The most challenging part of constructing the road was boring two tunnels, around 270 and 360 meters long, respectively, through the mountains.

Two workers died during the construction, when their digger-which had been flown in, dangling from a Mil Mi-26 helicopter-tumbled down a slope during a landslide. The vehicle can still be seen, partly buried, partly perched on a thorn-shaped crag.

The road also required the construction of a bridge spanning the river next to the village, which farmers previously crossed using ropeways, sometimes with goats and chickens tied to their bodies.

"Villagers were skeptical when they heard about the plans to build the road. They didn't believe it was possible, and they'd lived in such isolation for so long, they couldn't imagine living any other way," Jilie Ziri recalls.

Behind him, farmers shovel sheep manure around the trunks of orange and mango saplings-high-priced cash crops local farmers hope to use to cultivate new prosperity when they mature in two years, now that they can sell them outside.

"People were in disbelief when they saw the helicopter fly construction vehicles in," Jilie Ziri says.