Zarafshan Tourism Development Association
The Zarafshan Tourism Development Association (ZTDA) is a young, public, community based organization created in March 2008. The aim of the project is to help establish “Community Based Tourism in the Zerafshan Valley”, to be implemented by the local NGO ASDP NAU and the German NGO Welthungerhilfe. Financial support meanwhile comes from the European Commission.
CURIOSITY
In the late 15th century, the great grandson of Tamerlane, (the ruler of Fergana and the future founder of the Mongol empire in India), together with the leader, scholar and poet Muhammad Bobur Zahereddin traveled to this region and wrote accounts of these places. The famous geographer Alexander Lehmann visited Iskanderkul in 1841. In 1870 the well-known scientist and explorer A.P. Fedschenko visited the Fann Mountains, but the most significant development of the area as a tourist destination followed the visit of N.V. Paganuzzi in 1964 who decided to open up the area for tours.
THE LEGEND OF SHING
“Once upon a time, in Shing used to live a proud farmer who had seven daughters, each one more beautiful than the other. Rumors of their beauty went beyond their homelands. Hearing this, a man decided to go to Shing and ask for the hand of one of the farmer’s daughters…
But the man was rude and ugly, so the farmer, who loved his daughters very much, refused the stranger. Angered, the stranger, who was an evil sorcerer, turned the seven beauties of Shing into seven lakes …“
