Naltar Valley And Ghanche District: Two Beauties of Gilgit-Baltistan

Naltar Valley

Nature always attracts the humans by providing satisfaction to their souls through its calmness and scenic beauty. Some places are beautiful enough to make you lost while observing their natural and mesmerising beauty.

Pakistan has a lot of such places and two of them are situated in the north of Pakistan known as Naltar valley and Ghanche district. Both of these beauties are present in the Gilgit Baltistan. If you are on a tour of Gilgit Baltistan, you can go to Rewayat Restaurant for good desi food.

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Naltar valley is situated 34 kilometres (21 miles) from the Gilgit city. From Gilgit, through Karakorum highway, two hours of bumpy jeep ride will take you to the Naltar valley. Famous for its outstanding mountain scenery, Naltar valley is a forested region with beautiful trees and grasslands. The beauty of Naltar valley is further enhanced by the presence of five beautiful lakes named as Satrangi lake, Blue lake, Halima lake, Green lake and Bodlok lake. These lakes are collectively known as Naltar lakes or Bashkiri lakes.

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All these lakes are extremely beautiful but the Satrangi lake is above all others and simply gorgeous because of its ability to reflect different colours and the most prominent ones are blue, green, and yellow. The center of the valley is know as Naltar Bala and it’s vast area is covered with beautiful forest which is worth watching. A beautiful and mighty river with strong water current follows through all along the Naltar valley which further glorifies its natural beauty. Snow topped peaks of the Naltar valley, beside providing water to the Naltar river, also make an eye catching scenery.

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Ghanche District

Ghanche, the eastern most district of the Gilgit Baltistan, is another beauty of nature that is worth watching. It’s located near the famous city of Skardu. There are so many places to watch in this district but I will tell you about the most beautiful ones. Khaplu, which serves as the administrative capital of the Ghanche district, was the home of the second largest kingdom of the old Baltistan named as Yabgo Dynasty.

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The city of Khaplu contains several ancient and architectural beauties which include beautiful Chaqchan Mosque (700 years old) and Khaplu fort or Khaplu palace which is the last Tibetan style palace.

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Khaplu city serves as the gateway to the Hushe valley which further leads to several mountain peaks like Masherbrum, K-6, k-7, Chogolisa etc. Masherbrum, aka K1, is the first peak to be named in Karakorum and it provides extremely beautiful views of nature. 

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The Hushe valley and Khaplu valley provides a gateway to the subrange of Karakoram known as Baltoro Muztagh. Baltoro Muztagh includes the mighty K2, Broad peaks, Gasherbrums and Masherbrums.

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Another important location is Haldi cones, which is a group of mountains, located in karakoram range in Ghanche district. Most of these granite peaks are not climbed yet but they make a very scenic view. Nagma valley is another beautiful place to watch in the Ghanche district. Kanday Nagma valley is an excellent climbing area ranging from moderate to high altitude rock climbing.

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These two marvellous beauties lying in the north of Pakistan are rich with beautiful and mesmerising views and waiting for you to visit them. Get some free time and watch these places and I bet you would not like to return.