AJK

Landscape of AJK

Neelum valley

240 km of pine forest and terraced villages along the river.

Leepa valley

Wooden Kashmiri houses and rice terraces, open May to October.

Pir Panjal

The range along AJK's southern edge, rising over 4,000 m.

Rivers and lakes of AJK

Neelum river

Fed by snowmelt, joining the Jhelum at Muzaffarabad.

Ratti Gali Lake

Alpine lake at 3,700 m, a six-hour trek from Dowarian.

Banjosa Lake

Man-made lake near Rawalakot, reachable all year.

Food of AJK

Kashmiri chai

Pink salt tea churned with milk and topped with nuts.

River trout

Farmed and grilled at roadside stops through Neelum.

Maize bread

Makai roti with local butter, the winter staple.

Heritage of AJK

Mughal architecture

Badshahi Mosque, Lahore Fort and Shalimar Gardens, built 1556–1707.

Domes and tilework

Blue Multani tiles and carved domes across Punjab and Sindh.

Forts

Rohtas, Derawar, Baltit and Ranikot, the largest fort wall in the world.

Culture and crafts of AJK

Woodwork

Walnut carving and deodar house frames.

Shawls

Hand-loomed wool from the upper valleys.

Sharda ruins

A sixth-century centre of learning above the Neelum.

Wildlife of AJK

Markhor

The national animal, a wild goat of the northern ranges.

Snow leopard

Roughly 200–420 remain in the Karakoram, Himalaya and Hindu Kush.

Houbara bustard

A winter migrant to the deserts of Balochistan and Cholistan.

Main cities and places in AJK

Each one opens its own page: its story, rivers and lakes, food, heritage, culture, wildlife and what to see.

Neelum Valley

Valley

1. 1799–1849
   Sikh Empire

   Ranjit Singh unified the Sikh misls and built an empire stretching from the Khyber Pass to Kashmir. He ruled from Lahore Fort until his death in 1839; the empire fell to the British in the Second Anglo-Sikh War (1849).

No photographs published from AJK yet.

Questions about AJK