The Vanj ( tg, Ванҷ, russian: Ванч ''Vanch'') is a river in east

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

. It is a right tributary of the

Panj Panj () is a city in southern Tajikistan which is situated on the Afghan border, some south of the capital Dushanbe. It is located along the north bank of the river Panj, from which it derives its name. The population of the town is 12,500 (Janu ...

Vanj District tg, ناحیه ونج , nickname = , motto = , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = , image_flag = , flag_size = , image_seal = ...

, north-western

Gorno-Badakhshan Gorno-Badakhshan, officially the Badakhshan Mountainous Autonomous Region,, abbr. / is an autonomous region in eastern Tajikistan, in the Pamir Mountains. It makes up nearly forty-five percent of the country's land area, but only two perce ...

. The river is long and has a basin area of .Ванч

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...

It flows southwest between the Darvoz Range to the north and the Vanj Range to the south, joining the Panj on the border with

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. The Vanj valley is broader and more fertile than other valleys feeding the Panj.

Vanj tg, Ванҷ ونج , settlement_type = Village and Jamoat , image_skyline = Vanj gas station.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = Vanj gas station , image_flag = , image_seal ...

town is about 20 km upstream from the Panj. At the

head of the valley The head of the valley or, less commonly, the valley head, refers to the uppermost part of a valley.Leser (2005), p. 935. Description The head of a valley may take widely differing forms; for example, in highland regions the valley often ends i ...

, beyond the village of Po-i-Mazar, the river turns southeast (going upstream) and is fed by the Geographical Society Glacier near

Independence Peak Independence Peak or Qullai Istiqlol ( tg, Қуллаи Истиқлол), at , is the seventh-highest peak in the Pamir Mountains,

. Beyond the head of the valley are the

Academy of Sciences Range Academy of Sciences Range (russian: Хребет Академии Наук, ''Khrebet Akademiy Nauk;'' tg, Qatorkuhi Akademiyai Fanho) is a mountain range in the Western Pamirs of Tajikistan. It is stretched in a north-south direction and conside ...

and the Fedchenko Glacier. South, on the other side of the Vanj Range, is the valley of the Yazgulem. The

Vanji language The Vanji language, also spelt Vanchi and Vanži, is an extinct Iranian language, one of the areal group of Pamir languages. It was spoken in the Vanj River valley in what is now the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region of Tajikistan. In the 19th ...

, formerly spoken in the valley, is extinct.

References

"Tajikistan 2002: Vital Maps and Graphics on Climate Change"
Tajikistan Met Service. Retrieved August 18, 2005. Rivers of Tajikistan Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region {{Tajikistan-river-stub