Green fields hug the Helmand River in a narrow strip, and the desert begins almost the moment they end. Most villages line the riverbank, where canals water wheat and melons and shallow wells supply homes farther out. Here the river runs east to west toward the Sistan basin.
Away from the water, sheep, goats and camels graze the sandy plain, and many houses stand without compound walls, a trace of a nomadic past. To the south, the red sand hills of the Registan stretch toward the border town of Bahramcha. Summers are long, hot and windy, while winters are mild and nearly dry. A Local Friend can turn a list of riverside villages into a day that makes sense.
