marlonbrowndo
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I have been to a lot of places around the world but this was my favourite trip yet. We flew from Karachi to Islamabad and then drove from there. There is a lot of beauty to be witnessed during the drive to Naran as well but this thread is mainly about what comes after
One of the most memorable things on the trip for me was ironically man made. The Karakoram Highway is truly a miracle. 1300 km of brilliant human creation. Along with the beautiful scenery, the highway itself made the nearly 25 hour total time we spent on it an enjoyable drive. Here is a picture of it before Gilgit.
The first thing of note that we came across was the ninth highest mountain in the world! Nanga Parbat. I was surprised by how early on in the journey it becomes visible. It was truly a magnificent beast. Inspired awe even though I was quite a large distance away from it. Because of how difficult it is to climb, it has earned many nicknames. One of them being the “maneater” Here is a picture of it
Nanga Parbat
Eventually we reached Gilgit where we stayed at the PTDC. Probably my favourite hotel on the 4 day trip. Not luxurious by any means but very serene and the food was great. The PTDC lawn :
The next morning we journeyed to the Naltar valley which is about 2 hours from Gilgit. Possibly the most adventurous part of the trip since the road was completely broken and the valley is at an altitude. When I looked down from my window I could see almost no road and felt like we would fall off the edge into the river next to us. Thankfully our driver was an expert.
One benefit of such a broken path was that very few tourists were at the naltar valley once we got there. It was truly beautiful as seen in these photographs
Naltar valley
Just look at the diversity of the landscape. And this is all in one valley!
There was also a leopard that the locals had kept after its mother had abandoned it. Magnificent beast
Leopard at Naltar
After leaving the naltar valley, we stopped by the Rakaposhi mountain. Absolutely breethteaking. Read the sign as well
Rakaposhi mountain
Eventually we got to Hunza where we drove to a point called “Eagles nest” where you could see the surrounding mountains and the whole valley below. Here are some pictures I took from eagles nest.
Eagles nest
The next morning we decided to go towards the Khunjerab Pass and the China border. On our way we stopped by the Attabad lake. It was truly beautiful but had been created due to an unfortunate tragedy less than a decade ago. A landslide that destroyed an entire village and killed many had created this lake. The remains are still at the bottom of this very deep lake. RIP to all the victims. Seeing people boating and enjoying on a lake that had been created by such tragedy made me think of the fickle nature of human life and how life goes on without us.
Attabad Lake
Here are some more views from the way to the China border
And finally the border itself
Eventually we drove all the way back to Gilgit. The long journey was very tiring and since we had already experienced the drive to Gilgit, we flew to Islamabad from the Gilgit airport in a small ATR. The flight was scary but we safely landed in Islamabad and waited for our Karachi flight at night. There was unfortunately a twist in the tale as our flight at night got cancelled. Thankfully there were spaces in a flight the next morning and we made it home eventually.
Pictures and my description can only explain so much. These places are truly experienced by going there. My poor photography skills do not do justice to their beauty. I urge all Pakistanis to one day make this trip if they haven’t. Beautiful places, beautiful people and amazing food. One last thing I do want to say before ending this post is my disappointment at all the littering. I was shocked to see how some of the tourists were throwing garbage around. We need to stop polluting our entire country let along these beautiful, awe inspiring places.
I hope you guys enjoy this post.
One of the most memorable things on the trip for me was ironically man made. The Karakoram Highway is truly a miracle. 1300 km of brilliant human creation. Along with the beautiful scenery, the highway itself made the nearly 25 hour total time we spent on it an enjoyable drive. Here is a picture of it before Gilgit.
The first thing of note that we came across was the ninth highest mountain in the world! Nanga Parbat. I was surprised by how early on in the journey it becomes visible. It was truly a magnificent beast. Inspired awe even though I was quite a large distance away from it. Because of how difficult it is to climb, it has earned many nicknames. One of them being the “maneater” Here is a picture of it
Nanga Parbat
Eventually we reached Gilgit where we stayed at the PTDC. Probably my favourite hotel on the 4 day trip. Not luxurious by any means but very serene and the food was great. The PTDC lawn :
The next morning we journeyed to the Naltar valley which is about 2 hours from Gilgit. Possibly the most adventurous part of the trip since the road was completely broken and the valley is at an altitude. When I looked down from my window I could see almost no road and felt like we would fall off the edge into the river next to us. Thankfully our driver was an expert.
One benefit of such a broken path was that very few tourists were at the naltar valley once we got there. It was truly beautiful as seen in these photographs
Naltar valley
Just look at the diversity of the landscape. And this is all in one valley!
There was also a leopard that the locals had kept after its mother had abandoned it. Magnificent beast
Leopard at Naltar
After leaving the naltar valley, we stopped by the Rakaposhi mountain. Absolutely breethteaking. Read the sign as well
Rakaposhi mountain
Eventually we got to Hunza where we drove to a point called “Eagles nest” where you could see the surrounding mountains and the whole valley below. Here are some pictures I took from eagles nest.
Eagles nest
The next morning we decided to go towards the Khunjerab Pass and the China border. On our way we stopped by the Attabad lake. It was truly beautiful but had been created due to an unfortunate tragedy less than a decade ago. A landslide that destroyed an entire village and killed many had created this lake. The remains are still at the bottom of this very deep lake. RIP to all the victims. Seeing people boating and enjoying on a lake that had been created by such tragedy made me think of the fickle nature of human life and how life goes on without us.
Attabad Lake
Here are some more views from the way to the China border
And finally the border itself
Eventually we drove all the way back to Gilgit. The long journey was very tiring and since we had already experienced the drive to Gilgit, we flew to Islamabad from the Gilgit airport in a small ATR. The flight was scary but we safely landed in Islamabad and waited for our Karachi flight at night. There was unfortunately a twist in the tale as our flight at night got cancelled. Thankfully there were spaces in a flight the next morning and we made it home eventually.
Pictures and my description can only explain so much. These places are truly experienced by going there. My poor photography skills do not do justice to their beauty. I urge all Pakistanis to one day make this trip if they haven’t. Beautiful places, beautiful people and amazing food. One last thing I do want to say before ending this post is my disappointment at all the littering. I was shocked to see how some of the tourists were throwing garbage around. We need to stop polluting our entire country let along these beautiful, awe inspiring places.
I hope you guys enjoy this post.
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