Gilgit-Baltistan most spectacular, fascinating region of Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: The Gilgit-Baltistan is the most spectacular and fascinating region of Pakistan for tourists from across the world. It is here that the world’s four famous mountain ranges meet – the Himalayas, the Karakorams, the Hindukush and the Pamirs.
The whole Gilgit-Baltistan has come to be known as a paradise for mountaineers, climbers, trekkers, hikers and anglers of the most famous “Trout fish” Managing Director PTDC Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor told APP.
He said that the historic Karakoram pass 5,575 metres, an ancient trading route between Kashmir and Xinjiang, gives its name to the range west of it that forms the watershed between the Indus and the Central Asian deserts.
According to Gilgit-Baltistan Tourism Department, the eastern boundary of the Karakoram is the upper Shyok River from where it extends over 322 km. westwards to the Karumbar river and the Hindukush range.
To the north the Shaksgam tributary of the Yarkand River and south by the Indus bound the Karakoram. Here, the Nanga Parbat 8,126 metres massif is the western anchor of the great Himalayan range which stretches in an arc 24,124 km. east to Burma, a boundary and barrier, “the razor’s edge” which for centuries has determined the destiny of the South Asia.
Such is the setting of Karakoram Range, this remnant of a primeval ice age, “the third pole,” with extensive glacier systems and the greatest concentration of lofty mountains in the world. Some of the largest glaciers outside sub-polar regions flow in the Karakorams.
For its sheer mountain grandeur and breath-taking panorama of beauty, few places can match the superb landscape through which the Karakoram Highway snakes.
A fantastic and unforgettable spectacle is the passage of the Highway along the Baltura glacier, rated among the worlds seventh largest.
The Khunjerab Pass, which the Highway crosses and the nearby Mintaka Pass lie astride the fabulous ancient Silk Route that led from Europe to Asia and over which history’s most famous tourists once travelled.
Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2018
