
Central Asia travel: Alex Sherr's photos highlight Kyrgyzstan's rugged beauty and Tajikistan's stunning mountain terrain, while also capturing Central Asia's rich culture and ancient histories.

Ala Archa National Park: Ala Archa National Park, in the Tian Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan, has one marked trail. Upon completing the full five- or six-hour hike through all its sections, travelers arrive at Ratzek Hut and are rewarded with stunning views of the surrounding peaks, most of which are over 4,000 meters high.

Keep going: From Ratzek Hut, you can climb another 90 minutes to reach this glacial lake.

Base camp: Lying at 3,200 meters, Ratzek Hut is a popular base camp among hikers. "During our hike, we saw a guy who had just come down from doing a few ski runs on the glacier," says photographer Sherr.

Eagle hunters: Many eagle hunters still live in Bokonbayevo -- a three-hour drive from the Kyrgyzstani capital, Bishkek. Hunters have a deep sense of respect, trust and affection for their birds.

Star eagle hunter: After 15 years, eagle hunters in Bokonbayevo release their birds back into the wild. Ishanbek, pictured, is one of Kyrgyzstan's best-known eagle hunters.

Karakol, Kyrgyzstan: Kyrgyzstan's high peaks offer fantastic skiing in winter. At 3,040 meters, Karakol Ski Base is the highest ski resort in Central Asia.

Lenin Peak: Lenin Peak (7,134 meters) looms large in the background on the road heading to the National Horse and Yak Games Festival outside of Sary-Mogol, in southern Kyrgyzstan.

The National Horse and Yak Games Festival: The annual National Horse and Yak Games Festival showcases Kyrgyzstan's traditional nomadic lifestyle. Two foreign participants have a try at yak-wrestling. The objective is to wrestle opponents off their yak without falling off.

Local spectators: A local family takes a walk in the hills before the games begin. Many tourists visit the National Horse and Yak Games Festival, joining the hundreds of local spectators and vendors.

Vehicle of choice: A family relaxes under the shade of their UAZ Bukhanka -- a Soviet-produced 4x4 van. Ideal for navigating the rough terrain, it's the vehicle of choice in the region.

Rainbow-colored landscape: Guests weathered a quick but fierce hailstorm in yurts on festival grounds, getting to know each other over a few beers. After the hailstorm subsided, revelers emerged from the tents to this scene. The mountains were an absolutely electric array of colors, almost as bright and crisp as the colors of the simultaneous double rainbows, says Sherr.

Duped: A fierce look from a golden eagle that had just landed on its prey -- in this case, a "training fox." A long rope is attached to the skin of a fox and dragged along the ground by the trainer, giving the appearance of moving prey.

Tajik Air: Tajik Air operates daily flights between the capital, Dushanbe, and Khorugh, the capital of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast in the eastern part of Tajikistan. It has a fleet of just two Antonov An-28s that fly this particular route as other planes struggle to operate on such short runways. Prior to take-off, the old Soviet-built workhorse needs to be manually turned around on the runway before the engines are started.

Bartang Valley, Tajikistan: Khorugh is a remote destination in itself, but the real gems of the Gorno-Badakhshan region lie even further afield. A two-hour drive from Khorugh, the Bartang Valley offers some incredible hiking.

Glacial lakes: From Bartang, it's an easy and safe trail up to the village of Jisev, an area only accessible by narrow footpath through the mountains. The trail passes several glacial lakes.

Tajikistan family home: This cavernous annex, found in a traditional Tajik home in Buston, is the main room for entertaining guests. There's space upstairs that can be used as additional sleeping quarters. This family and many of their neighbors often entertain. Lunches and dinner parties are incredibly lavish affairs, with course after course of delicious, meticulously prepared food, in addition to the ever-present breads, fruits, candies, jams and tea.

Jisev, Tajikistan: Village life, on the other hand, is humble. Locals don't often eat much meat, as they don't have refrigeration. The buildings are largely constructed of traditional materials, such as mud and wood, and all outside goods are brought up to the village by donkeys. Yet the inside of the buildings are exceedingly comfortable and furnished with many rugs, pillows, decorative wall coverings and/or colorful paint.

Local life: This boy and his father were going down to the riverbed at the bottom of the valley to collect bags of sand, which would later be used to build a new house.

Stunning views: A trip across Central Asia includes long but spectacularly beautiful road trips. The views make up for the less enjoyable aspects of the journey -- including bumpy roads and dust. The M41 highway follows the Panj River (the natural border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan) for hundreds of kilometers.