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Khunjerab National Park | best place to visit in pakistan

 Overview

Khunjerab national park is located at the pak-china border at khunjerab with a height of 17000ft, it is part of gojal upper Hunza Gilgit Baltistan. It is Pakistan's third-largest park Pakistan. 

Khunjerab pak-china border

Khunjerab national park 
History

Khunjerab national park has been was established on 29th April 1975 by the printer of the time Syed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. 
The reason for establishing such a huge park is to protect snow leopards & bharals found in the mountains of khunjerab valley. 
To help animals from hunting, WWF created a committee named "khujerab village organization" that looks after the wild animals and informs WWF about any illegal hunting of snow leopards and other animals on the premises of khunjerab.
The committee was formed due to the illegal hunting of wild animals by locals and tourists, so after the committee came into being, the illegal hunting was reduced and the animals became safer.


Geographical location

Khunjerab national park is located at a diameter of 4000m, right in front of the pak-china border, on the top of the mountain. 

The distance from sost valley, a little city located in gojal upper Hunza is almost 90 km & it can take 1.5 hours to reach khujerab on KKH road by car & the distance from Gilgit is almost 250 km, so it can take 4.5 hours to reach khunjerab national park all the way from Gilgit city but it could be better if there is a rest in gojal valley and then continue the journey towards khunjerab because the reason is, tourists are not allowed to visit this park after 4pm on day time, so you should cross the check post before 4 pm, otherwise, you will not be able to visit khunjerab.
The reason is that the road towards khunjerab is not so easy to drive at night or in the evening, so police try to minimize accident chances on the difficult roads of khunjerab.  After driving towards khunjerab you must have a good vehicle and you have enough fuel to reach khujerab and then come back to sost valley because once the sost valley is crossed there are no more petrol pumps and shops to buy something. 


Wildlife of khunjerab national park

Khunjerab national park comes into being for the purpose to rescue the decreasing number of wildlife animals, that include, snow leopards, sheep, and most importantly Himalayan ibex found independently in the mountains of khunjerab national park.
According to Mir of Hunza, the number of sheep was more than 400, but now it decreased to 180 after they renovated the highway by china.
Snow leopards are the best wild animals found in khunjerab national park, because of the cold weather and the snow found at the height of the khunjerab mountains, which provide a home for the snowcats.

Himalayan ibex is the most beautiful animal found there. Before the park was created the ibex and other wild animals were not safe from the Hunt of locals and tourists but after the committee was formed and the establishment of the park decreased the hunting of the wild animals, so now the number of these animals is rising and that is good news for locals and wildlife department. 


Etymology

The name khunjerab has been driven from the wakhi and Urdu languages, the local language of gojal upper Hunza Gilgit Baltistan. 
Where it includes two words.
Khun (blood)
Jerav. (Stream)
So its complete meaning is bloodstreams. As per local people, this name is suggested because the khujerab valley is located right in front of china-pak. border. 
Best view of khunjerab park

Starting of khunjerab top 🔝


Things to remember while traveling to khunjerab national park.

  • If traveling to khunjerab is in summer, so a car or a vehicle must be in good condition can be used to reach the top, but if traveling is in winter, then only 4×4 (four-wheeler) SUVs could be used to reach the top. 
  • Start your journey towards the top from sost valley, not later than 1 pm in the daytime, so you can return back in time because there are no restaurants and hotels to spend the night until you have your own system a for night stay.
  • Fuel in your vehicle should be filled at sost, before departure towards the top, because there is no any petrol pump and other local means for fuel once you cross sost valley, and it's almost 180 km away to the top & then returns to sost.
  • Hight can be an issue for some people, so keep your medicine with you, or if you know that you can't handle the height issue, it's better that you quit the trip and back from sost valley. 
  • Keep your refreshment and beverages with you from sost valley, because there are no shops once you cross sost valley, only one cabin is on the way after sost, but it is better to complete these items from sost market.
  • Drive carefully throughout the way towards the top & back, because there are sharp turns and slops everywhere. So keep in mind that you do not use brakes very much, instead use gear braking as well so there could be better chances to avoid any mishaps. 
  • Keep your warm clothes and jackets with you even if you are traveling in summer, because the weather out there remains extremely cold throughout the year, that doesn't matter if it's summer or winter. 
  • Keep your identity with you every time
  • You have to pay a fee of 300 per head to get entry to khunjerab national park.
  • Keep in mind that you should keep safe the piece of paper that has been handed out to you while the entrance, otherwise you should face some waste of time while returning from the top.
  • Drone cameras are not allowed on the premises of khunjerab, because of the sensitivity of the border. 

View of kuksell mountains

kuksell khunjerab

pak china border khunjerab


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you can also know more about Hunza in other blogs 
i.e: https://www.paktravelguide.com/2021/10/baltit-fort-hunza-best-place-to-visit.html
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