The origin of the people of Hunza is unclear. They look almost European, some with brown or russet hair and green or blue eyes with a history shrouded in myths involving Alexander the Great and a fairy of the Hindu Kush amongst others, all of which are likely unfounded. Certainly it’s known that the villages of Altit, Baltit and Ganesh were probably settled in the 11th century, and that the same family has ruled Hunza since then. Karimabad was our principal destination. The plan was to spend 3 nights there and use it as a base to visit the Hunza Valley and the far north. We stayed at the lovely Serena Hotel which was close to empty. Since 9/11 tourism in Pakistan has been suffering severely, everyone has a story to tell and it’s all so terribly sad. Before 9/11 tourism was huge in Northern Pakistan, and rightly so. It’s some of the most amazing scenery and home to the second tallest mountain in the world – K2 – thankfully there is still a minimum of adventure travel taking place each year with treks organised by predominately Canadians, Japanese, Italians and Spanish up to the K2 base camp. But that’s it. The locals have been hit quite hard. We did our best, certainly made a hefty contribution to the sales of Pashminas between us!

One morning early we went for a walk along the water canals. It was beautiful, we were walking in amongst the village, beside houses and schools and we picked up quite a following of children. Most wanted their pictures taken, others were pushed in front of the camera by their mothers – who themselves were too timid to stand with them. Most of the school age children had been learning English and some more than others were confident in practicing it on us. We had a great morning – and we made loads of promises to send pictures back to the children, it was the only form of thanks they were interested in. I think being two women in traditional dress made a difference, women, even fully veiled women were more likely to make eye contact with us, and even hesitate a smile – as opposed to when we were accompanied by men.

Hatam & Michelle with Hopar Glacier (the big mass of ice, rocks & refuse) in the background

One of the highlights of our stay was a trip up to the Hopar Glacier. We rented a jeep and a driver and set off, Michelle & I in the front with the driver and Hatam & Asghar (our guide & driver respectively) in the back. We had to descend the mountain cross the Hunza river (Chinese bridge!) and then drive up the mountain in the Kingdom of Nagar. Nagar & Hunza were both converted from animism to Shia Islam in the 16th or 17th centuries. According to Isobel Shaw in her book on Pakistan, from about 1700 on the 2 kingdoms were at war, continually attacking each other and stealing women and children to sell as slaves. Today conflict fuelled by religion still exists between the 2 kingdoms as the Hunza people are now Ismailis, followers of the Aga Khan, and the people of Nagar are Shias.

The drive for the first 5 or so miles is dry and barren, with sheer loose rock faces towering down on you. Being in a soft top jeep didn’t inspire much confidence…. then you cross the Hispar River on a bridge and climb up on a terrible road to the fertile villages of central Nagar for an hour of so till you reach a small hotel (the Hopar Hilton) on a ridge overlooking the Hopar Glacier. The glacier drops 5,000 metres from it’s source and ends at 2,270m above sea level, which apparently makes it the lowest glacier in the world. Again, according to Isobel Shaw in 1990 the glacier was surging forward at a reckless 3 metres a day. We stopped for tea in a very simple room furnished with a mattress and gas burner to try and warm up before the terrifying descent homewards. I switched places with Asghar for the return and hid in the back under my scarf with Hatam keeping my mind focused elsewhere. Michelle had great plans to take some impressive photos of the descent, but amazingly as much as I was terrified, she fell asleep in the front hanging out of the open doorway! Sadly, we have no pictures.

Less exciting but no less impressive were our trips to Sost, the frontier town and last checkpoint before China, Gulmit, where the volleyball finals were being held Hunza vs Nagar, Passu where we stopped for a tea at a restaurant which must honestly have the best view in the world* and followed up the tea with a walk to the foot of the Passu Glacier.

The far north was beautiful and the people were genuinely lovely, friendly, happy people – I think the ideal time to visit would be June when all the fruit would be out and the temperatures would get up to around 25 degrees. Sadly for us, it was still freezing overnight but the advantage was there was no-one about, we saw a couple of walkers in the hotel, but no tourists out and about getting caught in our pictures. Brilliant. to be continued…

The Glacier Breeze Restaurant Passu

* The couple who own the restaurant and campsite now live in Brisbane, Australia where they run a Pakistani restaurant – somewhere we’ve promised to visit next christmas