· Wanderlust magazine listed Tajikistan as #4 on its emerging destinations list for 2012.· Lonely Planet magazine listed Tajikistan in its top 10 list of the best value destinations for 2012.· Two young Tajik snow leopards became a YouTube hit in January 2012 when they managed to remove an automated video camera belonging to Flora and Fauna International (FFI) and in doing so caught themselves on film. The story was picked up by everyone from the BBC and The Telegraph to the Huffington Post. · A new passenger terminal costing US$40m is under construction at Dushanbe International airport and will likely open in 2013.· The UNWTO is working with the Tajik government to develop national tourism strategy in three specific areas: eco-tourism, mountain tourism and cultural tourism. This will be done in the context of promoting Tajikistan as part of the greater Silk Road region. · The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) is investing in up-market tourism in Tajikistan through their Serena Hotel brand.
The Serena in Khorog opened in 2002, and a new 5* hotel opened in Dushanbe in the autumn of 2011. · The Sheraton hotel group is opening a new property in Dushanbe, the capital, in December 2012, bringing the number of top-end hotels in the city to three. · Tajikistan is Central Asia''s smallest and poorest country. It became independent in 1991 and suffered civil war throughout the 1990s, in which 50,000 people died and 10% of the population fled abroad.· Half of Tajikistan''s population is under 14. Unicef believes that 66% of under-18s are living in poverty. Childhood mortality is high and 27% of under-fives suffer from stunted growth due to malnutrition. · Tajikistan is exceptionally mountainous and has more than 900 mountain lakes.
The Pamir and Fan mountains are popular with Russian and western trekkers and mountaineers, and the Pamir Highway is used by foreign overlanders and determined cyclists as well as local traffic. · Migrant workers provide almost 50% of Tajikistan''s GDP, and the balance of the economy is in agriculture and mining. Drug trafficking from Afghanistan is a major component of the black market economy. · BBC journalist Urunboy Usmonov was arrested and found guilty of complicity in the activities of a banned Islamist organization, Hizb ut-Tahrir, in 2011. The BBC condemned the verdict, which also sparked international condemnation, and it is alleged that Usmonov was tortured during questioning and forced to sign a confession. The defamation of journalists in Tajikistan is an ongoing concern. · In October 2004 Russia formally opened a military base in Dushanbe where several thousand troops will be stationed. It also took back control over a former Soviet space monitoring centre at Nurek.
These developments were widely seen as a sign of Russia''s wish to counter increased US influence in Central Asia.· Tajikistan is generally considered to be a safe country in which to travel, though the FCO does note there is a standard threat from terrorism. An explosion in Dushanbe in March 2011 killed one person, and three vehicles containing improvised explosive devices were found in Sughd six weeks before· Health infrastructure in Tajikistan is poor, meaning that any visitor falling ill or having an accident will likely require MedEvac to a neighboring country· There are occasional armed incidents along the Afghan-Tajik border involving drug smugglers· Road conditions outside Dushanbe are exceptionally poor, as is the standard of driving. There is a high risk of avalanches and flooding in the spring, and this often closes roads· Tajik Air, the national carrier, is not permitted to fly in EU airspace due to its poor safety and questionable maintenance record.· Tajiks believe that a mono-brow is a great sign of beauty, and so women will paint a single black eyebrow on both themselves and their children to make them more attractive· In September 2011 Tajik women rallied in protest against a rise in divorce by text message. The government responded by issuing a fatwa against the practice and proposed jail sentences for men pronouncing divorce by electronic means. · Tajikistan has the Guinness record for the world''s tallest flag pole. It stands 165m tall and cost a controversial US$3.
5m· The museum in Khorog contains a German piano carried 800km over the Pamirs by ten Russian troops in 1914. The journey took the soldiers two months on foot, and it was brought on a whim by the garrison commander for his daughter. · Iskanderkul (literally Alexander''s Lake) is named in honour of Alexander the Great. Legend has it that if you look at the surface of the water at midnight on a full moon you will see Alexander rise up on the back of his horse, Bucephalus. · The Tajik Pamirs are known as the ''roof of the world'' and were the heart of the 19th century Great Game· Buzkashi, also known as ''dead goat polo'', is the national sport. Two teams compete for glory by throwing the decapitated corpse of a goat between them and attempting to score a goal. · In 2007 the Tajik president banned gold teeth, a staple of many older Tajiks'' mouths.