Afghanistan. What a place to start a round-the-world adventure.

Almost everything I knew about Afghanistan up to this day was from news reports from post 9/11 US invasion and subsequent war. Although this is a sad reflection of what the country has been through, I didn’t appreciate Afghanistan’s diversity and beauty. It’s roughly the size of Texas, yet is home to mammals such as snow leopards, Siberian tigers and brown bears throughout twelve climatic zones. Afghanistan has been mostly a tourist free zone since its slide into chaos in 1979, but it used to be popular with travellers. It turns out Afghanistan was quite the hippy hang-out destination in the 1960s and 70s.

One thing I found particularly eye-opening about Afghanistan is that in 2000 only 5% of children attended primary school. Since then this has risen to a (still rather depressing) 57% in 2018.

A final fact to leave you with. Afghanistan has changed its flag a total of 25 times. 18 of these changes were in the 20th Century alone.