The Tagharma grasslands surround Tashkorgan on three sides, a broad seasonal wetland fed by the Tashkorgan River as it loops around the town. In summer the meadows are bright green, threaded with channels and ponds, and Tajik herders graze yaks, sheep, and the occasional camel across them. In winter the whole basin freezes and snow drifts across what was open water a few months before.
The easiest way to see the grasslands is on foot or by bicycle from town — the road south leads through the wettest section within a few hundred metres of the last buildings. Local families sometimes keep a yurt open for tea, and a small fee gets you inside with a bowl of salted yak-butter tea and a piece of nan. The light at 3,100 metres has a sharpness that flattens distance: the peaks look closer than they are, and the grassland reaches further.