TRAVEL: HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN
Before 9/11, there used to be so many foreign tourists in Hunza throughout the year that there would be no room to accommodate local tourists. Then came a period of drought for the tourism industry.
However, two years ago someone posted pictures of their travel to Hunza on social media, and what followed was a landslide of thousands of tourists flocking to visit this piece of heaven on earth. Now Hunza is again humming with tourists, and the locals are delighted. They have had to convert private homes, schools and colleges to guesthouses to accommodate this influx and not turn away their guests.
According to local tour operators, there were 35,000 local tourists last year, mostly from Karachi and Lahore, breaking a 20-year record. This year, Hunza has already received more than 10,000 tourists.
Every season is a reason to visit Hunza
Part of Hunza’s charm, besides the locals who greet you warmly, is that every season holds some dramatic splendour — in spring there are the heavenly blossoms, in summer there is fruit and greenery, in autumn there is stunning fall foliage colour and in winter it is a wonderland of snow.
We chose to experience the blossom season in April and May. There are many fruit trees in Hunza including apple, pear, walnut, cherry, peach, apricot and almond. Each fruit tree has its own blossom and flowering time, so there is an almost daily kaleidoscopic colour change of pinks, peaches and whites as the trees take their turn centre-stage for their 15 minutes of fame and glory, and then take a bow and make way for the next blossom to glow. On a separate note, the mountains are strewn with wildflowers, completing nature’s symphony of colour.
The mighty mountains in Hunza Valley put up a ringside show of muscle power, encircling the valley with peaks with heights of more than 7,000 metres: Rakaposhi, Ultar 1 and 2, Diran, Spantik (also known as Golden Peak), Hunza Peak, Lady Finger and Dastgil Sir. Guides are ready, willing and able to take you up to any mountain range, glacier or meadow of your choice for hiking, trekking, camping and paragliding (weather and safety permitting). It is like a giant amphitheatre where the blossoms perform and the mountains look on as spectators.