As the aging process slowly starts to creep up on you, your memories of yesteryear ever so slowly begin to fade. The places you’ve been, the experiences you’ve had, and the people you’ve met along the way. I suppose the brain is nothing more than an organic hard drive of limited capacity. As the sectors begin to fill, it just dumps the stuff of lesser importance or what it perceives as not worth keeping.
At times I feel my mind is in need of a complete defrag, or maybe even a reboot, but my memories of Northern Pakistan are still vivid and strong. They are firmly etched into the left temporal lobe, stored away in that ‘do not delete’ folder, and hopefully will remain forever. There are many great tales and adventures that I can recall from our journey through this harsh and remote part of the world, with nothing more lucid than our three day jaunt from Gilgit to Chitral, and over the Shandur Pass.
There are few area’s on this expansive planet of ours, where an abundant number of prominent peaks tower in such awesome splendor, as those that are found at the intersection of four of the world’s greatest mountain ranges, the Himalayas, Karakorams, Hindukush and Pamirs.
The region of Northern Pakistan is one of the most beautiful, but isolated and rugged landscapes on earth. Grab yourself any topographic map of the region, or better still zoom in on Google Maps (see below) for a birds eye view, as you are confronted with with a series of twisting glaciers converging into a maze of scree covered valleys.
Northern Pakistan an Isolated and Unforgiving Land
Along with it’s prominent peaks, Northern Pakistan also has the highest concentration of glaciers of any place on earth, outside of the polar regions. With some of these glaciers pushing there way down the valleys and finishing just meters from the only tarmac road in the region, the mighty Karakoram highway.
The jagged saw tooth mountains of the Karakorum Range in Northern Pakistan
Whilst traveling throughout the regions of Northern Pakistan during 1995, I got to reading about a tough but very worthwhile journey that could be made from the northern hub of Gilgit, to the remote and isolated mountain village of Chitral (altitude 2643m).
The route (the only route) was the Gilgit Shandur road, a rocky and at times dangerous jeep track that leads high into the mountains, ultimately crossing the Shandur Pass (altitude 3720m), and then falling steeply as it twists and winds it’s way towards Chitral.
From the AK-47 Arms Dealers, to the bakers and cobblers, these valleys were home to some of the worlds most resilient but generous people, who offered the traveler nothing but great hospitality.
Traffic on the Gilgit to Shandur road is infrequent at the best of times, and the route is only driven by a series of 4WD jeeps, that ferry supplies to some of the more remote villages. It was our intention to hitch a ride on one of these jeeps, all the way to the top of the Shandur Pass.
The Journey Over the Shandur Pass by Begins
Once at the top of Shandur, we then planed to organize and hire of some local horsemen to guide us across the high mountain plateau of Shandur, and down to the lower valleys and the village of Mastuj.
Liza on top of the supply jeep.
Attempting this route at this time of year was pushing our luck a little, as transport was beginning to dry up. The long harsh winter was fast approaching, and the snows were already beginning to fall across the villages at the higher altitudes.
During winter, the Gilgit to Shandur road is all but impassable. Once the road is closed, only the foolhardy or ultra experienced are able to tackle this dangerous area by foot.
After tramping up and down the dusty lane-way where the supply vehicles would leave from Gilgit, we weren’t having much luck. We patiently waited for 2 days, and finally we managed to hitch a ride on a jeep as far as Teru (altitude 3092m).
From the village of Teru we would then have to take our chances of being able to find some local horses to complete the journey over. If this wasn’t an option then we’d then try to hitch a ride on another jeep, that would be heading all the way over (not very likely as the road would soon be closed), or god forbid walk the last section of our journey.
The Gilgit to Chitral Road Was Tough Going
The 2nd jeep we caught as it made it's way down from the Shandur Pass and towards Mastuj.
We drove all day and all night to reach Teru, clinging to the tie-down ropes, atop of the small and rigidly built jeep. At times it was quite uncomfortable, and as we were perched upon a bundle of supplies, as soon as the sun dipped below the jagged peaks, it was also quite cold.
During these two days, I experienced some of the most amazing scenery I’ve seen in all my travels. The jeep would cross many wire suspension bridges, with some in complete disrepair, dangling haphazardly over the raging torrents below.
On arrival in Teru it was extremely cold and dark. We were fortunate enough to be put up for the night by a friend of the driver, and we feasted on a hot meal of curried goat (Liza actually got quite sick for eating this, but it didn’t effect me to greatly).
The next morning we tried to arrange the horses to complete our journey as planed, but everywhere we went, we were given the same response. ‘Winter is approaching’, and all the horses have been rounded up and taken to the safety of the lower valleys’. ‘What now?’, would we have to walk the remainder of the journey or would we be lucky enough to catch another jeep?
The Waiting Game on Top of The Shandur Pass
A man slaughtering goats by the side of the road. The people of Chitral were extremely friendly.
We sat at the side of the road for the best part of the day, and without luck. By lunch I was tossing up the idea of walking (probably about 6 hours or so), but soon after we managed to hitch a ride with another jeep that was ferrying down a couple of Pakistani soldiers, who had just finished their shift atop of Shandur (the Shandur pass is quite a strategic vantage point for the Pakistani military, and there were many military checkpoints along the way).
We were dropped at a small village on the other side of the pass, where we would stay with another local family, before resting up for the night and continuing the final leg of our journey towards Chitral.
Although just a minute amount of time from all of my travels, this short adventure of crossing the Shandur Pass in Northern Pakistan, is still one of my fondest memories of the year long overland journey across Asia, and ranks highly with other adventures I’ve encountered elsewhere in the world.
Your Thoughts and Comments?
Has anyone else been to this part of the world? What were your thoughts on the landscape, and the people? Maybe you’ve been to another part of the world that is similar to Northern Pakistan, why don’t you share that with us here.
Do you agree, that your most fondest travel memories, are always obtained from the most physical or mentally demanding journeys. At the time you think to yourself ‘What the hell am I doing this for!’, but it’s these memories that are always destined to be saved in your ‘do not delete’ folder.
