PAKISTAN, together with the great landscape has a unique culture. Traveling through Pakistan, one never tiers of exploring cultures, meeting frankly faces, shaking hands with the people and enjoying the landscape beauty. We will say, time may end but exploring Pakistan can never come to an end. Although, you can have closer views of the people and their daily life to observe cultures and see how things are naturally matched in this beautiful country, at least if someone is able to understand your level of interest and tailor an itinerary truly matching your inquiries.
Tailoring the program of our grand jeep Safari tour, we have generally tried to mind common senses of interest to include at maximum. Choosing this program for your holidays will give you an incredible travel experience and unforgettable memories of life. Unlike to travel in a closed window air-conditioned vehicle for long long hours giving a similar view all around, jeep safaris have more reasons of interest selecting as cultural+ adventure trips. Riding a jeep via ups and downs, following zigzags, watching places and breathing the same. Neither constantly staying and eating in restaurants, nor facing homesickness from every day camping. Even days of excursion for stretching and relaxing to avoid boring from an every day driving, a short trek for a single day or you just stay at the camp, you go for fishing in the stream running near by, you can spare the day for washing and you ask your cook for a special halt day dish, every thing is possible.
Keeping in view, the importance of the 3 great mountain ranges found in Pakistan, our professional have stressed upon to focus the specialties of the valleys amongst, the Karakorum, Hindukush and the Himalayas. The program covers maximum visit of all major places of interest amongst these mountainous regions. Having a short touch in Swat on the way to Chitral, then ascending and descending the 55 zigzag Lowari Pass entering Chitral in the beginning of the journey presents you quite a rehearsal of the whole trip. The highest peak of Hindukush range Tirich Mir (7672mt) dominates the whole valley and can be seen on the way at various points coming in front of you. A different landscape and different people with typical living just at a distance of a day traveling, you are in Kalash Valleys who are believed to be the descendants of the people coming with Alexander the great, and still following and witnessing the 5000 years old traditions and cultures. Exiting Chitral and continuing your journey onward to Gilgit, drive across the Shandur Pass (4500mt), beside lies the beautiful Shandur Lake. Here, Gilgit and Chitral people celebrate joint summer festival annually. Shandur holds great reputation during the festival when tourist around the world gathers here to watch Polo matches being played between the teams of Gilgit and Chitral.
The second portion of this remarkable trip lets you enter Ghizer, Gilgit and Hunza regions of Northern Areas. The famous Phandar Lake (famous for trot fish) welcomes your arrival to these regions and the PTDC hotel built near by the lake will host you for the first overnight after couple of day’s camp. Passing through the lush green terraced fields, picturing red apple face children, viewing workingwomen in the fields of Gahkuch, you are in Gilgit by the evening of the next day program.
Gilgit and Hunza are considered paradise for mountain lovers. No other part of the world would offer such a panoramic scene of high mountains just raising up from a terraced field and available to view from a window of hotel room, while just sipping a cup of coffee/tea or a stretched afternoon, writing and saving your memories in a note book or even just laying on the bed, one can see the sun rising and setting behind and beyond the peaks. A day trip via the Karakorum highway in the upper Hunza, offers view of couple of peaks over 7000mts. Further, stands the Pak-Chinese boarder at Khunjerab (4600mts), and enjoy watching wild life in the higher zones above 4000mts. There are good possibilities of short day treks in the Hunza region, walking on glaciers and camping on meadows, this is the specialty of trekking in Hunza. Spare an evening to visit the 700 years old Baltit fort and Karim Abad bazar to explore the local culture and local crafts of Hunza. Also gyms and minerals collected from the mountains around are displayed and soled in the market.
The third round of this beautiful journey leads you in Baltistan, “ the little Tibet”. A full day trip from Hunza to Skardu (capital of Baltistan) gives tremendous enjoyment of adventure, driving along with the river Indus. Both the road and the river seem bored and in full of anger until Skardu as there is no enough space to turn or exchange their routes for any time because of Karakorum and Himalayan rocks. Baltistan is famous for its peace loving people, for the high mountains, longest glaciers, fruit trees, spring waters, small and big villages, old forts, lakes, pastures and terraced fields. Most of the mountains are barren and the wild beauty of Baltistan has also no parallel in the world.
Baltistan requires more days for exploration. The beautiful valleys of Shiger, Khaplu and Hushe have every potential for cultural, trekking and mountaineering activities. In our program we selected Hushe valley for a short excursion trek to give another touch and taste of traveling. Skardu city has already too much to explore life and sightseeing. 3 more valleys of Baltistan, Siachen, Chorbat and Kharmang (kargil) are normally avoided to foreigners because of defensive reason by military point of view.
To exit Baltistan, instead of a boring vise versa journey we choose to travel through a substitute way over the DeoSayee plateau (3000 to4600mt) beyond the Sad Para Lake of Skardu. Deosayee is bigger than Skardu. It should be considered city of butterflies as hundred types of them can be watched flying and breathing wild flowers. The government seems to be keen here to preserve the wild life by declaring the Plateau as wild life Park similar to Khunjerab National Park in Hunza. The last generation of Himalayan red bears still appears here and the small marmots with their typical whistling keep the Trots awaken in the streams of DeoSayee. Couple of nights camping here around Shuser Lake will let you forget all the fatigue of traveling from the last weeks and refresh you for the final ending part of the journey.
Days may be getting over now. Unwillingly we have to move forward our program to end this remarkable trip. Descending to Astore valley from Deosayee over Broghil pass we change the night camp to another beautiful place RAMA Lake beneath the eastern ridges of Raikot Peak and Nanga Parbat. On the other day Fairy Meadows will host you to fill up and color the final memory space of the trip. Visit Nanga Parbat base camp and turning back breath the last having final views of Rakaposhi(7788m), Diran(7604m) and the Haramosh mountains(7400mt) at a distance. Arrive Chilas city and decide after dinner where to go from to Islamabad. There are two roads, one following the old silk route over Babuser Pass and the second driving over Karakorum highway via Besham to Mansehra. In the first option the road passes via the Kaghan valley, the earth quack ridden areas. The distance is shorter via Babuser but takes almost the same timing because of the poor condition of road. Though new road is also under construction. If days are left, overnight stay in Naran hotel and touch the famous Saiful Mulk Lake. Don’t forget to spare a full relax day in Islamabad to prepare your onward journey abroad.
Note: Please feel free for asking short safari itineraries covering any or many parts of the above program. We also encourage special interested trips. We also arrange short tour programs regarding cherry blossom in Hunza and Baltistan during the month of April. October is also recommended to enjoy colors of Autumn amongst these beautiful regions.
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Islamabad- Sawat (sightseeing) hotel night
- Swat – Chitral via Lowari Pass hotel
- Chitral-Kalash Valleys (hotel)
- Kalash-Chitral (Hotel)
- Chitral- Shandur Pass (Lake & polo ground) (camp)
- Excursion at Shandur (camp)
- Shandur – Phandar Lake (hotel)
- Phandar- Gilgit (sightseeing) (hotel)
- Gilgit – Karim Abad (Hunza) sightseeing
- Karim Abad- Khunjerab Pass- Sost (hotel)
- Sost- Hoper-Karim Abad (hotel)
- Karim Abad- Skardu (hotel)
- Day free
- Skardu-Hushe camp
- Hushe-Hunbroq (trekking&camp)
- Hunbroq free day (camp)
- Back to Hushe –Machulo hotel
- Machulo- Khaplu sightseeing-Skardu
- Skardu – Deosayee
- Deosayee –
- Deosayee –Astore-Rama Lake
- Rama Lake- Fairy Meadows
- Fairy Meadows Excursion
- Fairy Meadows- Besham/Naran
- Naran/Besham- Islamabad
- Islamabad.
