There were many other places which we could visit in Gilgit area. I was very keen about Skardu especially to see K-2 but again due to visa restrictions and the condition of the road, we had to shelve the visit. But there was an interesting area which our hostess wanted us to visit.

It was Naltar, the Ski Resort of Pakistan Air Force. Being summer season, we would not be able to see the actual skiing but could visit the beautiful alpine valley in the high mountains. Naltar is a valley near Gilgit having an altitude of 2,880 metres and is 40 km (25 mi) from Gilgit. It can be reached by jeeps only. Naltar is a forested (pine) village known for its wildlife and magnificent mountain scenery. There are ski lifts under the 'Ski Federation of Pakistan'. Naltar Bala and Naltar Pine are two villages of Naltar valley. N.Pine is at a distance of 34 kilometers (21 mi) and Naltar Bala at 40 kilometers (25 mi) from Gilgit. There is a main village known as Nomal between Naltar valley and Gilgit. A road from Nomal goes to 'The Silk Route' to China. Sometime back the government had constructed an 18 MW hydropower project near Naltar Pine to fulfill the power requirement of the area as well as Gilgit. The road from Gilgit to Naltar Pine is now metalled and is still non-metalled from Naltar Pine to Naltar Bala. There is also a lake in the Naltar valley known as 'Bashkiri Lake' at a distance of 32 kilometres (20 mi) from Naltar Bala. This lake has a wonderful and marvellous look in the summer and as well as winter. The road from village to "Lake" is non-metalled and narrow along side of a stream which remains throughout this road coming from the mountains. There are a lot of beautiful scenes along this road. In winter it is almost impossible to reach the lake through any vehicle due to the snow (10 to 15 feet high) on the road.

Our hostess had arranged a four wheel drive Willys Jeep from her friend in Habib Bank. The jeeps in Pakistan are imported from USA and not locally manufactured as in India. The jeep was white in colour and much larger than the Indian version mostly seen with the army. In fact, the jeep resembled the Indian army Jonga but totally white in colour. It is quite powerful and has large clearance from the ground. Even though the distance from Gilgit to Naltar valley is only 40 kilometres and the drive should normally take an hour or so but at the time of our visit the road was just a rough cut mountain trail going upstream along a gushing torrent. It took us more than three hours. The first part of the drive was through some villages and along a very flat portion of the valley of the Hunza River up to Nomal which took us about an hour or so. Then we entered a gorge on the left side. There were sharp brown rocks on two sides and the road climbed through this gorge. A stream was gushing down on our left and we were driving upstream. The drive is typically like some absolutely rocky and dry area of Ladakh without any sign of greenery anywhere. I was feeling as if we were driving towards Tsomoriri Lake after crossing Mahe Bridge. The gorge was more narrow and uphill. Also the colour of rocks was reddish brown than the metallic brown generally seen in Ladakh. After a very rough drive for an hour or so we came to a clearing.

I had expected Naltar to be a desert oasis type of valley with high surrounding barren mountains as was the scene in Hunza. However, I was totally stunned to see an Alpine valley with tall pines and green meadows! It was incredible to see such a valley in these high mountains. There were some sheep grazing in the meadow. It looked as if Sonamarg had been uprooted lock, stock, and barrel and planted in this high mountain range of Karakorams. There were some barrack type of huts in the distance at the foot of the high mountains. We did not see any major tourist infrastructure nor did we find any tourists in the area. This was probably due to the very rough condition of the road. It was like a mountain expedition to reach the place in one piece because of the road condition. Subsequently the road must have been considerably improved as Naltar is a popular day resort in summer for the tourists visiting Gilgit. The Lake nearby is also a big tourist attraction. We saw a couple of T-bar type ski lifts and a ski slope with nylon net guards on the sides. Skiing in the area must be quite tough as the temperatures are quite low in winter. Pakistan’s 18th National Ski Championship was held in the resort from February 18 to 24 this year. Pakistani skier Mohammad Abbas, a native of Naltar valley in Gilgit–Baltistan, became the first man in the country’s history to qualify for the Winter Olympics, held from Feb 12 in Vancouver, Canada.

Pakistanis had built a very good Ski Resort in Malam Jabba in the Swat valley with Austrian assistance. However, during the last year’s overrunning of entire Swat area by the Taliban, the resort was completely destroyed. The Taliban blew up everything there including the Chairlift, the Hotel and so on. It was a big loss to Pakistan Tourism. In fact, in last couple of years Pakistan has lost a big chunk of foreign traffic due to uncertain conditions. Almost all foreign offices advise their nationals to avoid Pakistan. After spending an hour or so in Naltar area, we drove back to Gilgit. The return journey was less tiresome as we were going downhill up to the valley of the Hunza River. We reached back in the late afternoon and were too tired for any more activities. We were also scheduled to fly back to Islamabad next day. The weather did not look very nice and there was continuous drizzle in the evening. We were not sure whether our flight will come. However, we started saying good bye to our newly made friends and packed our bags. We had to report very early at the airport. We did receive some gifts like Gilgit caps and so on. It had been a rewarding trip.

(To be concluded…)