I have travelled on this road at numerous occasions during my trips to the Northern Areas. I read an interesting article in one of the local papers, recently. Here it is:
- Source: The Vancouver Sun.*
- Author: Elisa McLaren. *
** The Karakoram Highway links Pakistan to China in a 1200-km route through some of the highest mountain rangesin the world.**
The Karakoram Highway(KKH) is a stunningly beautiful and fascinating 1200-kilometre route linking Islamabad in Northern Pakistan to Kashgar in the Extreme West of China.
Our group of 12 travelled this awe-in-spiring route in late May by mini bus on a trip organized by a friend through Pakistani and Chineese travel agents.
After a day at the archeological sites in Taxila, visited by Alexander the Great in 326 BC, we left the heat and bustle of Rawalpindi and headed for the mountains.
Soon, the “highway”, which has no white lines but paved nicely, rose up through beautifully terraced rice paddies to villages situated over rushing gorges bringing glacier water from one of the five massive mountain ranges that passes through.
Opened to public in 1986, the KKH skirts the western edge of the Himalaya and passes between the Hindukush, Pamir, Karakoram, and Kunlun ranges.
Three dozen peaks higher than 7000 meters soar above the highway, while the Indus River, similar in size to the Fraser( A river in British Columbia), carries silt to the plains of southern Pakistan.
Water from aquaducts, snaking for miles along the barren hillsides, turns benchlands brilliant green with crops, supporting small villages of farmers. In summer, the farmers take their herds of sheep and goats to the high alpime meadows.
To admire this terrain, our group took a three-day trek to a campsite at Fairy Meadows. From the Indus River valley we drove in our four jeeps up a truly heart stopping track to Tato village, then continued by foot through sparce pines and hoodoos to the wildflower-covered meadows at an elevation of 3200 metres.
The tents at our campsite offered a magnificant view of the north, or killoer face of, Nanga Parbat(8125 meters), the eighth highest peak in the world and the most Westerly peak of Himalaya. A huge glacier issued from its snowy heights and we could look down on the rubble-strewn ice and the river flowing from a cave at its base. At this altitude, some of our party suffered from varying degrees of discomfort but most enjoyed our couple of days walking though villages terraced fileds, elaborate irrigation canals and herds of livestock.
The women here are very shy and we saw them only at a distance, working in the fields. But, the curious friendly and polite young boys made up for the women shyness. We let the boys look through our binoculars, which was a big hit.
Eight of our group next trekked up and over the glaciers surrounding Rakaposhi( 7790) meters. We found the people and culture of northwest frontier province so interesting that we elected to spend four days in Karimabad.
Karimabad is the main town of Hunza and it is completely encircled by towering peaks and glaciers that rumble with avalacnhes in the heat of the sun.
This was a semi-autonomous region until 1974 and a strategic area for the “Great Game”, the undercover battle for information and alliances played between Russia and the Raj late in the 19th century.
Famous for its apricots, but also abundant in mulberries, cherries, and various other fruits and nuts, the area’s terraces are irrigated by popular-fringed canals. The plants along the canals make wonderful, flat walking routes, the perfect way to observe the daily lives of these industrious and friendly people.
We walked up to Baltit Fort, built 750 years ago as the home of the local mir, or ruler, until 1945. It has recently been restored by the Agha Khan Trust for culture. It was open for an interesting guided tour by the curator.
Leaving the towering spikes of the mountains of northern Pakistan behind, we struggled up the Khunjerab Pass. At 4733 metres, it is the world highest road over a border pass.
Then we entered tge totally different world of Western China, with high open plains ringed by mountains and populated by golden marmots, yaks and small groups of camal-riding, sheep-herding nomads. These people are central Asian of the Uyghar, Kazakh, Tajik, and Kyrrgyz minorities who populate the mountains and oasis on the edges of Takla Makin Desert.
We travelled on to the end of KKH at Kashgar for the famous Sunday market. Kashgar is situated where the Silk Route splits, north and south around the desert, and it has been strategically important and a mercantile centre for a millenium.
The market attracts some 50000 people buying and sellingeverything from livestock to televisions, fabrics to hand made pitchforks, carpets to dried lizard. Apart from the market, this is a busy centre for agriculture, craftspeople and merchants, combining ancient cultures with modern China.
We spent three weeks travelling KKH, a route which took 20 years to construct.
We would have happily extended out trip to allow us more time to take in the history, scenery, excellent food and lovely people of this little-visited part of the world.
[This message has been edited by outlaw (edited November 08, 2000).]