Northern Pakistan and its beauty is like heaven on Earth, and there is NO doubt about it. Pakistan has so much scope tourism wise that it can easily be one of it’s biggest and strongest industries. You can also watch my Travel VLOG on my YouTube channel here, to know what exactly what I mean, although please know that NO amount of pictures, words and even videos can do justice to stunning sceneries this place has to offer. So I divide this article into 3 parts. The 1^st part will talk about what we did in our 7 days trip to Gilgit – Balitistan. The second part will be the review of Eco Tourism in Pakistan – our travel planners/agents for the entire trip and why we chose them. I will rate them 3 out of 5 and describe the reasons for such a rating below (because so many people are asking me). The 3^rd part will talk about some tips on traveling with children or otherwise in Pakistan, especially to Gilgit -Balitistan.

Part 1: Gilgit – Baltistan – the beauty for your eyes-only!

We are a travel loving family and alhamdolilah have traveled to a lot of places in Asia, Europe and America. This time we decided to Explore Gilgit – Baltistan, the beauty that is such a special part of our country, Pakistan. We knew for sure that it is not going to be a toddler friendly vacation so we left our heart (our 20 months old toddler) with my parents in Karachi and the rest of us (my 2 kids, 8 and 10 year olds, my husband and I) got ready for this adventurous trip to have the time of our lives.

We had a 7 day trip (2018):

19^th July – We flew to Islamabad in the afternoon.

20^th July – Early morning flight to Gilgit. We left for Hunza the same day. Visited Baltit Fort the same day and stayed in Eagle’s Nest in Duikaar Valley.

21^st July – Visited Attabad Lake (Did Boating there) and tunnels, Passu, Altit Fort and stayed in Eagle’s Nest.

22^nd July – Visited Naltar Valley, Naltar Lake and Parri Lake and drove all the way to Gilgit and stayed at Serena Gilgit. Naltar Lake and Valley can only be done on a JEEP. The terrain is very rough.

23^rd July – Left for Fairy Meadows. Drove up to Raikot in our car. From there until Tatto Village the Jeep took us. Tourists can’t go in the village itself and have to trek a little (15-25 minutes) and then they can go on a horse or trek back up to the Fairy Meadows (Trekking takes 4-5 hours, and its 2.5 hours on a horse). Our Jeep driver was a resident of the Tatto village and he took us in the village to show hot springs. (we boiled 4 eggs in the hot boiling water of the spring) – this part is missing from the VLOG because people of that village are very conservative/privacy oriented. We then rode horses to the Fairy Meadows (2.5 hours on horses) and stayed there.

24^th July – Our stay in Fairy Meadows. Saw the reflection lake and a few other nearby spots. The Nanga Parbat, which is the 9^th highest mountain peak in the world and one of the most difficult to climb, is clearly visible from Fairy Meadows.

25^th July – Rode back to Tatto Village, and the jeep ride to Raikot and from there in our car to Serena – Gilgit. Stayed the night there, but had dinner at another hotel, called GRAND CONTINENTAL, and I kid you not but I had one of the best chinese cuisine there. IT’S A MUST TRY IF YOU GO TO GILGIT.

26^th July: Flew back to Islamabad and then to Karachi, End of the journey with getting reunited with my 20 month old.

Things to do here and a Little bit more about them (some things that we learnt in our trip!):

• At Attabad Lake – boating and jet skiing options are available. It’s a Lake that came into existence as result of land sliding of the big Attabad Mountain.
• Naltar Valley has a chair lift (but it was closed for maintenance when we went there), trekking, snow leopard sighting and camping, etc.
• Naltar lake has the old style log boats which you can ride. It a gorgeous Green Lake! The ride up to there is too rough, as there is just a rocky road and sometimes the jeep has to go through the river, its an experience – an adventurous one. However, I would say that its not an appropriate place for infants and toddlers to go to.
• Parri lake is blue in color and its only 10 minutes ride from Naltar Lake and has the same log boats. You can camp there as well.
• In Hunza, you can arrange for traditional meet up with the locals in there setting and you can witness their lifestyle in this way, their food. They have a local Dowdy Soup, a special kind of roti pie (called something else though) and other specialties. You will have the best kind of apricots and cherries there.
• Duikar Valley has the best view point, specially Hotel Eagle Nest where you can view the main peaks of this region, like Rakaposhi, Golden Peak, Lady Finger Mountain. It’s a beautiful mix of lush green peaks, rocky peaks and Snow Covered Mountains, which makes it even more breathtaking.
• Hunza also has a very good literacy rate (approximately 90%), and you can see schools even at the top of mountains.
• Fairy Meadows is the best place to trek. You can trek up to Nanga Parbat’s basecamp, you might be able to see the meadows there as well, but with trekking, it takes 5-6 hours one side. There is a reflection lake, which is a small lake reflecting the image of Nanga Parbat (which is the 9^th largest mountain in the world, but one of the most difficult to climb).
• In the Night cottages (in Fairy Meadows) do Bonfire, play music (local and other music) and tourists and local men dance around and have fun. Because of the terrain of this land and difficulty to go there (extremely rocky and narrow terrain in which there was the way of only 1 jeep to go, and then horse ride for 2.5 hours) going with infants and toddlers will not be advisable (advise coming from me!).
• Being born and raised in Pakistan I know that we have a super multicultural pool of people and languages. However I had never heard about the Burushaski and Shina Languages that is spoken by the local people in this region. It’s a beautiful mellow language that was pleasing to hear.
• We also tried a new vegetable that is found in this region, called “SONCHAL,” which was like a hybrid between spinach and kulfa, only better (since my kids loved it!)
• The local people and kids are extremely humble, down-to-earth, generous and welcoming. You will see the kids smiling and waving at you.
• We would like to thank Aijaz bhai (our driver for this journey, arranged by our tour planners), Nadeem Bhai (who opened his house and Tatto Village for us – as tourists are not allowed there), Dilbar Khan (the driver of our Jeep ride to Fairy meadows, and honestly each and everyone who helped us making our trip more fun and memorable.

Part 2: Eco Tourism in Pakistan for travel plans OR Not?

So I found Sundus Tanvir who runs Eco Tourism in Pakistan promoting her travel consultancy, im one of the Womens’ only groups on Facebook. We were already planning to go to Pakistan, and had already approached a couple of agencies in this regard but no one had replied to my emails. Whereas, Sundus was very responsive to my messages, and designed a travel plan that was exclusive to us and was customized to our dates. Everything was included in our plan including the hotel stays, breakfast at every place, transportation, a corolla and a driver just for us for the 6 days in Gilgit – Baltistan.

We were very happy with our trip until Fairy Meadows, there was a lot of miscommunication and we felt that some information was deliberately hid from us so we even felt cheated. So in our plan they had mentioned trekking OR horse riding to Fairy Meadows. I had even asked Sundus before hand, and she said that horse is with you all the time, and you can sit on the horse for some time and trek for the rest of the time or vice versa.

When we reached Tatto Village, the guide NISHAN, who was appointed by Sundus and her husband had ALREADY set the horses for us aside. No one ever mentioned that we had to pay for the horse ride, etc. and seeing the dangerous terrain in which the horse was riding, it was impossible for the KIDS to trek (where mostly only 1 horse could go at one time, because the way was so narrow). That night we had to stay in a cottage without the heater and our kids fell sick because of that as well. Anyway, the next day we were switched to a cottage with a heater but then in the night time the horse owners (who were supposed to pick us up the next morning for return journey to Tatto Village) told us that they haven’t been paid for the horses and we were SHOCKED and the amount was a whopping Rs.12000! My husband talked to Tanvir Bhai (Sundus’s Husband) and he said that horses were optional and it’s just like any other leisure activity like boating and all (Like, seriously?!!).

We paid them a lot of money, and had discussed everything in detail so we were pretty disappointed knowing that Horse ride was not covered. We had the following reasons to believe that it was part of our package:

• the guide (who was appointed by them!) had already set aside horses for us. He never asked if we want it or not, we never got to choose our horses, they were just ready for us. No one told us that this is the price for one way trip or round trip or anything of that sort. We OBVIOUSLY thought that it’s part of our package.
• In the plan, they had mentioned trekking OR horse riding (of course, one would assume that it’s part of the plan).
• It was the ONLY option for us, as we were with kids, so obviously we would NOT be trekking for 4 or more hours one way. Hence it was the ONLY mode of transport and transport was supposed to be covered in our package.

It is justified to feel cheated as this important information was hid from us. We were short on cash (but somehow, alhamdolilah managed to pay them), as we took very limited amount with us thinking to just keep enough for food, tips and some leisure activities, we didn’t know that a Rs.12000 worth of necessity (for us!) will be turned into a leisure as well.

PART 3: Tips on traveling with kids to Northern Areas:

1. Keep appropriate clothing. It is mostly cold so don’t skimp on jackets and warm clothing items. They usually take a lot of space so we made our children wear their jackets on the plane, since its cold at the airports and in the plane.
2. Travel Light. Keep 1 clothing (jeans + shirt) for each day, and 2 extra clothing items (just in case!).
3. Try to take small hand carries with you on the plane. Thank God it didn’t happen with us, but I have heard some stories of flights getting cancelled on the last minute (after you check in) and then your checked in baggage gets there later.
4. Have a lotion/moisturizer, chapstick handy, because skin gets super dry in these areas (even in the summers).
5. Don’t forget hand sanitizers and medicines for motion sickness, vomiting, lose motions, fever, etc.
6. Mobile networks are pathetic there. Mostly only Zong and SCOM work there only.
7. If traveling with a toddler (which I am advising against!), do not forget a baby carrier (strollers will be not very useful here), you will just have to wear your baby.
8. Keep appropriate shoes for trekking.
9. Keep cash in hand and split it in a few places so that if God forbid something happens, you still have other places to look into.
10. Try to stick to vegetables while ordering in the restaurants. Although they say that everything is cooked fresh, but its better to be safe than sorry(ALWAYS!).
11. Keep some small and easy games like cards, small ludo, etc. for night time activity (it was specially very helpful for Fairy Meadows!).
12. Unplug yourself and just ENJOY the glorious mountain ranges.

 

It was a memorable trip that will stay with us forever! I hope you enjoyed reading about it. You can watch my travel VLOG as well 🙂