The two great rivers of Central Asia are the the Oxus and the Jaxartes to give them their Greek names – or the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya as they are now called. They are all lost in the deserts on either side. Not one of the rivers that flows from these mountains reaches the sea.

The continental water divide is along the ridge of Tien Shan and the Pamir mountains. Kyrgyzstan is truly in the heart of Central Asia. It is a cool green island sandwiched between the steppes of Kazakhstan to the north and the burning Taklamakan Desert in China to the south ** Kyrgyzstan is a mountain paradise – about half the country is over 3000 m. The majority of the people in all this region are Muslim. To the south are Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. The Caspian Sea is to the west and the Aral Sea. All these soviet states became independent republics when the Soviet Union broke up in 1991 – 17 years ago already. Before that all this part of Central Asia was called Turkmenistan. All these frontiers were created by the Soviets in the 1920s. It has a long frontier with China and is surrounded by Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. I’d like to thank the Musee d’Elysee in Lausanne for their permission to show these photos. Ella Maillart was in Kyrgyzstan in 1932 and I will show some of Ella’s photos. I had a subvention – a grant – from the ville de Geneve to explore the sources of the Syr Darya that’s the river that used to be called the Jaxartes, and to visit the summer herders.

Kyrgyzstan: In the footsteps of Ella Maillart to the source of the Jaxartes (Syr Darya) Isobel Shaw nous montre le mode de vie des Kirghizes aujourd’hui, huit ans après leur indépendance de l’Union soviétique et met ses diapositives en relation avec les prises de vue d’Ella Maillart du début du régime communiste. Elle était en Kirghizie en 1932, comme en témoigne son livre Des Monts Célestes aux Sables Rouges. Une partie du périple se passe sur les traces d’Ella Maillart, aventurière genevoise et membre de notre Société de géographie. Ainsi, elle parcourt, avec ses trois compagnons, le Kirghizistan sur 3’600 km en jeep, à cheval et à pied. Visiter l’Asie centrale et monter le long de la rivière Syr-Darya (le Jaxartes de l’antiquité) jusqu’à ses différentes sources, tel était le rêve d’Isobel Shaw, anthropologue, journaliste de voyage et guide touristique.

Ella maillart turkestan solo