The Hunza Valley in Gilgit-Baltistan stretches roughly from north of the administrative capital of Gilgit all the way up to the China border. The Hunza River flows through much of the valley, flanked by several high peaks such as Rakaposhi (7,788 m).
The valley is roughly divided into the Lower, Central, and Upper Hunza. In addition to the majestic mountains and glaciers, the valley is known for its friendly people, good food and fruits, turquoise lakes, and excellent hiking trails.
Lower Hunza Valley
The Karakoram Highway to the northeast follows the flow of the Gilgit River though the Nagar Valley in the Karakoram Mountains where it is called the Hunza River.
Just over an hour of scenic driving along this route passes the small town of Ghulmat. Stop just before the small bridge from where to get the best views of Rakaposhi Peak on a clear day.
Rakaposhi, meaning “Snow Covered”, ranks as the 27th highest mountain peak in the world and 12th highest in Pakistan. However, what places Rakaposhi at the top of its class, is its sheer slopes.
Rakaposhi Peak towers almost 6 km high right in front of your eyes!
With its summit at 7,788 m above sea level, it has an unbroken slope and almost straight vertical rise of 5,838 m from where the bridge is located at 1,950 m above sea level. Looking up at a mountain slope almost 6 km higher from where you stand is a surreal experience!
Starting in 1938, a number of attempts have been made to conquer Rakaposhi’s summit. After a few unsuccessful attempts, the first success came in 1958 when a British-American expedition led by Mike Banks and Tom Patey reached the summit via the south-west ridge. Since then, less than half of all attempts to reach the summit have been successful.
Another 7 km north of Ghulmat lies the small quaint village of Minapin Nagar.
In season (June/July), the succulent apricots and cherries are ripe, while the families work on the paddies to bring in the rice harvest.
Book in at the Diran Guest House and enjoy the fruits in the garden. Walk around the village and mingle with the rather reserved residents. Have a good night’s sleep but rise early and leave the hotel at 5 am for the 5.5-hour hike up to Minapin Glacier.
Minapin Glacier lies at about 3,440 m above sea level while the Diran Guest House is at about 2,000 m. This leaves a 1.6 km vertical hike over a 5.5 hour period.
For the first two hours of hiking the ascent is quite vertical and tough. The hiking trail is steep and passes some beautiful grassy areas from where the views over the Hunza Valley are absolutely stunning. You will pass several goats and their keepers who bring their animals up into the mountains during the summer months. They will stay here and sleep in rustic old shacks before returning to the village before the arrival of the harsh winter. After about 4 hours of hiking, the lower foot of the glacier comes into view. The upper section of the foot is bright white and where it leaves the main glacier the ice-peaks jut out high above the crevasses.
The last hour of hiking goes along a small hiking trail up the hill next to the massive glacier. Soon the Rakaposhi-Diran ridge line comes into sight as you arrive at the massive Minapin theatre surrounded by some of the highest peaks in the world: Rakaposhi (7,788 m), Diran (7,257 m), Hachindar Chish (7,163 m), and Ultar Peak (7,329 m).
Stop. Put down you hiking stick and backpack. Sit down and take a well-deserved rest. Gaze out over this vast theatre of a massive glacier surrounded by several towering snow-capped peaks. Listen to the river of crystal clear water running above and under the glacier. Listen to the cracking of the glacial ice. Often you will hear thunder coming from large pieces of ice breaking off the peaks and plunging down onto the glacier. Imprint this moment into your mind because you need to recall this memory file many times during the rest of your life. However, you may just want to sit here for the rest of your life, but you can’t, so pick up your backpack and hiking stick and keep moving.
Once you arrive on the lush green mini plateau right next to the glacier, and in the shadows of the majestic Rakaposhi, set up your tent and take a well-deserved rest. Your guide and cook will immediately start the fire to warm up a lovely soup with fresh baked bread from the village.
After lunch stay close to your guide as you explore this massive glacier. You will walk all over the glacier in all directions but never leave the side of your guide as the last thing you want is to slip and slide down a deep crevasse. In summer and autumn, the melting glacier creates mini rivers of water flowing on the surface.
Further down towards the foot of the glacier the surface rivers divert to flow under the glacier and then into a larger stream which eventually flows into the Hunza River down at the Hunza Valley. At night you most likely will be awakened by the sound of cracking glacier ice or even by the thunder of avalanches and falling chunks of ice.
Spend a night or two and then return by the same route back to Minapin Nagar.
Central Hunza Valley
From Minapin Nagar the road towards the north passes the village of Murtazaabad before entering the Central Hunza Valley, which stretches roughly from Murtazaabad in the south, up north to Attabad where the “new Attabad Lake” wall is.
This part of the Hunza Valley is mainly inhabited by the Burusho people who speak their Burushaski language. While today the original Burushaski language remains fairly intact, a non-speaker can pick up loanwords from English, Urdu, Persian, and from the neighbouring Dardic languages such as Shina and Khowar.
The Central Hunza Valley is the starting point of northern Pakistan’s majestical mountain scenery.
The main town in the Central Hunza Valley is Karimabad, which is about an hour drive north of Minapin Nagar. From here several high peaks are visible. Most impressive are Rakaposhi (7,788 m), Ultar Sar (7,388 m), Diran Peak (7,266 m), Bublimating-Ladyfinger Peak (6,000 m), and Spantik (7,027 m) which is also known as Golden Peak.
Karimabad is also home to the ancient Baltit Fort with a community known as the Domaki people who live in the immediate vicinity named Mominabad.
The Baltic Fort was founded in the 1st century and has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2004. While the foundations of the fort date back more than 700 years, it has been rebuilt and altered numerous times over the years.
During the 16th century, the new bride of the local prince brought in craftsmen to renovate it in a Balti style which clearly shows strong Buddhist Tibetan influences.
The last occupant of the fort was the ‘Mir of Hunza’ – the ruler of the Hunza Valley. He moved his family out in 1945.
With the initiative of the Royal Geographical Society of London and with the financial support of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture Historic Cities Support Programme, extensive renovations were completed in 1996.
The fort is now a lovely museum with some very knowledgeable guides.
The current Aga Khan (a name used by the Imam of the Nizari Ismailis since 1818) is His Highness Aga Khan IV (78). As one of the world’s ten richest royals, the Aga Khan Trust is very actively involved in development projects in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. It’s been reported that the Trust allocates about US$600 million per year to philanthropy.
The views from the Baltic Fort of the Hunza Valley are impressive! Book into Karimabad’s Al Barkat Hotel where most balconies have great views of the valley and peaks.
This is cherry and apricot heaven, so if you are here in July you will have ample fruits to eat.
Just about 3 km southeast of the Baltit Fort along the banks of the Hunza River is the village of Altit, famous for the Altit Fort. Altit is the birthplace of the Hunza Kingdom and the Altit Fort is the oldest fort still standing in all of Gilgit-Baltistan. Built on a sheer rock-cliff that falls 300 m into the Hunza River, the fort was the original home of the Mir of Hunza before the family moved to the somewhat newer Baltit Fort. With its sharp drop-off into the river, the fort was not only highly defensible against enemies from outside, but was apparently also ideal to get rid of enemies from within!
The Altit Fort with it’s imposing tower is estimated to be between 800 and 1,100 years old, which makes it about 50 to 100 years older than the Baltit Fort.
The Aga Khan Trust and the Government of Norway financially supported recent renovations which were completed in 2007. The quaint village around the base of the fort has been upgraded with financial support from the Japanese Government.
Back on the Karakoram Highway, on the west banks of the Hunza River close to Karimabad, are the Sacred Rocks of Hunza. Located at a place called Haldeikish are some of the many carved rocks of the Hunza Valley. Many of the inscriptions on the rocks are carved in the Kharosthi language and include names of Buddhist pilgrims and merchants. It also shows a portrait of a Kushan king in Central Asian dress with the name “Gondophernes” written in Kharosthi.
Other inscriptions are written in Sogdian, Brahmi, Sarada and Proto Sarada languages. Names of Emperors appear, as well as drawings of local life including people and animals.
Upper Hunza Valley – the Gojal Valley
Commonly referred to as the Gojal Valley, the upper Hunza Valley stretches from the new Attabad Lake all the way north to the Khunjerab Pass on the border with China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
A forty minute drive north of Karimabad, in the southern section the Gojal Valley, is Attabad Lake.
This new lake was naturally created just a few years ago. On January 4 in 2010, a massive landslide at Attabad Village killed twenty people and blocked the flow of the Hunza River for the next five months.
The massive landslide of 2010 blocked the Hunza River and created Attabad Lake. Twenty people lost their lives and it blocked off the Karakoram Highway for 26 kilometres (16 mi). Boats had to be taken on the lake as there was no road. Now a new road has been built through the mountains around the lake.
The flooding displaced about 6,000 Wakhi and Burushaski speaking minority ethnic people from upstream villages. Thousands were stranded without any land transportation as the flooding inundated over 19 km of the Karakoram Highway. The lake reached a length of 21 km and a depth of over 100 m by June 2010. By the time the new lake reached its peak, about 240 houses, 135 shops, four hotels, two schools, four factories, and several hundred acres of agricultural land had been submerged.
At time of writing (July 2015), which is five and a half years since the landslide, the Karakoram Highway still terminates at the landslide point from where all people and goods are loaded onto small rickety boats for the 45 min trip up to the northern tip of the lake near the village of Gulmit.
From here the Karakoram Highway continues all the way up to the China border.
With the help of the Chinese government, a series of road tunnels around the lake are being constructed. The new road is expected to open by the end of 2015.
The Karakoram Highway will forever be submerged at the bottom of the lake, unless the landslide-wall breaks, which will be a major catastrophe for everything downstream, even down to Islamabad in the far south!
Gulmit at the northern tip of the lake is the administrative headquarters and is a centuries-old historic town surrounded by mountain peaks, glaciers, rivers and lakes.
Many of the area’s residents are immigrants from Central Asia, most notably Tajikistan to the north which explains why most people in this part of Gilgit-Baltistan are Wakhi-speakers and followers of the Ismaili sect of Shia Islam. The Wakhi language has its origin in today’s Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan where it is still spoken. In addition to be spoken in the Wakhan Corridor and in the Gulmit area, it is also spoken in Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badkhshan area immediately north of the Wahkan Corridor, and by Tajiks living in China’s Xinjiang region.
The people of Gulmit are fair skinned with many having light brown hair and even blue and green eyes. In addition to being beautiful people, they are also incredibly friendly. It won’t take long before you are invited into their modest homes where you will sit on their beautiful carpets and have tea with freshly baked flatbread.
Drop in at the “Korgah Old House Weaving” house to experience a really old house and to see several ladies weaving carpets. Many of the residents are well educated but job opportunities are limited, so they have to find work in the larger cities around Pakistan.
Further north of Gulmit are the small communities of Ghulkin, Passu, and a few others up to the border with China.
About 15 km north of Gulmit along the Karakoram Highway lies Passu, famous for its glaciers (Passu, Borith, Batura and Pamir), lakes (Borith and Shimshal), and mountain peaks.
Some of the notable peaks include Batura (7,785 m), Shisper (7,611 m), Passu (7,284 m), and the most remarkable Mount Tupopdon (6,500 m). Inspired by its unique structural attributes, Mount Tupopdon is also referred to as ‘Passu Cathedral’.
A small road up to the left of the Karakoram Highway leads to the foot of Passu Glacier. Walk high above the glacier further up the hill to have spectacular views of the glacier and the valley surrounded by majestic peaks.
Back to the Karakoram Highway, hike down to the Hunza River which in late summer will be a small stream meandering across a very wide riverbed.
Walk along the riverbed to the Passu Hanging Footbridge (2,400 m) which spans 200 m across the river. Go ahead and walk on the bridge, aptly labelled “The World’s Most Dangerous Bridge”. Walk all the way like the locals do. You will never forget this crossing!
The scenery around this area is truly unforgettable.
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Blog post and photos by Peter who has been travelling almost full-time since 2005 and has been to over 122 countries. He visited several countries, such as Japan, more than 20 times. Peter is Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of GlobeRovers Magazine, an independent travel magazine focused on intrepid destinations.