Pakistan: Hindu Kush Adventure - Jonny Bealby
17 days starting on Fri 3 Aug 2012Pakistan is a country close to our hearts - And for good reason. Home to some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in the world, thriving...
Group Tours in Pakistan
Starting in August 2012
Pakistan: Wild Walk In The Hindu Kush
17 days starting on Fri 24 Aug 2012Lying along the eastern edge of the Wakhan Corridor, this stunning trekking adventure takes us into one of the most remote and unspoilt mountain regions in Asia. A classic trek that takes in the...
Pakistan: K2 Concordia Charity Trek
24 days starting on Fri 31 Aug 2012K-2, the Mountain of Mountains, is located in the heart of the Karakoram Range, standing as a sublime pyramid at the head of the Godwin Austin Glacier. Uniting with a second glacier at Concordia to...
Starting in September 2012
Pakistan: Hindu Kush Adventure
17 days starting on Fri 7 Sep 2012Pakistan is a country close to our hearts - And for good reason. Home to some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in the world, thriving cities, colourful markets and warm hospitality, a trip...
Karakoram Adventure - Kashgar to Kashmir
21 days starting on Sat 22 Sep 2012China, Pakistan & India - This totally unique itinerary takes us on a wonderful journey along the southern branch of the Old Silk Road. Starting in Kashgar where we will witness the famous Yakshmbe...
Starting in October 2012
Pakistan: Autumn Colours Tour
16 days starting on Sat 6 Oct 2012Pakistan is a country close to our hearts… and for good reason. Home to some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in the world, thriving cities, colourful markets and warm hospitality, a...
Starting in December 2012
Pakistan: Under a Pagan Moon
16 days starting on Fri 7 Dec 2012This is quite simply the one of the most amazing, original and wild trips we do. Run for the first time in 2006, our small group of intrepid travellers was the first to experience the Kalash winter...
Starting in April 2013
Pakistan: Spring Colours Tour
16 days starting on Sat 27 Apr 2013Pakistan is a country close to our hearts…and for good reason. Home to some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in the world, thriving cities, colourful markets and warm hospitality, a...
Starting in May 2013
Pakistan: Hindu Kush Festival Adventure
16 days starting on Sat 11 May 2013Pakistan is a country close to our hearts - and for good reason. Home to some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in the world, thriving cities, colourful markets and warm hospitality, a trip to...
Pakistan Travel Guide
Gilgit
Gilgit is certainly no postcard town. Encircled by stark black mountains it carries the oppressive feeling of a place cut off from the rest of the world. However, since the opening of the Karakoram Highway and the Kunjarab Pass, the old trade route between China and the subcontinent has flourished giving rise to a teeming bazaar packed with strange goods, animals and people. It is also a superb place to watch frontier polo a wild version of the spectacular sport where few, if any, rules apply.
Hunza
The area known as Hunza lies on the ancient Silk Road to Kashgar and today the Karakoram Highway follows the same route, with Karimabad being the region's main town.This small, mountainous region was until recently a semi-autonomous state but is now fully unified with Pakistan. It is named after Prince Karim Agha Khan, the spiritual head of the Shia Ismaili Nizari community and is one of the most beautiful areas of Pakistan. The situation really is extraordinary, with several peaks over 7000m in view. Cricket, Pakistan's national sport, is often played in the streets and as the people are famed for their friendliness and hospitality you might be asked to take part in a few overs. The main language here is Brushuski although most people understand some English and Urdu. The majority of the region's peoples are Ismaili Muslims.
Islamabad
Islamabad has been Pakistan's capital since 1967 when it was moved here from Rawalpindi. It is a relatively young city compared with others in the country but there are a number of interesting things to see.
Skardu
Set in a landscape of towering mountains, deep gorges, resounding waterfalls and calm, deep lakes Skardu is perched at an elevation of 2,286 m in the backdrop of the great peaks of the Karakoram mountain range. As the capital of Baltistan, it sits on the old tea and trade routes between China and the subcontinent and for trekkers and non trekkers alike, it is a fascinating place to visit.
Fairy Meadows
Pakistan is blessed with areas of matchless beauty and Fairy Meadows can be considered as one of the most beautiful locations in the region. A visit to Fairy Meadows requires a hike of approximately three hours but the views of Nanga Parbat, the 8,000m plus Killer Mountain, are very rewarding. You will have the best views of Nanga Parbat from Fairy Meadows while sitting in your wonderful log cabin.
The Kalash
Obscured by time, the routes of the Kalash are steeped in myth and legend. Descended, they maintain, from the armies of Alexander the Great, the Kalash worship a plethora of ancestral gods and hold colourful religious festivals of music and dance. Though the men now wear the standard Pakistani shalwar kameez, the women still dress in traditional garb; voluminous black dresses held tight round the waist with a thick red belts, flamboyant head-dresses made of wool, decorated with cowry shells, old buttons, beads and bells and, perhaps most striking of all, around their necks great strands of coloured beads. Practising the ancient agricultural system of transhumance, the Kalash divide the summer months between herding their goats in the high pastures and tending their crops of wheat and maize in the valleys. Apricots, mulberries and walnuts are collected and dried for winter while the grapes are made into wine.
Khunjarab Pass
The highest point on the famous Karakoram Highway and the highest paved border crossing in the world, the Khunjarab Pass lies at a lofty 4,693 metres, straddling the frontier between Pakistan and the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China. Located amongst some of the most spectacular mountain landscapes on the planet, the pass, which was completed in 1982, links the barren wastes of Pakistan’s desert gorges with the fertile high altitude plateau of the Chinese side, where grazing herds of yaks and sheep live amongst the local populations of Tajik herders.
Chitral
Lying in a fertile valley beneath the mighty Tirich Mir – at 7,700m the highest mountain in the Hindu Kush – Chitral Town is a cosy place, inhabited by warm and welcoming people. A lively bazaar, many of the stalls and restaurants run by Afghan refugees, leads through its centre to the small airstrip at one end and the polo field at the other. The old mud fort, scene of the famous British siege, still rest on the banks of the Chitral River next to the imposing Shahi Mosque. From here the hot springs of Garam Chashma, the Kalash Valleys, Mastuj and the Shandor Pass are all accessible. Cut off as it is from the rest of the country by high mountains, Chitral has developed its own particular feel and charm.
Deosai Plains
Renowned for its rich flora and fauna, the Deosai Plains lie along the alpine steppes of the Karakoram-West Tibetan Plateau. During the spring, these fertile plains are blanketed in millions of colourful wild flowers that attract a vast army of butterflies to their dazzling blooms. The highest plateau on the planet, spread across almost 3,000 square kilometres, it lies at the boundary of the Karakoram and western Himalayan ranges and its remarkable biodiversity has earned it the accolade of a national wilderness park. Established initially to secure the survival of the Himalayan brown bear, the park is also home to golden marmots, snow leopards and huge soaring lammergeiers.
Lahore
Other than the many famous historical monuments, this city, the second largest in Pakistan, is also known for its beautiful gardens mostly laid out during the Moghal Empire and the British Raj. Its faded elegance, busy streets and bazaars, and wide variety of Islamic and British architecture make it a city full of atmosphere, contrast and surprise. The people of Lahore, when they want to emphasize the uniqueness of their town, say - "Lahore is Lahore". The traditional capital of Punjab for a thousand years, it had been the cultural centre of Northern India extending from Peshawar to New Delhi.
Peshawar
Like many of the subcontinent’s bustling bazaars, the streets of old Peshawar – especially around Qisa Khawani, the storytellers bazaar – are a swirling kaleidoscope of colour, cultures, races and creeds, only here it’s on a massive scale. The jewellers don’t have stalls next to the cloth merchants, or the leather sellers close to the vegetable traders; squashed into the sunless alleyways, the merchants have their own bazaars. It’s a noisy place buzzing with life and energy: a storybook town, echoing the times of The Arabian Nights. For the traveller to wander the streets, lost in this very different world, is simply a joy. Whenever possible we stay in the heart of the old town at the Khan Klub, an old haveli now converted into a fine heritage hotel.
The Shandor Pass
ituated between Chitral and Gilgit, in the heart of the Hindu Kush, the Shandor Pass is a spectacular mountain plateau rising to a height of almost 4,000 metres. Surrounded by snow-capped peaks, dissected by tumbling rivers teeming with trout and inhabited by grazing yaks, eagles, fox and the rare snow leopard, this is where the subcontinent dramatically transforms into Central Asia. It is also home to the highest polo ground in the world. In our opinion, especially during the polo festival in July, there is simply nowhere better. The three or four-day journey from Chitral to Gilgit is when WILD FRONTIERS truly lives up to its name.
The Karakoram Highway
The Karakoram Highway, or KKH in short, is the greatest wonder of modern Pakistan connecting Pakistan to China on one of the most spectacular roads in the world. It twists through three great mountain ranges – the Himalayas, Karakoram and Pamir - following one of the ancient silk routes along the valleys of the Indus, Gilgit and Hunza rivers to the Chinese border at the Khunjerab Pass. It then crosses the high Central Asian plateau before winding down through the Pamirs to Kashgar, at the Western edge of the Taklamakan Desert. By this route, Chinese silks, ceramics, lacquer-work, bronze, iron, fur and spices travelled south and west while the wool, linen, ivory, gold, silver, precious and semi-precious stones, asbestos and glass of South Asia and the west travelled north and east.
Pakistan Travel Information
Visa Information
UK Passport holders require a visa to visit Pakistan.
This must be done no sooner than two months prior to departure. A letter of invitation from Pakistan is required and Wild Frontiers will send this out to approximately two months before departure.
Your passport must be valid for at least six months after the end of your trip, and it must have at least one blank page for each visa required. Please ensure the passport details we hold for you are correct.
Please note it is your responsibility to ensure you have the correct visa documentation when starting your trip. Country entry regulations can alter daily and it is always best to check with the relevant embassies for any changes.
If you would rather avoid the embassy to organise your visa before departure this can be done through a visa company such as:
Travcour (UK)
Tempo House
15 Falcon Road
Battersea
London SW11 2PJ
Tel: 020 7223 5295
Fax: 020 7738 2617
Email: info@travcour.com
Website: www.travcour.com
If you are travelling on a non-UK passport, please contact your nearest consulate/embassy for up to date visa information.
Insurance:
Travel insurance is compulsory for anyone travelling on a Wild Frontiers Tour.
Clients should be aware that Wild Frontiers visit certain destinations and carry out some activities that are not always covered by many standard insurance policies. Because of this we strongly recommend that you purchase a policy that takes into account many of the unique factors that come from travelling with us.
We also appreciate that few people are experts in insurance shopping, so to make your life easier there is a ‘Wild Frontiers’ policy issued by Travel & General. This is split into two options, a Standard policy, since plenty of our tours and destinations visit stable areas, and an Elite policy for those trips which go to areas where the Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) is advising against travelling to. On top of this there is also an option to extend the cover to include any claims that may arise from a terrorist attack in an area where the FCO is advising against.
This insurance is available for anyone up to the age of 75-years-old (after which additional quotes may be needed), and covers horse riding, mountain walking, trekking, white-water rafting and all other activities we offer as part of our tours. These policies are available to all residents of the UK and those residing within the EU.
The cover is underwritten by the International Insurance Company of Hannover Limited (IICH), who are authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Wild Frontiers Limited is an Introducer Appointed Representative of Travel & General Insurance Company plc, details of which can be found at the FSA's website www.fsa.gov.uk.
To contact them please visit their website at www.travel-general.com or call 0845 408 0583.
Health and Vaccinations:
There are no mandatory immunisations for travellers to Pakistan though you should be up-to-date with Typhoid, Tetanus, Polio and Hepatitis A. We recommend you seek advice from your local GP or travel centre as to the correct immunisations and preventative treatments.
We also recommend:
• A dental check-up prior to travelling.
• You inform us of any pre-existing medical conditions or medication.
To be on the safe side you can also check on www.fitfortravel.scot.nhs.uk
Tour Leaders
Jonny Bealby
Growing up in England, Scotland and Canada, Jonny developed a passion for travel and upon finishing college journeyed extensively in Australasia and the Far... Read More
Simon Watson
Simon was born and raised the hard way in the remote wilderness of the Oxfordshire Chilterns where the seeds of a passion for adventure travel were first... Read More
Mark Steadman
Mark's adventurous parents had swapped the crowded streets of South London for the sandy beaches of South Australia, before his fifth birthday.
By... Read More
Stanley Moffat
After studying law and geography at university Stanley’s first travels were as a professional sportsman. Looking out the window on the way to rugby... Read More
Marc Leaderman
Narrowly escaping the "lawyer, doctor or accountant" stereotype career that is the fate of many London sons, Marc taught English in Romania & Japan... Read More
Tom Skipwith
As a baby being taken around India on the back of a motorbike by his travel-crazed parents, the adventure bug was firmly embedded and a nomadic soul was... Read More
Geoff Spillett
Having left New Zealand at the age of 22, Geoff travelled overland across Asia, ending up in the UK where he briefly settled in the early 90s.
It... Read More
