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PAKISTANPakistan has borders to the north with Afghanistan, to the east with India and to the west with Iran; the Arabian Sea lies to the south. In the northeast is the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir, bounded by Afghanistan, China and India. Pakistan comprises distinct regions. The northern highlands – the Hindu Kush – are rugged and mountainous; the Indus Valley is a flat, alluvial plain with five major rivers dominating the upper region, eventually joining the Indus River and flowing south to the Makran coast; Sindh is bounded on the east by the Thar Desert and the Rann of Kutch, and on the west by the Kirthar Range; the Baluchistan Plateau is an arid tableland encircled by mountains.  Pakistan encapsulates such variety that it is regretful that it is not top of every traveller's must-see list. Pakistan is enriched by friendly people and magnificent landscapes. Opportunity for adventure is as high as its mighty mountain ranges, with watersports, mountaineering and trekking all popular and rewarding activities. Coupled with this is a profound sense of cultural concoction, Pakistan once being home to several ancient civilizations, and witness to the rise and fall of dynasties. Pakistan's topography is therefore as fractured and unsettled as its history. Yet its swerving shifts of mountainous land possess great beauty. Visit Pakistan for yourself and begin untangling this complex enigma. The modern state of Pakistan was established on 14 August 1947. From the Arabian sea on the Indian ocean Pakistan stretches to a length of 1,800 kilometers into the mountains of Central Asia covering an area of 803,940 square kilometers/ 499,545 square miles, making it nearly four times as larger as Great Britian. It has a population of 162.4 million, with a literacy rate of 48.7 % , of which 61.7% are male and 35.2% female. Both English and Urdu are the official languages of Pakistan. Pakistan’s history overlaps that of ancient India, Iran and Afghanistan. The region was a crossroad of historic trade routes, including the Silk Road and was settled over thousands of years by many groups, including Dravidians, Indo Aryans, Persians, Macedonians, Greeks, Scythians, Parthians, Kushans, White Huns, Afghans, Arabs, Turks and Mongols. The earliest evidence of humans in the region are pebble tools from the Soan culture in the province of Punjab dated from 100,000 to 500,000 years ago. The Indus region was the site of several ancient cultures including Mehrgarh one of the world's earliest known towns, and the Indus valley Civilisation at Harappa and Mohenjo Daro. (2500 BC - 1500 BC).. The Indus Valley civilisation collapsed in the middle of the second millennium BC and was followed by the Verdic civilization which extended over much of northern India and Pakistan. Successive empires and kingdoms ruled the region from the Achemenid Persian empire around 543 BC, to Alexander the Great in 326 BC and the Mauryan empire. The Indo Greek Kingdom founded by Demetrius of Bactria included Gandhara and Punjab from 184 BC, and reached its greatest extent under Menander establishing the Greco Buddhist period with advances in trade and culture. The city of Taxila became a major centre of learning in ancient Buddhist times - the remains of the city, and Takht i Bai are one of the country's major Buddhist archaeological sites. In 712 AD, the Arab general Muhammed bin Qasim conquered Sindh and Multan in southern Punjab setting the stage for several successive Muslim empires including the Ghazanvid empire, the Ghori kingdom, the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal empire before the British Empire gained control over south Asia. Pakistan is a federation of four provinces, a capital territory and federally administered tribal areas. It is an Islamic state and the vast majority of the population are Muslims. Muslims are the followers of the Prophet Mohammed. Though Christians and Muslims fought a protracted war for supremacy of their ideology, the two religions have much in common. Many of the stories of the Christian Old Testament are found in the Koran and Muslims revere all the Christian prophets. They do not accept the deification of Christ but they do regard him as the penultimate prophet. An important difference between the two religions is in their organization. Unlike Christian churches, Islam has no formal hierarchy and mullahs are not appointed or elected. In Pakistan Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Christians live peacefully following their own religious practices, celebrating their own festivals and holidays. Thousands of Sikhs come from across the world to visit several holy sites in Punjab, including the shrine of Guru Nanak the founder of Sikhism at Hassan Abdal in Attock District and his birthplace, at Nankana Sahib. Buddhist visit their sacred centers and with the easing of relationship with India many Sikhs and Hindus come on pilgrimage to their religious sites and local festivals in Pakistan. Hindukush Trails runs trips in all the four provinces of Pakistan.  Karakorum & Himalayas The Karakorum is the apex of the mountain world; a spectacular wilderness of rock, black ice, sheer cliffs and foaming rivers. The range includes the mountains north of the lower Shyok, the Indus and lower Gilgit rivers as far west as the Ishkoman and Karamber valleys. The name Karakoram means ‘black rock’ in Turkic, an apt description of the mountains. No other range can boast such concentration of mighty peaks- three out of the six highest mountains in the world, five of the 8000m peaks 29 peaks above 7500m and 60 summits of over (6700m). Here is the earth’s second-highest mountain, K2 (8611m), the earth’s largest non-polar glacier, the Hispar-Biafo (76 miles - 122 km} from source to moraine, the earth’s greatest concentration of ice outside the Arctic and Antarctic, and the earth’s most spectacular mountain scenery.  Most of the highest peaks are in the 300km long Great Karakoram range, which forms the main crest line of the entire system and is divided into sections from the Batura, Muztagh running east is the Hispar Muztagh, Panmah Muztagh and Baltoro Muztagh. The shorter range on either side of this great icebound crest is collectively termed the Lesser Karakoram range. On the north side are the Lupgar and Ghuzherav mountains. On the south side are the Naltar, Rakaposhi, Haramosh, Spantik-Sosbun, Mangom Gusor, Shimshal, and Masherbrum and Saltoro mountains. What is true of the Lesser Himalayas is true also of the Greater Trans-Himalayas stretching for more that 1500 miles (2414 km) from Nanga Parbat (8126 m) on Indus to Namcha Barwa (7761 m) on the Brahmaputra. This is a world of giants whose names are familiar not only to mountaineers, but to millions of adventurers throughout the world. Here we find rare animals, the highest flowering plants and the highest inhabited dwellings. Northern Areas River Valleys & Agriculture In western Tibet two mighty rivers origin within a few miles of each other the Brahamaputra flowing east to Bhutan and the Indus flowing west through the Himalaya in a crescent, encircling the subcontinent through Tibet and Ladkkh before entering Baltistan, linking the culture and people of different regions. There are numerous tributaries that rise and fall to form a unique landscape of mountain chains , gorges and valley with contrasts. Most parts of these mountains are arid and receive very little monsoons . The snow and glaciers from these mountains are the source for an extensive network of rivers that cut deeply through them. The Braldu, Shigar, Shyok , Shimshal, Hunza, Ishkuman, and Ghizar rivers all of them flow to form the might Indus river, which, older than the mountains themselves, is the only river to flow through the Karakoram range. The central and upper Ghizar Rivers drain the Hindukush range and its offshoot, the Hindu Raj range. From the heavily glaciated Karakoram flow the Hunza and Shyok rivers, Nanga Parbat’s glaciers flow into the Indus River, which separates this Himalayan massif from the Karakoram. Village life follows a pattern of subsistent agriculture where every bit of land is utilized combined with animal husbandry. Corn, buckwheat and millet are staple crops with low lying valleys producing some rice and vegetables with potatoes as cash crop . Cultivation is done through intensive irrigation possible from canals cut across sheer cliffs and scree slopes that are engineering marvel. Its possible to grow two crops per year as high as 2400m, . Sheep and goats are raised in most places along with milk cows. Bulls are used for plough-ing and threshing, yoked together and driven over harvested grain. Yaks are the favored livestock at higher altitude. Afghan Hindukush Pamir & Wakhan Nuristan Since 1997 each year, Hindukush Trails did extensive exploration in the Afghan Pamirs and Hindukush, right into Wakhan and Badhkashan. Route maps ( when non exited ) were sketched out for own use with extensive details, these are now useful for the benefit of others who followed.  Mountains dominate most of the landscape of Afghanistan with more than 49 percent of the total land area lying above 2,000 meters. In the north on the Wakhan corridor the Pamirs merge into the Hindukush , where they are still being born, still thrusting up at the rate of something like two-and-a-half inches a year. Yet in the very moment of their birth, they are dying, for the ranges to the southeast are rising even faster and each year are blocking off more and more of their already inadequate rainfall, converting their already barren slopes to desert. This is one of the bleakest and least-known corners of the world , remote, mysterious and at one time, dubbed ‘the third pole’. The Pamir mountains, which Afghans refer to as the 'Roof of the World," extend into Tajikistan, China and the Karakorums. In Wakhan these mountains are rounded domes, divided by high, wide valleys which are very nearly as desolate as the peaks that surround them. Although geographers differ on the division of these mountains into systems, they agree that the Hindukush system, the most important, is the westernmost extension of the Pamir Mountains, the Karakorum Mountains and the Himalayas. The Hindukush mountain peaks in the eastern part of the country reach more than 7,000 meters. The highest of these is Noshaq at 7,485 meters. The mountains of the Afghan Hindukush diminish in height as they stretch westward toward the middle, near Kabul, they extend from 4,500 to 6,000 meters, in the west they attain heights of 3,500 to 4,000 meters. The average altitude of the Afghan Hindukush is 4,500 meters. The Hindukush mountain system stretches for about a 1000km south but only about 600 kilometers of the system is called the Hindukush mountains, the rest consists of numerous smaller mountain ranges like the Koh-e-Baba, Salang, Koh-e Paghman, Spin Ghar or Safid Koh, Suleiman, Siah Koh, Koh-e Khwaja Mohammad, Selseleh-e-Band-e-Turkestan. Numerous high passes connect the mountain valleys through which trade caravans travel. The most important passes are Salang (3,878 meters); it links Kabul and points south to northern Afghanistan. The Khyber Pass (1027 meters), into Pakistan, the Wakhjir (4,923 meters), in the Wakhan Corridor into Xinjiang, China, the Khawak pass 3550m into Panjsher valley, the Baroghil (3,798 meters) and Dorah into Chitral Pakistan. These mountainous areas are mostly barren, or at the most sparsely sprinkled with trees and stunted bushes. True forests, found mainly in the eastern provinces of Kunar , Nuristan and Paktiya cover barely 2.9% of the country's area. Even these small reserves have been disastrously depleted by the war and through illegal exploitation. River Valleys Afghanistan consists of 652,290 sq. miles territory which is completely landlocked. It is bordered by Iran to the west , by the Central Asian States of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan to the north and northeast , by China on the Wakhan Corridor and Pakistan to the east and south .  Afghanistan possesses both mountains, lakes, river valleys and desert areas. The four major river systems are the Amu Darya, the Oxus 1,100km in Afghanistan the Hilmand (1,300 kilometers); the Harirud (650 kilometers in Afghanistan and the Kabul (460 kilometers). Many rivers and streams simply empty into arid portions of the country, spending themselves through evaporation flowing seasonally and only the Kabul flows into the Indus in Pakistan and thence into the Arabian Sea. Hindukush & Hindu Raj The Hindukush Mountains like the Himalaya are being fashioned before one’s very eyes. The numerous peaks, 200 of them rising above 6000m and a number over 7000m dominated by Tirich Mir at 7708m are ever thrusting upward 4 to 5 inches, each year. Only to be eroded by almost the same measurement and how spectacular this erosion can be, for this is a region of earthquakes, landslides and floods, a perpetual battleground where whole hillsides collapse overnight and fast-flowing rivers are forever carving out new gorges among the massifs.  The Hindu Kush range, marks the watershed between the valleys draining the Amu “Oxus river “ in Pamirs at the roof of the world and the “ Indus river “ basin draining into the Arabian sea. This mountain range with its numerous valleys can be divided into three separate regions . The eastern region extends from Wakhjir pass 4,907m in the little Pamir to Dorah pass 4,510m, a distance of about 320 km stretching along the China , Pakistan and Afghan frontier. The second region stretches beyond Dorah pass and lies in Afghanistan with the major peaks in Badkhashan and Nuristan.. The third region the Hindu Raj or the Thui range lies entirely in Pakistan stretching 240km along Swat and Kohistan valley. Alexander the Great crossed the range in 328 B.C calling it the mountains over which no eagles can fly, pausing briefly in the high valleys beneath the submit ridges he founded a garrison town which his troops named Alexandria –in - the Caucasus, its theatres and wrestling rings defiantly raising the banner of Greek culture in the most unlikely of the Hindukush valleys. The Hindukush and the Caucasus both boast a legendry eagle. Many of Alexanders troops knew the legend of Prometheus, who because of his theft of fire, was believed to have been chained by Zeus to a rock in the Caucasus, with a great eagle gnawing eternally at his liver. When Alexander’s native guides pointed out a cave in the Hindu Kush where their eagle was said to live, and showed the troops a great slab-sided rock scoured by the marks of its claws, many assumed that it must be the Caucasus they were crossing. Marco Polo calls it ' the highest place in the world'. Its present name is of persian origin. Later explorers of these mountains were the British and the Russian playing the Great Game. The Hindukush, as a mountain range, is considered to extend from the Wakhjir pass (4,907m) at the junction of the Pamirs and Karakoram to Khawak pass (3,548m) north of Kabul. To the south west, the mountains shrink and losing their glaciers, fan out and spread into central Afghanistan. Chitral This remote and peaceful land of mountain valleys, rapid streams and gushing rivulets is tucked away in the furthest north western corner of Pakistan. At the Pamir knot lies the ancient Kingdom of Chitral covering an area of about 7000 sq miles, locked away in a dozen secret valleys on the roof of the world. The snow clad pyramids of the Hindukush range are breathtaking . In whichever direction you gaze, mountains dominate the horizon. The valleys are encircled with peaks of splendor with its highest peak Tirich Mir at 7708m standing sentential north of the main town which has the same name as the valley “ Chitral “ Chitral has a rich history. Waves of invaders beginning from the Aryans and followed by Alexander and the hordes of Changez Khan have passed through Chitral. The diminishing population of the nature-worshipping Kalash tribe of Chitral is only one example of the remnants of these invasions. Historically the Chitral Valley was one of the main arteries of the Silk road, where caravans from Yarkand and Kashgar in China and Central Asia crossed across the Boroghil Pass to India. Culturally it was linked with central asian emirates and khanates for many centuries. The people of this area looked towards Kashgar, Bokhara, Samarkand and Kabul for trade and knowledge. Alexander Gardner, was possibly the first European to visit Chitral and Kafiristan (now Kalash) in 1830. W.W. McNair of Indian Survey Department, disguised as a Pathan, visited Kalash area in 1883 and did some survey work with a plane table. George Cockerill surveyed the eastern Hindukush in 1892. It was, however, between 1889 - 1891 that Sir George Robertson carried out extensive travel in Kalash area. In 1923 Lord Rawlinson, the then C-in-C of the British Indian Army, undertook a round trip to Chitral via the then traditional route over the Shandur pass and then to Dir through Lowari pass. From 1460 to 1960 for about 500 years Chitral remained an independent kingdom ruled by the Kator family (Ul Mulk) are descendants of Timer lane . Presently the Kator family are still active in various development activities, in government departments , development organizations besides tours & hoteling in the region. Chitral became an important player in ' The Great Game ' played between the Russian and British Empires which has been highlighted so well in the books by Peter Hopkirk, Algernon Durand and later by John Keays. Indeed, because of its unique geo-political location, Chitral will continue playing a role in any future development that takes place in the region involving Afghanistan, Pakistan, Central Asia and China. For the future adventure-travellers Chitral will be able to offer walks involving all these countries because no where else do these countries come within 50 miles of each other. Culturally and physically Chitral is still the most isolated region of NWFP. From December till April for about six months it is completely cut of from the rest of the country as the high passes leading to it are snow bound. River Valleys & Agriculture The Chitral river rises in the area of the Chiantar Glacier, a 40km sheet of ice and is known by five different names at various stages along its course. Here, as the Yarkhun, it flows down from an altitude of over 5000m to be joined by the Laspur River which drains most of the northern slopes of the Shandur range. It is then known as the Mastuj until it joins the Torkhow River and Lutkoh branch, draining the Tirich Mir region, where it becomes the Chitral River for much of its course until, it crosses into Afghanistan as the Kunar river re-entering Pakistan as Kabul river. In total the river valley runs for over 300km. Below Chitral town the river plain widens to over 4km in width and runs in a broken pattern of cultivated alluvial fans right down to Nagar, 10km south of Drosh. Generally speaking agriculture in Chitral is still practiced according to traditional methods, where wooden plough and wooden sickle are still in use. Agriculture is irrigation based involving gravity flow channels. The main crops are barley, wheat and millet, followed by rice, vegetables and fruit, and pulses on the arid land. Due to the low elevation of much of the river plain, double cropping is extensively practiced. Nevertheless, the region experiences a deficit in food grains each year and relies heavily on the surpluses imported from down country. The Chitrali word for ‘level ground’ refers to any land at less than a 45 degree angle! The Chitrali diet is simple, centered around dairy products and wheat. Chitrali bread, either in the form of Khasta Shapik or Chapouti, is baked in thick round loaves and makes a pleasant change from Chapatis or nan. Shetu is a thin, watery yogurt like drink which can be thickened into Machir, or yogurt and in turn is used to make Shupinak, a delicious thick, creamy cheese. The Chitrali cuisine is unlike food in the rest of Pakistan. Pushoor Tiki, Shak Tiki, Ghalmandi, Chera Shapik, Lazhik, Mishi, Kali , Laganu etc are some of the delicious local dishes. Unfortunately none of the local hotels offer the cousine as such dishes need to be cooked on wood fire and is laborious . But if you get invited into private homes it is a delicacy not to be missed. The recently opened "home stay at Ayun Fort “ situated on route to the Kalash valley at Ayun Balawosht village offers traditional local cuisines to its guests. Mountaineering K2 K2 the mountain of mountains, at 8,611m is the second highest peak after Everest. It is situated in the Karakoram mountains of Pakistan . It is a pyramidal peak, more beautiful than Everest and harder to climb. The traditional route to its base camp goes from Skardu, which is linked with the capital Islamabad both by road as well as by air . From Skardu the route goes via Askole up the Baltoro Glacier to Concordia . Itinerary . Flexible expeditions itineraries are made by us looking at your requirements and demands. For Broad Peak 8047m, Distaghil 7885 m, Kunyang Chhish 7852m, Masherbrum 7,821 m, Rakaposhi 7,788 m, Batura 7,785 m, Kanjut Sar 7,760 m, Chogolisa 7,665 m,and other major 7600 & 6000 peaks in the Karakorum Himalayas contact our office for details. Nanga Parbat Nanga Parbat is the most westerly buttress of the Himalaya, divided from the Hindukush by the gorge of the Indus. It is 8126m in height and when viewed from the west, is probably the most spectacular mountain on earth, for it rises near-sheer from the bed of the Indus for 7015 m of vertical height , 4 & half miles plunging, to all intents and purposes, vertically from the summit ridge, down through fields of ice and snow, down precipices and glaciers, down overhangs and rock-walls, down through scrub and scree and into a gorge which is 100 times more terrifying than the Grand Canyon – a suffocating, rock-bound desert, where nothing grows and nothing lives, and the gneiss disintegrates in an average summer temperature of over 120°F (49°C). This, as Vigne wrote 150 years ago, 'is the most awful and most magnificent sight to be met with in the Himalayas.' Nanga Parbat or "Nanga Parvata" means the naked mountain. Its original and appropriate name, however, is Diamir the king of the mountains. Nanga Parbat has always been associated with tragedies and tribulations until it was climbed in 1953. A lot of mountaineers have perished on Nanga Parbat since 1895. Even today it is claiming a heavy toll of mountaineers becoming victims in their pursuit to its summit.  Hindukush Trails House 37, Street 28 , Sector F-6/1 Islamabad, Pakistan P.O.Box 2059 GPO, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan Tel:0092-51-2275031 & 5384054 Fax: 0092-51-2823354 CLICK HERE for oue enquiry form "We would have got nowhere without Maqsood ul Mulk and Hindukush Trails in Pakistan" Michael Palin 
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