The spectacular region of Gilgit-Baltistan is home to snow leopards, ‘crumbling palaces’ and ancient mosques
Located at the western end of the Himalayas and the northern tip of Pakistan, the region of Gilgit-Baltistan is one of the world’s most impenetrable natural citadels. It also has “an extraordinarily rich cultural landscape”, says Sam Dalrymple in Condé Nast Traveller, having often resisted conquest by neighbouring empires, while absorbing their influence over the millennia along with the other benefits of Silk Road trade. Known to ancient Chinese geographers as the Tibet of the Apricots, it is a spectacular land of snow leopards and brown bears, of “crumbling palaces” and ancient mosques. It has often been closed to outsiders in recent decades owing to the conflict over Kashmir – into which it had been loosely integrated in the 19th century – but it is now open to visitors once more.
