Private Story
Tourism boom in Pakistan
Hunza, the land of ‘paradise lost’, in danger due to the tourist boom
The Hunza Valley, located in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of northern Pakistan, is a land blessed by the most imposing glaciers on the planet. Its beautiful landscapes inspired writer James Hilton to create the myth of ‘Shangri-la’ in his novel ‘Lost Horizons’ in 1933, and now they attract millions of tourists who endanger the ecosystem of this ancient valley.
Guarded by the high mountains of the Hindu Kush and Himalayas, the inhabitants of the Hunza valleys in northern Pakistan have kept and protected their customs and rites, behind the times, the future of history, the conquests and invasions and the painful partition of India in 1947.
It was not until 1973 that the Principality of Hunza ceded its sovereignty to the new state of Pakistan.
Some inhabitants of these valleys claim to be the descendants of soldiers of Alexander the Great who got lost crossing the territory and created a society isolated from the others. Between myth and reality, the geographic isolation of this region fostered the maintenance of the way of life of these primitive peoples and their healthy habits; This led European scientists to explore the valley at the beginning of the 20th century with theories about the fountain of youth thanks to the “miraculous” waters of the glaciers.
This remote valley also captivated the writer James Hilton, who found there his inspiration to create in 1933 his lost paradise, the fictional city of ‘Shangri-La’, a place where people never grew old.
Until then, a few traders and explorers had ventured across the difficult mountain passes, but from the 1970s progress was made thanks to the construction of the Karakorum Highway, on the ancient Silk Road, which ended the isolation of the Hunza tribes.
The ‘curse’ of becoming a world-class tourist attraction
Progress has also come from the hand of tourism. Hotels 10,000 feet high with breathtaking valley views, such as the Hard Rock Hunza Resort, attract tens of thousands of tourists each year, who come to explore and take in the natural beauty of its mountains.
https://www.france24.com/es/programas/en-foco/20211028-hunza-pakistan-turismo-medioambiente-contaminacion
The Story was done with the reporter Ethel Bonet
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