Karakorum Highway the eighth wonder of the world

  To the North of Pakistan lie the Northern Areas a mountainous

region containing some of the world’s most incredible scenery, a fascinating mixture of different ethnic populations and some superb trekking and climbing routes. The building of the road through the region- the Karakorum Highway linking Pakistan to China has opened up a spectacular overland route between the two countries, passing through some Pakistan's most beautiful mountain areas, and providing onward access to Central Asia’s historic cities. The opening this route to foreigners in 1986 provides adventure travellers, with the opportunity of the unique and exhilarating adventure travel experience.

  The best time to visit Northern Pakistan on the Karakorum Highway is the exact opening and closing time of the Khunerab pass(4,7 00 m) and China are weather independent, though it is officially opened 1^st May 30^th November. By that time areas such as Hunza are at their colourful shape, in spring (April) and autumn (October), when the trees are at their most colourful. The main tourist season is the summer June to September, although July can get very hot if you visit in the lower parts of Northern Areas and in the Indus canyon and raining September can lead to landslides and blockages on the KKH. July and August are the main trekking and climbing months of the year.

   In its lower reaches, the Karakorum Highway passes through districts such as Hazara and Kohistan that infect administratively part of Khyber Pokhtun Khwan province. However these regions form part of a natural route along the highway, the editorial logic is to include in this Karakorum Highway and Northern Areas chapter. Excursion and diversions to valleys off the main highway are dealt with at the relevant departure point from the Karakorum Highway.

  Further since the history, geography culture of the huge area dealt with this huge chapter is highly fragmented with these issues will often be dealt with separately at the relevant stage of the journey through the region.

 The journey through the Karakorum Highway has its own wonderful experience along the mighty River Indus the road always runs along it that adds to the beauty the Karakorum. Although, it is terrible and fearing for the people, who travel for the first time and is enough once in a life. If you are interested to visit more than once to the North of Pakistan there very few chances to fly from Islamabad to the Northern Areas because the flight depends on the weather and very few seats are available in the plane. You need to prepare yourself for the travel of 24 by Karakorum Highway. Very few like and feel enjoy travelling by it. There is no any option if you will not have a chance to fly to Northern Areas. 

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Geography of Northern Pakistan

  The Northern Areas of Pakistan is the meeting point of four of the world’s great mountain chain, the Karakorum, Hindu Kush, Himalaya and Pamir contains the largest concentration of high peaks in the world, and is home to the largest glaciers outside of the Polar region. The region consists largely of the Island of Kohistan Arc, mass of displaced metamorphosed, sedimentary rocks, wedged between the Eurasian and Indian plates. Two great sheer lines run the region; the North suture separates the Kohistan Island from the Hindu Kush and Karakorum ranges to the East and North, and the main mantle Thrust which separates Kohistan from the Himalayas and Indian plates to the South and SE. The pivotal point in the Pamir Knot an enormous tangle of high mountains and Plateau in the North straddling Pakistan, Afghanistan, the former Soviet Central Asian states and China. The major mountain ranges, Alai, Himalaya, Hindu Kush, Karakorum, Tian Shan, Kunkun, and Pamir run from this central feature, bifurcating into numerous sub ranges.

  Although the details of the valleys and the ranges of the work of glacial actions, weathering and erosion, the formation as whole are primarily the result of recent up –lift. The interaction of these processes result in highly unstable and dynamic landscape, where earthquakes and landslides are frequent.

    MOUNTAINS:

The Northern Areas has many of the highest peaks, with five over 8000m, 25 over  7,500m, almost 100 over 7,000m and numerous over 6000m. In K2 (8611m), Pakistan can boast a mountain second only to the Everest in height, whilst Nanga Parbat(8126m) the killer mountain surely be acknowledged as the largest solid lumps of rock of anywhere on the earth.

      GLACIERS:  The Karakorum, range contains some of the largest glaciers outside of the polar regions including SiachHin (72km), Biafo(62km), Hispar(61km), Batura(58km), Baltoro(58km) Gashbrum and Chgo Lungma both are 38km and Chiantir glacier in Hindu Khush is 35km  is still not known. Ice covered in the Karakorum is estimated 23-25% as opposed to 8-10% in the Himalaya and 2.2% in the Alps. The region’s glaciers provide both a creative and destructive force being responsible for loss of agricultural land and damage to road networks through encroachment, but also providing the source for irrigation in a region where rain-fed agricultural is not possible.

   RIVERS:

The dominant river system in the region is Indus, which cuts a deep gorge trending firs E-W the N-S. With rare exceptions, such as Chilas and Skardu, habitation along the Indus river bank has not been possible, with population tending to stick with minor tributary valleys and mountain slopes where river and glacial water is more manageable.                              Numerous other rivers drain the region forming part of the Upper Indus basin, including the Shyoke, Shigar, Astoreru, Gilgit, Hunza, Ghizar, kurumbar, Shimshal and khunjerab.

Other geographical Features:

  There are numerous geographical features in the Northern Areas including numerous passes between valleys, some of which are easily crossed and other which have fearsome reflections and are closed for most of the year such as Karakorum pass. 

The enormous plateau known as the Deosia plain lying W and North West of Skardu, is a spectacular illustration of the effects of glacial actions and environmental change on the landscape.

Climate of North Pakistan:

  Climatically the northern area is the region of extremes. The Temperature fluctuate between the mid to late 40 C in the furnace of the gorge around Chilas down 30 C at the higher altitude. The main valleys such as Gilgit, Hunza and Skembardu generally have annual temperature ranges between 0 C and 30 C. Many parts of the Northern Areas are snow-bound between November and April.

  The Northern Areas are largely outside the monsoon belt and receives only minimal rainfall of about 100mm annually, most of which occurs at high altitude feeding snow-fields and glaciers. The lower sections of the Kaghan valley and Hazara lie on the edge of the SW monsoon and receive upwards of 800mm of rain fall annually. In August the main trekking season rivers are swollen with summer snow-melt and difficult to cross. Spring (April-May) and Autumn(September-October) are particularly beautiful seasons although cold at night.

  

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Fauna of the Nothern Areas of Pakistan

Northern Pakistan once was crawling with wild game. Trophy hunting was not known to anyone. There were professional hunters all around and use to hunt wild animals as it was a fashion of the time. Later on trophy hunting introduced and managed national parks with help of those professional hunters in some parts of northern Pakistan, but in some parts it is still the same the as past, because of these the wild animals are extremely  timid and confining themselves and live and live in most remote and inaccessible areas.

  So you can see some of the wild animals such as ibex, Markhor, Marco polo, blue bharal, or urial sheep, in some parts of northern areas.

  Brown bears are still plentiful on Deosia plateau, and you sometimes see them on the passes between Chitral and Yasin. You can mostly see ibex or its footprints along the Baltoro Glacier and Biafo Glacier and you can rarely see ibex along the Khunjerab National Park. If you know what to look for, you can also find snow leopard scrapings in the Khunjerab.

  Wolves still roam in the remoter valleys of d Gilgit, Nagar, and Hunza especially in the far eastern parts of the Shimshal valley, where you may also bharal blue sheep and the occasional wild ass, Lynx martens, stoats and Altais weasels still live in the northern reaches of the Kaghan valleys, as well as in Gilgit and Hunza. There are musk deer on the Deosia, in parts of the Nelum and Kaghan valleys and in the wild of Indus Kohistan.

  You will have good chance of seeing in broad daylight on Himalayan fox on the hillsides, cape hares along the ablation valleys and golden marmots standing outside their burrows and imAitating the piecing parts whistles that echo through in most of the parts of North Pakistan in Chitral, Yasin, Khunjerab and Deosia.

     BIRDS

  

Pakistan is extremely rich in bird life, with 661 species. This is a result of its favour position straddling two major zoogeographic zones, the Palaearctic and the oriental. The Indus is one of the major birds migration parts of the world for Palaearctic species which breed in the north in the summer and fly south to the Indian Sub-continent for the winter. They are on the move spring and autumn, using the major north-south valley as convenient freeways through the mountains. Hundreds of species from geese and cranes downs to tiniest warblers fly thousands of Kilometres each year.

  Though you miss the main migration if you are in the mountains only in the summer, you are still likely to see circling in the main valleys Black Kite, the Bearded Vultures and the huge Himalayan Griffon Vultures, with a rounded tail and wingspan up to three metres.

  On remoter passé between 4000 to 4500 metres, you may see Himalayan snow cock large lumbering bird the size of the domestic duck. These birds try to escape by running away uphill; you may hear their wild whistling from a distance cries on the slopes above.  Occasionally you may see the beautiful pigeons flying across alpine slopes. You will certainly come across lots hoopoe, with their distinctive black and white stripes, fawn head and fan-shaped crest. In Chitral in the summer you can see frequently golden oriels, spur song-birds serenading from trees and swooping in streets of brilliant yellow from one tree to next. There brilliant turquoise European Blue jays and in forested areas, the occasional scaly-bellied or Himalayan pied woodpeckers. High in the trees you often hear the mouse like a squeak of white-cheeked Nuthatches or the loud double-tremulous whistle of the black and yellow Grossbeak. Flocks of Tits and treecreepers fly rapidly through the trees of foraging for insects, buds and seeds. The birds interested people must look for the areas where they can see the birds they like and I hope you enjoy your trip with them

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Flora and Fauna of Northern Pakistan

  Once you leave the irrigated oasis, you trek up different zones of natural flora. Population pressure  and the need for fuel denuded many hillsides one clothed with scattered scrub, and indiscriminate felling of trees in some places have reduced many hillsides to a forest of stumps, leading to tragic erosion and loss of wildlife much remains to delight the trekkers.

  The areas surrounding most mountain villages is semi-arid deserts with clumps scented Artemisia, pale-blue and white globe thistle, some berries, the  old juniper or pine tree and scattered buck-thorns bushes covered in orange berries in autumn. Along the river valleys, you find several kinds of tamarisk with long feathery heads of pink flowers. In parts of Swat and Indus Kohistan, the lower slopes are covered with evergreen holly oaks.

  As you rise the air gets cooler and less dry. From about 2,000 to 3,000 meters in some of most remote and shelter valleys, there are large coniferous forests of Himalayan blue pine, silver fir, and spruce. On the drier slopes are scattered stands of the magnificent deodar, some specimen up to 50 meters tall with trunk tens or 11 meters in circumference, and a few chalgoza pine with smooth, grey bark peeling in dappled flakes. These trees bear cones that contain nutritious oily seeds that are delicious roasted.

  Above this to over 4000 meters, dwarf or creeping juniper willow and Himalayan birch reach tree size at the lower altitudes but crouch as bushes higher up. The birch trees are easily identified by their brown and white peeling bark, which still serves in some areas paper and wrap up butter for storage. Scattered throughout is the juniper still buried for its purifying smoke. The smoke is used to induce trance in shamans or fortune letters in some valleys this is probably carry over from pre-Islamic time.

Above the tree line, the moisture content of the air drops and you enter alpine meadows covered in a dvariety of flowers. In rocky places are saxifrage, pea-flowered astragulas, spurges, stonecrops, edelweiss and rock jasmine, with carpets of potentillas, primulas and gentions on the meadows. You also find taller, bright-pink and yellow houseworts, yellow fumitory and the pretty fringed white flowers of alpine campion. All these flowers at their blossom from  month of  June to August along the way you trek. You will enjoy the trip with no doubt with this flora.

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AGRICULTURE OF NORTHERN PAKISTAN

Most people in North Pakistan are peasant farmers. The average household has eight members sharing half a hectare of land. As most Northern Pakistan is mountain desert, with 20-200 millimeters of rain fall a year depending on the area, agriculture is possible only by irrigation.  Channels are dug from kilometers long feed the water from mountains, streams flowing from the glaciers to any patch of flat land. Water cannot be taken from main rivers, as in summer, swelled by melting snow, they rise many meters and become raging torrent that would submerge and tear away any delicate canal head works.

     Shortage of water is the constant problem in some parts of most villages of Northern Pakistan and the channels are patrolled 24 hours a day to maintain the flow, regulate the complicate system of water and guard against water theft. There is always a man striding along channel for opening or closing the sluice gates and repairing the bank. The channels also supply the water used in most village households, so be careful not to change or pollute them even by washing your hands in them.

  The crops grow vary from valley to valley and village to village depending on altitude and local customs and preference. In some areas in the low altitude people rotate their crops as Hunza, farmers usually rotate their crops, planting winter wheat in November, harvesting it in July and immediately planting maize, which harvest in mid-October. Higher fields may be under maize which with barley from late May to August.

   In lower Chitral a first crop barley is usually followed by rice. This is culture preference and perhaps shows difference in background, as Aryans traditionally eat wheat rather than rice.

  Potatoes were introduced to the mountain areas by the British late in the eighteenth century. They are sown in April and harvested in October. The usual vegetables are peas, broad beans, haricot beans, lentils, onions, spinach, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, courgettes, turnips and okra are grown in the northern Areas of Pakistan.

  Throughout the mountains fruit is an important part of the local diet. Most important of all is apricot. In northern there are varieties of apricots, which make unforgettable display when they blossom at the beginning of April. No part of the apricot is wasted: beside eating fruit the people use the shell for fuel, pound the nut for oil and use the pulp as animals feed. As some species grow at 3000meters even in the higher villages.

   Other popular fruit trees are apple, cherry, pear, plum and peach with all the families owing 5-10 trees of each variety.

   Live stock is also at great in the northern Areas of Pakistan. The usual domestic animals are goats, sheep, yaks, cattle and yak cow crosses which are called dzos. Yaks are used to pack animals which the cattle and crosses are used for milk, meat and pulling plough.

  The distribution of the animals varies in the different villages and valleys. Each family owns 20-30 goats and sheep and 3-5 yaks and cows or dzos. 

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Location of Northern Areas of Pakistan

The Northern Areas covers an expanse of about 27,188 square miles of and the population is about 197,361,691 in 2011.      

  The region lies between 70° and 75° degrees E and 32° and 37° N. Administratively the Northern Areas has been divided into six districts with its main town Gilgit, Diamer, Ghizar, Astore, Skardu, Baltistan and Ganche. Formerly all of these were autonomous states two agencies of Gilgit Baltistan. Gilgit agency included Hunza and Nagir, political districts of Ishkoman, Yasin, Punial and Koh-e-Ghizar and also the sub-division of Chilas and tribal areas of Darel and Tangir. Chilas sub-division extended from the confluence of Astore River with the Indus to Seo on the right bank of Jalkote on the left bank of Indus River. Today the western boundary of Chitias, the district is limited to Shatial bridge, on the Indus. Territory beyond is incorporated in the Kohistan district of Khyber Puktoon Khawn (N.W.F.P) province. This Kohistan is really the Yahistan of the British, where the British authority was hardly felt. Ghizar district on the west touches the boundary of Chitral a district of KPK province, on the East  and Gilgit town touches the China border at Khunjerab and Shimshal pass, and on the north Wakhan border a province of Afghanistan and culminated at Mintika pass where meet Afghanistan, USSR, China and Pakistan.

     Baltistan had been known as Tebit-e-Khurd. Originally it is consist of Skardu, Shigar, kiris, Khapolo, Tulti and Karmang, each having its semi-independent raja and autonomous ruler. In 1947, two tehsils of kargil and Ladakh also belonged to Baltistan but they fell outside of the control administration of Baltistan as a result of the ceasefire agreement with India in 1948. The Baltistan agency as constituted was made up of Skardu district tehsil of original Ladakh district and thirty-four villages of Kargil tehsil and Curez sub-tehsil. The administration of Baltistan taken over by the government of Pakistan in November 1948 and an Additional political Agent appointed at Skardu under the overall control of the political agent in Gilgit. From 1961 onwards, however, the Additional Political Agent, Skardu was made directly responsible to the Resident in January 1964. The Additional Political Agency of Baltistan was formerly upgraded to a full-fledged Agency headed by political Agent. This position continued until 1972 when Baltistan became a district under a deputy Commissioner which still the same.   

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Geography of the Northern Areas of Pakistan

Geographically, climatically and biologically primarily North Pakistan presents Trans-Himalayan character where cis-himalayan features and monsoons of the plain are almost totally absent. Its major parts lie in the watershed of Himalaya, Hindukush and Karakorom. Only its Southern slopes, nearer Kashmir lie within Himalayan mountain system. The land lies amidst, towering mountain, snow-clad peaks and narrow valleys between 300 feet 28750 feet above the sea level. Within sixty miles radius of Gigit the main of the land, there are dozens of peaks ranging from 18000 to 26000 feet. The climate is extremely cold and temperate in summer. Northern Areas differ from other parts of the Himalayan states in so for it lies within an approach from China, India, central Asia and the countries of the west, thus giving it to great geo-political importance. And yet the land is away from the rest of the world and it itself sub-divided into numerous smaller units, located in different valleys, uplands, plateaus and mountain tops. Technically it is land of isolation without those geographical features that give unity to a region. Although the River Indus should have been the artery for communication and unification, yet the mountain barriers have stood in the way of common dwelling along the Indus. Except for rare places such Skardu and Chilas living along the Indus banks have so for been difficult people have moved to smaller valleys and mountain slopes where glacial water is easy at hand for drinking and irrigation. Habitable and cultivable land being scarce, fruit cultivation, hunting and marauding habits and hence human living here has been a game hazards, in which the survival of the fittest is a normal rule. The people are tough and hilly prone to bearing harsh climate yet harboring a character of independence and developing self sufficient mountain settlements protected by hill forests. The communities are closed and they bear open rivalry, one to another for the sake of survival. And yet close proximity of neighboring states have left deep impressions on the political geography of the land. States formation is normally an affair of community management by common consent. Although this feature survival a long time in western valleys. Yet the surrounding political forces introduced centralized state apparatus to be controlled by introducing ruling dynasties from outside, who competed to established wider authority of their own by mutual wars and by manipulating the power of bigger in the neighboring hood. It is this particular role of Northern Areas of Pakistan that has given a great significance in the international game of Asian politics. Hence its historical geography extends beyond the limits mere Trans-Himalyan.

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