In 2023 I travelled to Pakistan. The day before I was due to leave I was a little nervous as the ex-PM had just been arrested there and all sorts of violent protests were kicking off and the police had blocked many roads, including in Islamabad where I was flying in to. However things had died down a little by the time I arrived although the 40 minute drive from the airport to the hotel took more than 2 hours due to roads still being blocked!
We primarily explored Northern Pakistan, initially heading North West to the Swat Valley, up towards the Kalash valley boarding Afghanistan, and then clockwise across the Hindu Kush and Karakoram mountains to Hunza, before looping back down to the capital.
When we visited the Kalash their Joshi (Spring) Festival was in full swing with lots of dancing and various ceremonies taking place. With only little more than 5,000 Kalash left its unsure how long the colourful and friendly ethnic tribe will continue to exist. As we moved into the mountains the scenery stunned at every bumpy, dusty turn of the road with multiple snow-capped peaks in excess of 7,000m
Here’s a short video I took of some of the Kalash Joshi Festival and below you can see photos from the trip. There’s also a day by day travel blog here.
