Where the Karakoram touches heaven — a mountain valley of apricot blossoms, ancient forts, and five peaks over 7,000m that locals once called the last kingdom on earth
Hunza Valley is a mountainous district of Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan, threaded by the Hunza River between walls of the Karakoram — the world's most extreme mountain range, containing more glaciers than any region outside the poles. Its main town, Karimabad, sits at 2,430m with direct views of Rakaposhi (7,788m) and Ultar Sar (7,388m), and the Baltit and Altit forts perched on crags above apricot orchards. The Karakoram Highway (KKH), built jointly by Pakistan and China (1978), runs through the valley — an engineering feat connecting Rawalpindi to Kashgar via passes at 4,700m, follo…
Hunza was an independent princely state (the Hunza Khanate) for at least six centuries, ruled by the hereditary Mir of Hunza from Baltit Fort — a palace dating in its present form to the 16th century. The state maintained its independence by playing British and Russian imperial interests against each other during the Great Game before being annexed by British India in 1891. The last Mir retained his title until the Pakistani government abolished the princely states in 1974. Baltit Fort was restored with Aga Khan Development Network funding in the 1990s and opened as a museum in 1996 — one of…