08-Feb-2026 -- This virgin confluence happened to be along the route Rainer was taking in his incredible Lisbon to Singapore walk. He is roughly halfway after almost a year of walking. I have joined him for 2 weeks on his journey and both of us are keen confluence hunters. Rainer thought it strange that this one has remained unclaimed since it is relatively close to the capital and also at a lower elevation than others.

We started from Levakant (Sarband) about 10 km east of Bokhtar, Tajikistan’s third largest city with a population of 150,000. We got a taxi to the village of Vahdat at the end of a dead end road on the west side of the Kyzylsu River just downstream of a large hydroelectric dam.

Satellite images showed a trail to a shepherd hut about 4 kilometers up a large mostly dry (at this point in time) riverbed. Before we embarked on our projected 2-hour hike, we found a lovely perch overlooking the Kyzylsu River and the railway bridge and had a delicious picnic lunch.

Full bellies and fresh legs we started on our trek up the stone and boulder strewn valley. The trail was fairly obvious as it is used daily by shepherd and farmers hauling firewood to the village. This area has very few trees, the mountain are almost entirely barren, covered only with a very short grass. Goat trails crisscross the slopes from top to bottom and look like rice terraces from a distance.

We encountered several groups of one or two men with donkeys loaded with firewood heading down the riverbed. They greeted us with friendly smiles and firm handshakes followed by the customary right hand to the heart.

Also there were groups of donkeys grazing unattended. Further upstream, we saw multiple herds of goats dotting the hills and heard the goatherds whistling to their flocks and to each other.

After about an hour, we reached the shepherd’s hut and met a surprised boy of about 10. There we had to change direction up a smaller valley sometimes walking in the riverbed, and other times up on the bank.

The way got steeper as the valley narrowed and the confluence point was still 1.3 kilometers away. Recently rains left the ground damp and very slippery as the soil has a very high clay content. The valley walls were a deep red sandstone with light colored glacial till on top.

Walking in the riverbed was awkward as the river stones were mostly apple-sized requiring careful foot placement to avoid turning an ankle. However the hike was fairly straightforward until we got to the last 300 meters. The confluence was perched up a steep bank about 200 meters above the riverbed. It was a difficult scramble over rocks and around trees.

One surprising feature was the multitude of 20 x 20 centimeter squares of cardboard littered all around. The closer we got the denser the cardboard. It seemed so out of place given the remoteness and difficulty of getting to this area.

It took us about 20 minutes to slip and slide and scramble up the 30 degree slippery slope to just below the ridge. Rainer did his little confluence dance to get the desired all zeroes. We celebrated with a firm handshake of a successful plucking of an increasingly rare confluence virgin.

It has been a great experience to have joined Rainer of his long walk to Singapore and I wish him good and happy trails.

CP Visit Details:

• Distance to a road: 4 km
• Distance to a track: 400 m
• Time to reach the CP from the road: 2.5 hours
• Time at the CP: 4:19 PM
• Measured height: 1036 m
• Minimal distance according to GPS: 0 m
• Position accuracy: 5 m
• Topography: high mountain ranges
• Weather: partly cloudy, 14° C (felt temperature)
• Given Name: The Cardboard Confluence

You are very welcome to visit Rainer’s blog of the long hike. If you want to see where he is currently hiking, you can find his daily update on Polarsteps.