Hunza - Nagar Peaceful Place in Pakistan

The famous mountain kingdom of Hunza lies on the very old trade route to SinKiang. Hunza is an earthly paradise whose people are renowned for their longevity, their simplicity and natural diet. Karimabad is the main town of Hunza which is like a huge hanging garden containing mud and stone houses, orchards, terraced fields, shops, work- shops, schools, restaurants and hotels etc. The river Hunza and the road cut this natural bowl of snow crested high hills. The houses and fields are stretched right from the road level up to the snowline level. This valley is composed of terraced ridges running from the high pastures down to the river, with extensive irrigation channels bringing melt water from the glaciers to the terraced fields and villages. A wide variety of crops are grown here; including potatoes, barley, wheat, and vegetables - along with apricots, apples, cherries, almonds, and other fruit/nut crops. We hiked the valley during the apricot tree bloom, a beautiful time of spring of planting and blossoms 

Snow enclosed high mountains and great glaciers abound Hunza & Nagar valleys, The most magnificent being 7,788 metres high Rakaposhi (above). Hunza is also known for its clean mountain air, which caused this area to be known as "Shangri-La". The blossoming and autumn at Hunza are worth seeing and attract thousands of tourists, especially from Japan. Orchards of mulberry, walnut, apricot and apples abound. In the autumn, when the sun convert the valley to burnished gold with its back go down of snow covered white peaks, the setting is particularly idyllic. Gulmit is about 35 km north of Karimabad. Further on the way up, the road becomes more rugged as it passes through narrow gorges, but suddenly it opens up into a broad valley. Gulmit is best known the unique Passu Cones (below left). This huge mountain dominates the area from Gulmit to Hussaini and offers unforgettable and spectacular scenes. Further ahead is the Borit Lake. The lake receives glacial water and migratory birds during summer. It is about 1.5 kilometer off the road.

History Hunza: 

Hunza has been ruled by a family known as the Mir of Hunza for 960 years. Hunzakuts believed to be descendants of the five wandering soldiers of Alexander the Great. The people of Hunza speak Brushuski, an Aboriginal language. This princely state has kept its isolated independence for a long time in the distant part of the areas that are now from the northern areas of Pakistan adjoining the Sinkiang Autonomous Region in China. In the early nineteenth century, Hunza resented Kashmir's attempt to gain control and its rulers regularly expelled Kashmiri garrisons, threatened Gilgit and politicked with the rulers of Kashgar in the north, where the Russians were gaining influence. Fearing the Russians infiltration in their northern borders, the British took over direct political control in Gilgit in 1889. Incessant brother violation intrigue in Hunza and Nagar areas made double uncertain. This, combined with Mir in Hunza consistent uncompromising attitude led the British to march in Hunza in December 1891, where they fought a decisive battle at Nilit, 60 km outside Diaynor Bridge. After this the British garrison Aliabad until 1897, when Hunza became a princely state protected by the government of British India. After Pakistan was created in 1947, people Hunza also gained liberation and the princely state was merged into Pakistan.

Baltit Fort at Karimabad was build just about 450 years before and was the home of the Mir of Hunza. The fort was built in Tibetan style for a princess of Baltistan who married the Mir. Right: Tibetan "sky-light" in the roof of the fort. One can see the Rakaposhi and Diran peaks from the top of Baltit Fort.

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