A shepherd on his way down the Panjshir Valley to Kabul with a herd of fat-tailed sheep

Photographer: Eric Newby

Country: Afghanistan

‘In Panjshir each bay of cultivation is succeeded by a great bluff up which the track winds, sometimes leaving the river a thousand feet below in the gorges, overhanging it in hair-raising fashion … On this bluff there were no trees, there was no vegetation and, therefore, no shade; the earth was red and burning hot and the dust swirled about us. The sun seemed to fill the entire sky like a great brass shield' - A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush.

Ref.: S0027624