Territory · Gilgit-Baltistan

Gilgit-Baltistan

Gilgit-Baltistan is the northernmost administrative territory of Pakistan, covering about 72,971 square kilometres where the Karakoram, Himalaya and Hindu Kush ranges meet. It contains five peaks above 8,000 metres, including K2 at 8,611 metres, and some of the largest glaciers outside the polar regions.

Read the story Photos of Gilgit-Baltistan

The story of Gilgit-Baltistan

The territory has ten districts and a population of roughly two million. Gilgit and Skardu are the two main towns. The Karakoram Highway, completed in 1978, connects it to the rest of Pakistan and to China over the Khunjerab Pass at 4,693 metres. Languages include Shina, Balti, Burushaski, Wakhi and Khowar. Most settlement sits in irrigated valleys below 3,000 metres, with high pastures used seasonally.

What to see in Gilgit-Baltistan

Karakoram Highway
1,300 km from Hasan Abdal to the Chinese border.
Deosai National Park
Plateau at about 4,114 m, protected since 1993.
Central Karakoram National Park
Pakistan's largest national park, about 10,000 sq km.
Hunza and Nagar
Former princely states facing each other across the river.
Khaplu and Shigar
Baltistan valleys with restored 17th-century palaces.

Landscape of Gilgit-Baltistan

K2

8,611 m, the second-highest mountain on Earth, on the Baltoro side of the Karakoram.

Karakoram ridges

The densest concentration of high peaks anywhere in the world.

Hunza valley

Terraces and orchards between 2,000 and 2,500 m along the KKH.

Rivers and lakes of Gilgit-Baltistan

Attabad Lake

Formed in January 2010 when a landslide dammed the Hunza river; 21 km long.

Hunza river

Cuts the valley from Khunjerab down to its meeting with the Gilgit river.

Glacier melt

Baltoro, Biafo and Hispar feed the Indus through the summer.

Food of Gilgit-Baltistan

Apricots

Dried on rooftops through August; the oil is pressed for cooking and skin care.

Chapshuro

Baltistan's meat-filled flatbread, cooked on an iron griddle.

Salt tea

Namkeen chai churned with butter, drunk all day in Skardu and Khaplu.

Heritage of Gilgit-Baltistan

Baltit Fort

700 years old above Karimabad, restored in 1996 and open as a museum.

Altit Fort

Roughly 1,100 years old, with a royal garden below it.

Rock carvings

Thousands of Buddhist-era petroglyphs along the Indus near Chilas.

Culture and crafts of Gilgit-Baltistan

Truck art

Hand-painted trucks and rickshaws, a craft trade worth millions of rupees a year.

Bazaars

Copper, cloth, spice and book markets in every old city.

Festivals

Basant, Urs gatherings, Shandur polo and the Kalash calendar.

Wildlife of Gilgit-Baltistan

Snow leopard

Tracked in Khunjerab and Deosai; a few hundred remain nationwide.

Himalayan ibex

Winter herds on the cliffs above Passu and Shimshal.

Markhor

The national animal, protected by community conservancies here.

Best time to visit

May to October for the valleys; winter access is limited by snow on high passes.

Getting there

By air to Gilgit or Skardu from Islamabad, or by road on the Karakoram Highway.

Nearby places

Questions about Gilgit-Baltistan

Is Gilgit-Baltistan a province?+

It is an administrative territory with its own assembly, not a constitutional province of Pakistan.

How many 8,000 metre peaks are in Gilgit-Baltistan?+

Five: K2, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I, Broad Peak and Gasherbrum II.

Photographs of Gilgit-Baltistan

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