Find The Core of Joy Together
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Pakistan's
geographical and cultural diversity allows for a wide range of adventures to be
planed. Discover a land of romantic poetry and mysticism, art and architecture,
wonders of nature and superlative geological formations. Visit the city Of
Wrestlers Gujranwala and historical cities like
Lahore
and Multan,
their bustling bazaars, Mughal monuments and original Islamic
architecture. Peshawar
the Afghan Frontier and its hospitable Pashtu tribes; Gandhara
art, the planes of the Indus
river and its ancient civilizations,
Harappa and Moenjedaro. Gilgit, Baltistan and the Northern Areas The first to set foot six thousand years ago in what is today known as Northern Areas of Pakistan were hunters and herders. From then on different populations, invaders, pilgrims and traders have followed. During the Silk Route time, Gilgit with its caravansary, the Hunza valley and Baltistan became important trade posts. Merchant's caravans struggle through the high mountain passes carrying the precious silks, ceramics and spices. Soon Buddhist pilgrims joined the traffic across the mountains eager to spread the word of the Buddha and in search of the Gandhara holy sites. It is partly through Baltistan that Buddhism reached Tibet in the 4th century. With the opening of the Karakorum Highway (KKH) in 1978, which leads to China along the ancient Silk Route, Gilgit has become again an important trade route, traders and tourists seasonally swell the town. Today Hunza is a tourist paradise dominated by high mountains Rakaposhi 7788m, Ultar 7388m, Diran 7272m, Dustagil Sar 7885m, Batura 7785m. Its capital is Baltit now known as Karimabad, after the spiritual leader of the Ismailis (sect of Islam), Shah Karim Aga Khan. Geographically Northern Areas is one of the most rugged and isolated region on earth, only recently explored and mapped. Here in the hearth of the Greater Himalayas is the highest concentration of mountains in the world, divided in four different ranges: The Hindukush is the most westerly of the Greater Himalayas ranges. A beautiful barren country of great peaks and deep valleys, precipitous gorges, rushing grey-green rivers, intense sunlight and clear sparkling air. The high and wide passes of the Hindukush have always been a main route for caravans, traders and for the conquerors that stormed India several times like Alexander, Genghis Khan, Babur and Tamerlane. Hindukush is the "Frontier Land" a land of strong colours, passion and fierce independence. The Karakorum, core of the Greater Himalayas, is a spectacular wilderness of bare rock, black ice, sheer cliff and foaming rivers. Here are four of the highest mountains in the world, Broad Peak 8047m, Gasherbrum-I 8068m, Gasherbrum-II 8035m and the second highest K2 8611m, 100 summits over 6700 meters, 122 km Hispar-Biafo the earth's largest non-polar glacier, and the earth's most spectacular scenery. Here are leaving legendary ethnic groups; the Hunzakut from the spectacular valley of Hunza, whose origins are still unknown, and the Balti of Baltistan, once part of Tibet, a mix of Tibetan and Caucasian stock who speak an ancient form of Tibetan. The Pamirs, another frontier land situated as it is at the border of three long bygone great empires, Russia, China and India. This is the highest inhabited plateau in the world, one of bleakest and least known corners of the world: remote and mysterious. A world of vast distances and lunar solitude, mountains that resemble rounded domes divided by high, wide valleys almost as desolate as the peaks that surround them. Pamirs is the land of ancient nomadic tribes, the Khirghiz a proud and independent race, and the laborious Wakhis. The world's largest bear (Ursus Torquatus) and sheep (Marco Polo's Ovis Poli) are found here. The Himalaya a lush, moist and fertile world, arguably the most beautiful and exciting mountains in the world. One reason for their beauty is that they rise so quickly from a comparatively low-lying plain to so great height. Nanga Parbat, the western most peak of the Himalayas, is the best example with its 4000 meters vertical wall, the longest in the world. Forests of pine and oak, juniper, rhododendron and birch; carpets of flowers, primulas, anemones, aconites, eidelweiss, saxifrage and gentian; a world of colors, purple and blue, pink and white, scarlet and gold; of wild animals, bear, snow leopard and ibex.
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