Central yet so remote: The Pamir paradox. At the very centre of Eurasia, at maximum distance from all the continent’s coasts and from Europe’s and Asia’s megacities, the planet’s mightiest mountain region towers above the planet’s lowest plain. An unyielding buffer between rivalling empires, this peak studded plateau is one of nature’s major crossroads, a continental hub. From here, the earth’s mightiest mountain ranges – the Himalayas, the Hindukush and the Tienshan – run in various directions. Swept by southerly monsoon storms from the Indian Ocean, icy northerlies from Russia’s arctic and dry, hot desert storms from the west, the Pamir is a cauldron of extremes in terms of climate, landforms and habitats. On its high plateaus, thousands of mountain lakes mirror the clouds that replenish them, and just as many streams, fed by gigantic glaciers, rush through the Pamir’s valleys and ravines, feeding a pair of fl uvial twins: Amu Darya and Syr Darya. These legendary rivers support the life of Central Asia’s steppes all the way to what used to be, less than a century ago, one of the planet’s largest inland water bodies. In our modern era, the heart of Eurasia has been largely hidden from western eyes but is rapidly becoming a focus of global attention. ORF’s two-part series is the fi rst to explore the fascinating range of flora and fauna, cultures and landscapes stretching from the deserts around Aral Lake to the Pamir’s ice-clad summits.