Global Wanderer

11/4/25 – 13/4/25

After a short night of sleep in Islamabad, we were up at 4am, in theory to catch the flight from Islamabad to Gilgit at 7am. Unfortunately for us, and rather unsurprisingly, the flight had been cancelled – this meant that we had to find an alternative route to Gilgit. 

We walked over to the minimart nearby for some supplies, and ordered an InDrive (Pakistan’s version of Uber) to take us to the Pirwadhai Bus Station in Rawalpindi, where apparently you can get shared taxis up to Gilgit. 45 minutes later, and a short walk up the street, we had found a driver who was going there – we just had to wait for the other 2 seats to fill up! This only took about 90 minutes, at which point the car was finally ready to leave. There was no need to haggle about the price – we were quoted at 6000PKR per seat, which is pretty on par from what I’d read online. Often you have to pay quite a bit more for the front seat, but given nobody in the car wanted, it was offered to me for 1000PKR, an offer that I gladly accepted. I should point out that we also had to run to a copy shop at Pirwadhai to make more copies of our passports and visas – it is a necessity on this journey, as every checkpoint along the way (at least 8) will ask for your passport and visa details, and unless you have a private driver, you’ll find yourself thoroughly annoying your fellow passengers who have to wait for the police to take down your details. 

Heading north to Abbottobad

The first part of the journey was easy – the highway north, through Abbottabad, is very well built and maintained, and was smooth sailing. As we got to the end of the highway though, the road quality deteriorated significantly. This made for a bumpy journey, but it was about to get worse – part of the Karakoram Highway was blocked off due to a combination of roadworks, a dam being constructed near Chilas, and apparently an anti-dam protest. This meant we were forced onto a detour, which was for the most part, an unpaved rocky road. Hilariously, the driver, in his Toyota Corolla (with windows permanently stuck in the down position due to an electrical fault, and a missing door handle) managed the route admirably, with the only two hiccups coming from a dodgy car battery. The first time we stopped, we were able to push-start the car – the second time, on an uphill slope, we had to wait until the driver managed to *fix* the battery with pieces of a plastic bag. I will never know exactly what he did, or how he managed to do it, but the car started, and we were on our way again. Our final major obstacle, however, was a landslide that had occurred, which forced all traffic to a halt whilst it was cleared up. We managed to hit it at the right time, only waiting 40 minutes or so for the traffic to begin moving again – apparently some people had been stuck there for hours. Eventually, we made it to Gilgit, almost 16 hours after leaving Rawalpindi. 

Rockslide debris, and impromptu car repairs are a regular sight on the Karakoram Highway

The KKH continues north into China – the languages on the signs showing we were getting closer!

We managed to get a hold of the manager of the place we were staying that night (Madina Hotel 2) – I’d messaged him earlier in the day to let him know of the delay, but I’m sure even he didn’t expect us to arrive at 12:30am!!

After a short, but necessary sleep, we were treated to a breakfast of fried eggs and chapati – perfect combo! We then struggled valiantly to find a taxi to take us to the bus terminal (via an ATM!) for our journey to Fairy Meadows!

Near Gilgit Bus Terminal – you can tell you’re in the mountains!

Eventually, after patiently waiting for the Alfalah Bank ATM to actually work properly, we were finally at the Gilgit bus terminal. It wasn’t difficult to find a van heading to Raikot – we just asked around and people pointed us in the right direction. 500PKR lighter, and 20 minutes later, we were on the road, 90 minutes away from Raikot Bridge, the starting point for trips to Fairy Meadows. 

Our Jeep driver, and his trusty vehicle

At Raikot Bridge, we were greeted by the local police officer, Abdullah Jan, who took down our details, took copies of our passports and visa, and brought a jeep driver over to us. The rate for the jeeps is fixed at 16100PKR at the time of writing – 10100PKR due at the beginning of the journey, and the remaining 6000PKR due at the end of your return journey coming back from Fairy Meadows. Abdullah Jan would leave us with a piece of good advice – a lodge to stay in up at Fairy Meadows, Broadview Hotel. With that, we were off, on a 90 minute ride up to the village of Tattu, where we’d begin our hike from. 

The road from Raikot to Tattu is commonly referred to as one of the most dangerous in the world – it is a dirt/gravel/stone track a few metres wide, cut out of the hillside, has no barriers, and a sheer drop down into the valley below. The only people allowed on the road are the local jeep drivers, who live in the village and obviously have a pretty good idea of the route!

The drop off into the valley is incredible – sometimes the jeeps get within centimetres of the edge of the track – especially when passing jeeps going in the opposite direction – but you put your trust in someone who’s job it is to drive these things, and they seem to know what they are doing!

The Jeep drop-off point in Tattu, and some photos of the road up to the village

We eventually made it up to Tattu, where we could begin our hike to Fairy Meadows. Most people only take a light day pack up, but given we had no idea where we were going next, we didn’t have anywhere to leave our things – that meant carrying up our travel backpacks, with EVERYTHING weighing us down. The hike to Fairy Meadows is not particularly challenging, but it does put a strain on your legs (especially when you have a 13kg backpack on!). The elevation and altitude is something to get used to as well – as you begin to rapidly ascend, you certainly notice the air getting thinner! 

Some beautiful views of the mountains during the hike

We stopped once along the way, for a cup of milk chai, before finishing off the second half of the hike. I’ll let the photos show off the hike – words don’t do it justice!

Milk chai halfway up!

Pictures do not do this place justice at all!

Eventually, after several hours, we finally made it to Fairy Meadows, a spot nestled into the mountains with an immense view of Nanga Parbat, the ninth tallest mountain in the world. It has to be one of the best views I have ever had in my life! We walked around, and eventually found the Broadview Hotel site, spoke to the manager, and were shown to a room. The log cabins are cosy, heated by a fire inside, and for 10000PKR, including breakfast, pretty decent value.

Log cabin accommodation for the night!

We’d intended to hike up to Beyal Camp, and onward to Nanga Parbat Base Camp, but it became clear quite quickly that weather conditions were not going to permit that – despite the 16º temperatures in Gilgit that morning, Fairy Meadows was below zero, and the snow was too thick to get much further up. Not a worry though, as we contented ourselves with the incredible views across the mountainous landscape, acclimatising to the altitude, and getting progressively colder as the sun began to set. Dinner was provided by Broadview, a selection of curries, rice, and bread served in their dining room, with direct line-of-sight views to Nanga Parbat’s peak. After taking a few photos of the mountain lit up in the moonlight, we headed to bed for what would be a freezing night once out fire extinguished itself in the middle of the night!

Waking up to an icy morning is always fun for someone who lives in a place where winter temperatures in the morning are always above zero! The ground underfoot had completely frozen over, as had the lake – beanies, gloves, and jackets were a necessity. Breakfast (eggs and bread) were again served in the dining hall, whilst we spoke with an older British lady and her tour guide, who had hiked up to Fairy Meadows the previous day. They were, along with another Western tour group, the only other foreigners we had come across on the mountain.

Once we had finished breakfast, we packed up our things, and began the hike back down from the mountain. Whilst I had initially expected the hike down to be difficult, especially navigating some of the steeper downhill sections, with the ice underfoot, it turned out that going DOWN the mountain was significantly easier than going up – who’d have thought! We stopped off at the same teahouse we had been to on the way up, before finishing the hike at Tattu much earlier than expected. Luckily, we didn’t have to wait long for our Jeep to depart, and aside from a short stop on the road (so that some Pakistani tourists could take some photos with us!), we were down to Raikot in no time.

An icy morning at the base of Nanga Parbat (the ninth-tallest mountain in the world!)

Back below the snow line

There are buses from Chilas and nearby areas towards Gilgit that will take you to the bus terminal in Gilgit – from there, you can get buses and share taxis back to the capital, or to other major settlements in the area. We had initially intended to get back to Gilgit to potentially go to Skardu to take a flight, but on consultation with the Pakistani Frontier Corps (the paramilitary services that work at the checkpoints here), we decided to wait for a bus going towards Islamabad. This proved to be a longer process than expected, so the military guys ushered us into their shared quarters, sat us down, and plied us with milk tea and apples whilst we waited. It felt like everyone in the village came for a walk past to come and say hello to the Australian travellers sat in the military office! Eventually, after about 2 hours, a minibus travelling towards Islamabad – the third to have gone past, but the first with two free seats – was stopped by the Frontier Corps, and we scrambled on board, grateful to be on our way back to the capital. What resulted was a 16 hour overnight journey at the back of a packed out minibus, complete with a rotation of people wanting to sit next to us and chat, an hourlong stop whilst a landslide was cleared, where we made friends with a group of young Punjabi guys driving back to Lahore from a weekend away in Gilgit Baltistan, and a detour due to a Chinese delegation visiting the site of the dam construction. 

Waiting around with the military, being fed milk chai – what more could you want!

The absolute hilarity (partly due to complete exhaustion) finally came to an end when, at around 7 in the morning, we finally pulled in to Pirwadhai Bus Terminal, in Rawalpindi. Our day’s journey, however, was not over – we still had to get to our next destination – Peshawar!