Nurek Mountain Lake, One-day tour

We were picked up 10 minutes late, we had to call to see where they were. When they arrived there was 3 people. A tour guide, a driver and another person, who didn’t seem to have a purpose. We asked about why it’s takes 3 people to take two of us and we were told, “that’s how we do it in Tajikistan”. From our perspective it felt uncomfortable. When we finally got on the road and driving we were advised the site was closed. We wondered where we were going if the site was closed, we were offered another trip (when we insisted they stop driving so we can work something out) that was half the price and we weren’t offered any money back. When we questioned it, they said we will still go to the dam (the initial site). We asked money back as we weren’t going to get the experience, they offered the entry fee (but didn’t get it back). We agreed to go, it was closed but the guide was able to get access to the viewing points which was lovely. Lunch was also good. Overall, we felt the tour was disorganized, 3 men is too many, they were late and did not turn the heater on in the car when it was snowing outside. The guide didn’t appear to have any knowledge of the Dam, and the tour itself did not feel like a tour just a car dropping us off at the destination. We did get some fantastic pictures from the viewing points, but didn’t get a tour of the dam, so didn’t get the full experience. We felt the tour itself was very overpriced (for what you get, a ride to the dam, lunch and back to the hotel) given taxis, food and the entry fee is $5USD. Future tourists can probably do the same tour on their own for a quarter if the price.