arrive in Kandahar around lunch time and visiting some of its highlights will follow after that.

Day 9 – Kandahar

• Kandahar is the cultural center for the Pashtun people.
• Long-bearded-men and women in burqa , but also dust, utterly hot summers, and an insane level of military security.
• Kandahar is like the Afghanistan we have been watching on TV, but it’s also rich in history, since it was actually founded by Alexander the Great himself in the 4th century BC.
• The city, however, is also infamous for being the place where the Taliban movement was founded, and the actual Taliban capital when they ruled the country from 1996 to 2001.
• We will visit the remains from the city founded by Alexander the Great but our visit will also have a big focus on the Taliban history, and that will include the mosque where Mullah Omar and Osama Bin Laden used to pray, as well as a Taliban school.
• In the evening, we will catch a flight back to Kabul.

Day 10 – Kabul and departure

• Your flight will likely be in the afternoon so early in the morning, we will go to the Bibi Mahro Hills to enjoy the best views in the city.
• After that, we will take you the airport to catch your international flight.

Join a tour in Afghanistan: FAQ

How to fly to kabul.

There are daily flights from Dubai and Islamabad with Fly Dubai and Kam Air.

Is Afghanistan safe nowadays?

Before the Taliban took over the country in the summer of 2021, the country was going through a civil war. Now that the American left and the Afghan Army isn’t fighting the Taliban anymore, the country is finally safe, from a tourist perspective.

What about Americans?

Yes, despite the American intervention, the country is as safe for Americans as it is for other nationalities.

Can women join an Afghanistan expedition?

Yes, women can join this expedition, no problem.

While the local Afghan women do suffer from a huge repression and lack rights, foreign women will always be safe, especially if you go accompanied by our team.

Regarding clothing, you don’t need to wear a burqa but just a regular hijab and an abaya, like you’d do in Iran.

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ADVENTURE TRAVEL SPECIALISTS

Untamed Borders offers bespoke trips and small group tours to some of the world’s most interesting and inaccessible places.

Untamed Borders was formed in 2008 by professional fixers, supporting journalists wanting to reach hard to access areas in order to provide cutting-edge stories. Today, we still serve media professionals as well as helping adventurous travellers to experience unusual and largely unvisited areas of the world.

FIXED DATE TRIPS

We offer an array of fixed date group trips across a number of activities and destinations.  Whether it’s cultural, skiing, trekking or marathons, we’re sure you’ll find the right adventure for you.

CUSTOM TRIPS

From the first ever kayaking trip to Afghanistan to scuba diving in Libya and a long weekend in Mogadishu, no request is too large or small. Check out some of the customised trips we have crafted for our guests.

MEDIA SERVICES

We work with a range of media professionals from photographers to journalists to documentary filmmakers.  We have taken ex-US military skiing in Iraq through to filming the Siberian wildlife.

DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

We are proud to be involved in numerous projects within the communities we visit, from organising the Marathon of Afghanistan to sponsoring the training of female mountain guides in Tajikistan.

Upcoming Trips

The 7-day trip shall visit the ancient site of Palmyra, the crusader fort of Krak des Chevaliers, as well as spending time in Aleppo and Damascus. US passport holders please…

Afghanistan In 9 Days

A 9 day trip to the highlights of Afghanistan and a great introduction to the country. Explore places like Bamian, the ancient city of Balkh and the new city of…

Afghanistan Central Route

An immersive 15 days exploration of Central and Southern Afghanistan. This 2000km road trip gives the visitor an insight into both the rural life of the Central highlands of Afghanistan…

Pakistan – Hindu Kush & Karakorum

A 14-day road trip through the awe-inspiring Karakorum and Hindu Kush mountain ranges of Northern Pakistan. These mountains contain a kaleidoscope of people as well as some of the earth's…

Virtual Tours with Fatima: Afghanistan

Have you ever dreamt of travelling to Afghanistan, or wondered what it would be like to visit this fascinating country as a tourist? Join pioneering Afghan tour guide Fatima Haidari…

Trekking Tajikistan: Pamir Mountain Lakes

We will be traversing through the heart of the mountain range. Along the way, we will stay in the homes of the Pamiri natives, camp near centuries old caravanserais and…

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Responsible Travel

As part of our ongoing commitment to responsible travel, we have introduced two new sustainability initiatives.

Untamed Borders have committed to donating a portion of all their fixed-date trip sales to charity partner Afghanaid, to support their tree-planting and disaster risk reduction work in Badakhshan province, Afghanistan.

Michael Palin: Into Iraq

Untamed Borders was responsible for organising accommodation, transport, food, permits and filming permissions for the Channel 5/ ITN Productions series Michael Palin: Into Iraq .

Iraq is one of the key countries where Untamed Borders works, and our regional expertise was paramount for the crew’s negotiation of military checkpoints, bureaucratic borders and intelligence on the ground – as well as showcasing places and introducing people that give an authentic view of Iraq.

NEW TRIP: Into the Heart of the Sahara – Algeria

Our trip to Algeria takes you into the very heart of the Sahara. Experience 10 days of intrepid travel in some of the world’s most remote landscapes, while meeting the people that call it home.

Starting and finishing in Algiers, the tour includes all transport (including two domestic flights), accommodation and entrance fees as you discover the spectacular Roman ruins of Djemila, the elevated city of Constantine and ancient desert rock engravings.

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Privacy Overview

Join Us On An Afghanistan Tour

We’re doing it again in 2021! This time we’ll be exploring this historically rich country at the cultural crossroads of Asia on this Afghanistan Tour.

I’m excited to have teamed up with an amazing and stand-out local tour operator and my team at Inertia Network to take a small group of travelers to experience Afghanistan in the best possible way.

While many parts of the country remain off-limits, it is still possible to visit Afghanistan’s more stable and open regions.

On This 13-Day Afghanistan Trip, We’ll Be Exploring Some Of The Main Highlights Of Afghanistan + Trekking In The Hindu Kush

These highlights will include:

• Visiting the architecturally stunning Blue Mosque of Mazar e Sharif at sunrise and sunset
• A six-day trek in the Hindu Kush to explore the remote interior of Bamyan Province.
• Visit the tumultuous city of Kandahar
• Check out architectural and cultural highlights of Kabul

So Why Join This Afghanistan Tour?

Travel in Afghanistan does not come easy as the country has been at war for a shockingly long time. That’s why I have chosen to partner with people that can show us as much of Afghanistan as security allows. This Afghanistan tour will include everything: all accommodations, meals, transportation in the country, internal flights, and local guides.

We’ll be exploring the best of what Afghanistan has to offer during a great time of year in the country. We plan to make the trip as culturally immersive, fun, and unique as possible in a small group setting. This trip will also take you behind the scenes and beyond the headlines you see about Afghanistan.

Afghanistan Tour Itinerary

Mazar e sharif – 2 days.

We’ll kick off this Afghanistan tour from the northern city of Mazar e Sharif. Over the next two days we’ll take time to visit the gorgeous the Blue Mosque, celebrate Eid, and visit the buzzing central bazaar.

Trek Into The Hindu Kush – 6 Days

We’ll visit the highlights of the Bamyan area of Band e Amir and the Buddha Niches before setting off on a six-day trek into the remote Hindu Kush Mountains, taking time to explore remote mountain valleys and passes, staying in homestays along the route.

Kandahar – 2 Days

Next, we’ll board flights to Kandahar to explore the Pashtun heartland and the former Taliban capital of Afghanistan. We will spend our time visiting important mosques, mausoleums, markets, and learning more about the culture that surrounds this southern corner of Afghanistan.

Kabul – 2 Days

In Kabul, we’ll visit historic sites, museums, bazaars, and mosques, getting to know Afghanistan’s capital city and central hub a bit better.

This trip is limited to a maximum of 6 travelers so spots may fill quickly. Click the button below to sign up for the trip or drop your email in the box below to get updates about this tour and future Afghanistan expeditions.

Need Travel Insurance For Afghanistan?

Start shopping plans over at  battleface , my go-to travel insurance choice. 

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May 12-24, 2021

13 Days, 12 Nights

Mazar e Sharif, Afghanistan

Kabul Afghanistan

Maximum Group Size

30%, due at time of sign up

Included In The Costs

• Safe and secure accommodations
• Airport transfers
• Internal flights between Kabul and Kandahar
• 3 meals per day
• Private and secure transportation
• Professional English-speaking local guiding team
• All entry fees

Excluded Costs

• International airfare to & from Mazar e Sharif & Kabul
• Travel insurance/medical insurance
• Personal spending

4 thoughts on “Afghanistan Tour: Cultural Highlights, Epic Cities, & Hindu Kush Trek”

Is this still planned for may 2021 with the whole covid mess?

Hey Shawn, We’re hoping that the trip will still happen. As of current, Afghanistan is open to tourists, but as you know these things could change. If this trip is cancelled I plan to postpone and offer it later in the year or at worst case, defer it an entire year.

I am obsessed with your posts from here and I definitely would like to join a group trip. I can’t in March because I’ll be in Mexico but count me in for a future one. Just signed up for your newsletter!

We’ll keep you posted! There’s one in the works for Pakistan in August

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Virtual Tour of Jewish Afghanistan

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Join My Jewish Learning and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency to dive into the history and culture of a 2,500+ year old Jewish community. Jews first arrived in Afghanistan while it was still under the control of the Achaemenid Empire and Zoroastrianism and Buddhism were the dominant surrounding religions. They lived through Mongol invasions, the rise and fall of various kingdoms, the advent and spread of Islam, trading with nomads and sedentary peoples among Afghanistan’s mountains. Throughout the centuries, they were scholars, polemics, traders, artists, singers – at times a protected minority, at others, openly persecuted. Discover Jewish life at the crossroads of the world with tour guide Sara Koplik, author of “A Political and Economic History of the Jews of Afghanistan” and community activist and jewelry designer Osnat Gad.

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Architectural heritage like you haven’t seen it before

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The shrine of Khwaja Abu Nasr Parsa is a spectacular mosque in Balkh, Afghanistan. Also known as the “Green Mosque” due to the brilliant color of its tiled and painted dome, the intricately decorated building dates to the 16th century.

If it were more accessible, the Green Mosque would attract many visitors. But Balkh is located in northern Afghanistan, roughly 50 miles from the border with Uzbekistan, and few outsiders will ever reach it. Still, anyone can now get a vivid sense of the mosque thanks to MIT’s new “ Ways of Seeing ” project, an innovative form of historic preservation.

“Ways of Seeing” uses multiple modes of imagery to produce a rich visual record of four historic building sites in Afghanistan — including colorful 3D still images, virtual reality imagery that takes viewers around and in some cases inside the structures, and exquisite hand-drawn architectural renderings of the buildings. The project’s imagery will be made available for viewing through the MIT Libraries by the end of June, with open access for the public. A subset of curated project materials will also be available through  Archnet , an open access resource on the built environment of Muslim societies, which is a collaboration between the  Aga Khan Documentation Center  of the MIT Libraries and the  Aga Khan Trust for Culture .

“After the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, Associate Provost Richard Lester convened a set of MIT faculty in a working group to think of what we as a community of scholars could be doing that would be meaningful to people in Afghanistan at this point in time,” says Fotini Christia, an MIT political science professor who led the project. “‘Ways of Seeing’ is a project that I conceived after discussions with that group of colleagues and which is truly in the MIT tradition: It combines field data, technology, and art to protect heritage and serve the world.”

Christia, the Ford International Professor of the Social Sciences and director of the Sociotechnical Systems Research Center at the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, has worked extensively in Afghanistan conducting field research about civil society. She viewed this project as a unique opportunity to construct a detailed, accessible record of remarkable heritage sites — through sophisticated digital elements as well as finely wrought ink drawings.

“The idea is these drawings would inspire interest and pride in this heritage, a kind of amazement and motivation to preserve this for as long as humanly possible,” says Jelena Pejkovic MArch ’06, a practicing architect who made the large-scale renderings by hand over a period of months.

Pejkovic adds: “These drawings are extremely time-consuming, and for me this is part of the motivation. They ask you to slow down and pay attention. What can you take in from all this material that we have collected? How do you take time to look, to interpret, to understand what is in front of you?”

The project’s “digital transformation strategy” was led by Nikolaos Vlavianos, a PhD candidate in the Department of Architecture’s Design and Computation group. The group uses cutting-edge technologies and drones to make three-dimensional digital reconstructions of large-scale architectural sites and create immersive experiences in extended reality (XR). Vlavianos also conducts studies of the psychological and physiological responses of humans experiencing such spaces in XR and in person. 

“I regard this project as an effort toward a broader architectural metaverse consisting of immersive experiences in XR of physical spaces around the world that are difficult or impossible to access due to political, social, and even cultural constraints,” says Vlavianos. “These spaces in the metaverse are information hubs promoting an embodied experiential approach of living, sensing, seeing, hearing, and touching.”

Nasser Rabbat, the Aga Khan Professor and director of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT, also offered advice and guidance on the early stages of the project.

The project — formally titled “Ways of Seeing: Documenting Endangered Built Heritage in Afghanistan” — encompasses imaging of four quite varied historical sites in Afghanistan.

These are the Green Mosque in Balkh; the Parwan Stupa, a Buddhist dome south of Kabul; the tomb of Gawhar Saad, in Herat, in honor of the queen of the emperor of the Timurid, who was herself a highly influential figure in the 14th and 15th centuries; and the Minaret of Jam, a remarkable 200-foot tall tower dating to the 12th century, next to the Hari River in a distant spot in western Afghanistan.

The sites thus encompass multiple religions and a diversity of building types. Many are in remote locations within Afghanistan that cannot readily be accessed by visitors — including scholars.

“Ways of Seeing” is supported by a Mellon Faculty Grant from the MIT Center for Art, Science, and Technology (CAST), and by faculty funding from the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS). It is co-presented with the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS), the Sociotechnical Systems Research Center (SSRC) at the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, the MIT Department of Political Science, and SHASS.

Two students from Wellesley College participating in MIT’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), juniors Meng Lu and Muzi Fang, also worked on the project under the guidance of Vlavianos to create a video game for children involving the Gawhar Saad heritage site. 

To generate the imagery, the MIT team worked with an Afghan digital production team that was on the ground in the country; they went to the four sites and took thousands of pictures, having been trained remotely by Vlavianos to perform a 3D scanning aerial operation. They were led by Shafic Gawhari, the managing director for Afghanistan at the Moby Group, an international media enterprise; others involved were Mohammad Jan Kamal, Nazifullah Benaam, Warekzai Ghayoor, Rahm Ali Mohebzada, Mohammad Harif Ghobar, and Abdul Musawer Anwari.

The journalists documented the sites by collecting 15,000 to 30,000 images, while Vlavianos computationally generated point clouds and mesh geometry with detailed texture mapping. The outcome of those models consisted of still images,  immersive experiences in XR, and data for Pejkovic.  

“‘Ways of Seeing’ proposes a hybrid model of remote data collection,” says Vlavianos, who in his time at MIT has also led similar projects at Machu Picchu in Peru, and the Simonos Petra monastery at Mount Athos, Greece. To produce similar imagery even more easily, he says, “The next step — which I am working on — is to utilize autonomous drones deployed simultaneously in various locations on the world for rapid production and advanced neural network algorithms to generate models from lower number of images.”  

In the future, Vlavianos envisions documenting and reconstructing other sites around the world using crowdsourcing data, historical images, satellite imagery, or even by having local communities learn XR techniques. 

Pejkovic produced her drawings based on the digital models assembled by Vlavianos, carefully using a traditional rendering technique in which she would first outline the measurements of each structure, at scale, and then gradually ink in the drawings to give the buildings texture. The inking technique she used is based on VERNADOC, a method of documenting vernacular architecture developed by the Finnish architect Markku Mattila.

“I wanted to rediscover the most traditional possible kind of documentation — measuring directly by hand, and drawing by hand,” says Pejkovic. She has been active in conservation of cultural heritage for over 10 years.

The first time Pejkovic ever saw this type of hand-drawn renderings in person, she recalls thinking, “This is not possible, a human being cannot make drawings like this.” However, she wryly adds, “You know the motto at MIT is ‘mens et manus,’ mind and hand.” And so she embarked on hand drawing these renderings herself, at a large scale — her image of the Minaret of Jam has been printed in a crisp 8-foot version by the MIT team.

“The ultimate intent of this project has been to make all these outputs, which are co-owned with the Afghans who carried out the data collection on the ground, available to Afghan refugees displaced around the world but also accessible to anyone keen to witness them,” Christia says. “The digital twins [representations] of these sites are also meant to work as repositories of information for any future preservation efforts. This model can be replicated and scaled for other heritage sites at risk from wars, environmental disaster, or cultural appropriation.”

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Press mentions, popular science.

Popular Science reporter Andrew Paul spotlights “Ways of Seeing” a documentary project that aims to create “extended reality” (XR) experiences of significant architectural locales in Afghanistan as part of an effort to preserve the country’s historical sites. Paul notes that the project combines “cutting edge 3D imaging, drone photography, and virtual reality combined with painstakingly detailed hand drawings.”

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• Department of Political Science
• Video: “SERC Symposium 2023: Fotini Christia”

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Mission: Afghanistan (Virtual Tour)

Mission: Afghanistan chronicles the involvement of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in Afghanistan from 2001-2014 and provides a broader context for the mission that was predicated by terrorist attacks on September 11 in New York City. More than 40,000 CAF members served in the Afghanistan theatre of operations; 162 members died in the cause, while others sustained devastating physical and psychological injuries. Artefacts from collections of both The Military Museums and The Directorate of History and Heritage will be featured in this bilingual exhibit, alongside items on loan from veterans themselves that illustrate over 400 oral history clips and mini-documentaries.

There are two bilingual versions of this exhibit available for rent: a 3D version with artefacts and a 2D version that consists of information panels and audiovisual components only.

To navigate in a 360 degree range, click and drag your mouse. You can also click on icons to view specific exhibits.

Mission: Afghanistan Exhibit – Virtual Tour

To calgary’s the military museums and the directorate of history and heritage: thank you for your support with this project..

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