The hunza valley is a top attraction for anyone visiting the mountains of Pakistan. It’s a fascinating area, riddled with lush green valleys, mountain peaks and glaciers. The people living here are Ismaili Muslims which we’ve been learning about from chats with the locals. Aga Khan is their spiritual leader who currently resides in Portugal. He’s done a lot for the area like building hospitals and schools meaning the Hunza people are 100% literate. There’s also more equal rights for women and we saw female drivers, shop owners etc. The locals in this area look more European than Pakistani, their skin is paler and we saw kids with blonde or red hair.

To explore the lower Hunza region we based ourselves in the town of Karimabad, set up a hill off the main Karakoram highway. Our guesthouse had a large lounge area with glass windows offering an incredible view of the mountains in front of the property. Our room was basic with a squatter toilet but comfortable enough, minus the stifling heat. We did have an industrial fan in the room which was so fast it sounded like it could take off at any moment and it was so powerful that the motor became too hot to touch. It became so hot that we didn’t feel safe sleeping with the fan on incase it started a fire so we just suffered in the heat.

We don’t know what’s happening with the weather right now in the mountains but it’s about 30° and even the locals say they’ve never felt heat like it. It totally zapped us so we decided to take it easy on our first day and stroll around Karimabad where the road was lined with shops selling beautiful handmade rugs and gems found in the surrounding mountains.

In the afternoon we headed down to the ancient village of Altit. We arrived at a large sort of communal pool filled with murky grey glacial water. It would have been ice cold but the kids were having a lot of fun jumping in it. We veered left through a neighbourhood made of narrow lanes and stone houses. A group of local ladies sat at the entrance, many with salt and pepper coloured hair that was braided and they wore a traditional embroidered hat on-top. Each house had a tiny wooden door, they make them small so that you always bow down to the house as a sign of respect when entering. We happened to see a cute house that was accessed down a few steps and just as we commented on how sweet it looked a lady popped out the door and gave us a big smile. She spoke English so we told her we liked her house and she asked if we wanted to have a look inside so we took off our shoes and followed her in. It was just one small room covered in padded blankets on the floor to creat a comfy seating and sleeping area. There was a wooden bassinet where her baby was sleeping and a tiny nook in the corner had a place to cook. Her mum was also sat down with us but she didn’t speak English. The lady explained that her house was being built and they were just renting this house which was just a room and I’m not even sure if it had a bathroom or if there was a communal one nearby. She said they’d already been living there for almost a year and it was clear that she couldn’t wait for her house to be built. We were offered dried fruits which she laid out on a plate on the floor for us all to share and we showed her some photos of the campervans we’ve lived in to try and show that we’ve lived in similar small environments and that we thought her one-roomed house was very cute.

As we strolled through more alleys we spotted a lovely house with plant pots all around it. The owner came out the house at that moment and I asked if it was ok to take a photo of her house. She was really sweet and we had a little chat before she said “wait one minute!” and dashed up her stairs. When she came back down she had a huge bag of dried apricots for us!! We tried to be polite and just eat one each but she insisted we take the whole bag. It’s hard to comprehend the kindness of these people, hospitality like this doesn’t exist in England. Interestingly as we left the winding lanes we noticed a sign at the entrance saying ‘no entry and no photos to neighbourhood’. It was very easy to miss the sign as we did and we’re not quite sure why they say that because the locals seemed very happy to see us, maybe it’s to keep bigger groups out.

Sunset was approaching and we wanted to make it to the popular Eagle’s Nest for the best view. There’s no public transport up there so we stuck our thumb out and luckily a man who owned a hotel at the top stopped for us. We arrived just in time but it was a very hazy day, wind had filled the sky with dust so the views weren’t crisp but it ended up being a great sunset with the haze catching the golden light and lots of little bubble clouds filling the sky. As soon as the colour started to fade we dashed back down to the road to hitch a ride before all the cars left. A big van with about 15 guys who lived in Lahore pulled over and they were really fun to chat to. The man at the back introduced himself as ‘the sick one’, the long journey had caused him severe travel sickness and now the only sightseeing he wanted to do was stargazing which caused the whole bus to roar with laughter.

The following day we did a hike to Alter Meadows. It was overcast which meant slightly cooler temperatures but it was still tough work hiking uphill. On the way we passed many streams filled with glacial water which was mesmerising to watch, it almost looked metallic and swirling patterns were created in the water from the sediment. As we made our way up a rocky track I noticed a pink colour on a rock, just like we’d seen in the gem shops in town and suddenly we spotted them everywhere. While we thought we were finding Ruby it turned out to actually be Garnet which is more of a brownish red colour and the birth stone associated with January.

Once the worst of the incline was over the path headed up a gorge with snowy peaks straight ahead and a glacier spilling down the valley. It was a bit of a sketchy trail though with cracks in the overhanging rocks above us and freshly fallen boulders on the trail. We’d already walked quite far and got a view of the glacier so we decided to not continue all the way to the meadows and make our way back down.

One of my favourite things about Karimabad was just admiring the view. While waiting for dinner I’d put my telephoto lens on my camera and zoom in on the snow capped mountains. They looked fabulous, especially when different weather systems rolled in, clouds swooped past and the golden sun stained them.