Christine Oriol

Born in France next to the border with Belgium, Christine Oriol roamed around Central Asia for a few years before adopting Tajikistan as her second homeland. Settling in a village in the Fann Mountains to work on a rural development project, she enjoyed exploring the surrounding mountains during her free time. Four years later, having trodden most of the trails in the Fanns as a hobby and having started to explore unmarked trails in the Pamirs, Christine realised that all this knowledge should be shared. She suggested to Jan Bakker that they work together on a new trekking guidebook for Tajikistan. The resulting guide is the product of seven years of exploratory trekking in Tajikistan. Christine is still eager to blaze new trails in this fascinating country and you can meet her training young local women in the Pamirs with the non-profit organization Women Rockin' Pamirs.