Khunjerab National Park

Khunjerab National Park is one of Pakistan's highest and most remote protected areas, spanning over 2,200 square kilometres of alpine wilderness along the Chinese border in the upper Hunza Valley. Established in 1975, it was created specifically to protect the critically endangered snow leopard — and today it harbours one of the healthiest populations of this elusive big cat anywhere in the world. The park's landscape is extraordinary: vast cold-desert plateaus cut by glacial rivers, rocky ridges dusted with permanent snow, and high-altitude wetlands that attract bar-headed geese and Brahminy ducks on their migration routes. Marco Polo sheep, with their enormous spiralling horns, roam the open grasslands alongside Himalayan ibex, Tibetan wolves, and brown bears. The Karakoram Highway runs through the park's heart, making it one of the few places on earth where you can spot rare megafauna from a paved road. Summer is the only practical season — the park sits above 3,000 metres and is snow-locked from November to April. Wildlife sightings are most reliable in the early morning hours near the Khunjerab River.Read more