Ganish Hunza

Old historical village which is not maintained at all. They have spotters outside that call this guy who comes out right when they see a Non local arriving to see the place. This guy approached us pretty aggressively & demanded we have to pay 500 rupees entrance without any greetings or welcome. Upon paying that amount he took us through a total of 4 buildings that are approximately few meters apart and explains the history. We spent about 10 minutes listening to him & once he was done the tour was finished & we could go roam around the whole village on our own. Now we had thought that he will give us a tour of the whole village since we were 4 people & each paid about 500 a pop but that wasn't the case. The tour was basically just to justify the "Entrance" fee & nothing more. We saw old buildings that were locked filled with Garbage & filth so its pretty clear that the money they charge doesn't goes towards maintaining the place but into their own pockets. Funniest part was when my husband asked the man why there's an entrance fee to a village & he got even more aggressive & said there's No Why's here. There was nothing special about this place except some old wood art work & smelly alleyways with Garbage everywhere. The pond outside was the filthiest water pond I've ever seen. Kids were bathing in it on one side, other side a man was rinsing his mouth in the same water & besides him a woman was dipping a mop into the water to clean the mop. If we hadn't had visited this place we would not have missed anything. Definitely not worth spending your time & money on this place.

Shishper Glacier

Shishper is a surging, or advancing, glacier. It formed around the beginning of the twentieth century, when what was then the Hassanabad glacier in the north of the Hunza valley split into two. Machuhar is the other glacier formed by this split. Like the overwhelming majority of glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayas, Machuhar is receding due to the warming caused by climate change. There are over 15,000 glaciers in this tallest and youngest mountain range of the world, which stretches from Afghanistan to Myanmar. The number keeps changing as receding glaciers split into two or more.

Khaplu Fort

Khaplu Palace was built in 1840 by the Yabgo Raja Daulat Ali Khan of Khaplu^[4][9] after the Dogra of Kashmirwho captured the region decided to move the seat of government from the old fort. The site of the palace was chosen by rolling a large stone down from a nearby cliff; it stopped at the Doqsai village, and the palace was built there.^[6] The earlier fort was located near the location of the present-day palace. Khaplu Palace replaced the former fort as the royal residence after its completion.^[4][9] According to Jane E. Duncan, the people of Khaplu used to live inside this fort and were not allowed to build their homes outside its premises. This practice was changed after Maharaja of Kashmir took control of the area, resulting in a cessation of conflict among neighbouring rulers.^[10]

The former fort was captured by Murad Khan of Maqpon Dynasty, the ruler of Baltistan, in the Conquest of Khaplu in the 1590s^[11] by cutting off the water and other supplies to the fort. The troops of Murad besieged the fort for three months, resulting in the surrender of Rahim Khan, the 62nd Yabgo dynasty ruler of Khaplu. The fort again fell to invaders in the 1660s and 1674.^[7]

The Yabgo descendants continued to live there even after their kingdom was abolished in 1972. The last Raja of Khaplu who lived in the house was Raja Fatah Ali Khan, who died in 1983.

The town of Khaplu is located in the eastern part of Baltistan, at an altitude of 2,600 metres (8,500 ft) above sea level and is the administrative capital of the Ghanche District. River Shyok a tributary of River Indus, passes through the town, along which is the ancient trade route to Ladakh.^[4] Khaplu Palace is located north of the Khaplu town and south of the Shyok river^[5][6] in front of the high mountains of Karakoram range.^[7] A trek behind the palace in a ravine leads to the village of Pari in Skardu.

deosai national park

The Deosai National Park was established in 1993 to protect the survival of the Himalayan brown bear and its habitat. Having long been a prize kill for poachers and hunters, the bear now has a hope a

for survival in Deosai where its number has increased from only 19 in 1993 to 40 in 2005. During the last decade, a few but effective measures have been taken by the Government of Pakistan for the survival of brown bear in the region. In 1993, Himalayan Wildlife Project was founded with a substantial financial support from international environmental concerns. But the brown bear is still under threat.

The Deosai Plains are also home to the Himalayan ibex, red fox, golden marmot locally called Phia, gray wolf, the Ladakh urial, the snow leopard, and over 124 resident and migratory birds. Birds in the park include the golden eagle, lammergeier, griffon vulture, laggar falcon, peregrine falcon, kestrel, sparrowhawk andsnowcock. The following species are found in Deosai Artemisia maritima, Polygonum affine, Thalictrum alpinum, Bromus oxyodon, Saxifraga flagellaris, Androsace mucronifolia, Aster flaccidus, Barbarea vulgaris, Artemisia maritima, Agropyron longearistatum, Nepeta connate, Carex cruenta, Ranaculyus laetus, Arenaria neelgerrensis, Astrogalus leucophylla, Polygonum amplexinade, Echinop nivetus, Seria chrysanthenoides, Artemisia maritima, Dracocephalum nutsus, Anapalas contorta, Chrysopogon echinulatus, and Dianthus crinitus. There were also observed some medicinal plants which are locally famous i.e. Thymu linearis (Reetumburuk), Saussures lappa (kuth), Ephedra intimedia (Say), Viola canescens (Skora-mindoq), Dracocephalum muristanicum (Shamdun) and Artemisia maritima (Bursay) etc. are used as traditional drug therapies.

ATTA ABAD LAKE

Attabad Lake,, also known as Hunza Lake, is a lake in the Hunza Valley of northern

Pakistan created in January 2010 by a landslide dam. The lake was formed due to a massive landslide at Attabad village in Gilgit-Baltistan, 9 miles (14 km) upstream (east) of Karimabad that occurred on January 4, 2010. The landslide killed twenty people and blocked the flow of the Hunza River for five months. The lake flooding has displaced 6,000 people from upstream villages, stranded (from land transportation routes) a further 25,000, and inundated over 12 miles (19 km) of the Karakoram Highway. The lake reached 13 miles (21 km) long and over 100 metres in depth by the first week of June 2010 when it began flowing over the landslide dam, completely submerging lower Shishkat and partly flooding Gulmit. The subdivision of Gojal has the greatest number of flooded buildings, over 170 houses and 120 shops. The residents also had shortages of food and other items due to the blockage of the Karakoram Highway. By June 4 water outflow from the lake had increased to 3,700 cu ft/s (100 m3/s). Victims of the landslide and expansion of the lake staged a sit-in protesting the lack of government action and compensation payments to them. As a result of the damming of Hunza River, five villages north of the barrier were flooded. One village, Ayeenabad, was completely submerged. Major portions of another village, Shishkat, was also submerged. Around 40% of the village of Gulmit, which also serves as the headquarter of Gojal Valley, was also submerged. Significant portions of land in Hussain and Ghulkin villages of Gojal also got submerged as a result of the surging lake. The entire population of Gojal valley, up to 25000 individuals, were affected as a result of the lake, due to blockade of road access, difficulties in reaching to markets, loss of land, houses and agricultural products. Attabad has been visited by current and former Prime Ministers Yousuf Raza Gillani and Nawaz Sharif, and by the Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif, Sharif announced Rs100 million of aid for the victims from the Punjab government and Rs0.5 million for the relatives of those who died in the landslide Attabad Lake in May 2010 Attabad Lake in August 2011 Areas downstream from the lake remained on alert despite some officials believing that a major flood scenario was less likely as the river began flowing over the landslide dam during the first week of June 2010. Many people have been evacuated to 195 relief camps.Two hospitals downstream, the Kashrote Eye Vision Hospital and the Aga Khan Health Service, evacuated both their staff and equipment. Some officials had incorrectly predicted that as soon as the lake began flowing over the landslide dam, a 60 feet (18 m) wave would hit the areas immediately downstream. As of 14 June 2010, the water level continued to rise. DawnNews reported that " 242 houses, 135 shops, four hotels, two schools, four factories and several hundred acres of agricultural land" had been flooded, and that villagers were receiving food and school fee subsidies. They reported that 25 kilometres of the Karakoram Highway and six bridges were destroyed.A special documentary on this issue Hunza Kahani by Waqar Ahmed Malik was on aired at Express news. The spillway of the lake was blasted first on March 27, 2012 and then on May 15, 2012. It caused a reducation in its water level by at least 33 ft as performed by Frontier Works Organization. Ethnic aspect of the lake disaster The lake in September 2011. The Gojal Valley, which is worst affected as a result of this lake, is home to three rare ethnic groups, namely Wakhi (70%), Burushaski (28%) and Domaki (2%). The entire population of Domaki speakers, a very tiny minority and historically marginalized community, was displaced from their village (Shishkat). The Wakhi and Burushaski speaking minority ethnic groups have also been affected severely as a result of the disaster.

The National Monument in Islamabad,

national monument representing the four provinces and three territories of Pakistan.  Designed by Arif Masood the blooming flower shape of the monument represents Pakistan's progress as a rapidly developing country.  The four main petals of the monument represent the four provinces (Balochistan, North West Frontier Province, Punjab, and Sindh), while the three smaller petals represent the three territories (Northern Areas, Azad Kashmir and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas).

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