Amid geopolitical concerns, a changing climate and the increasing intrusion of the modern world, young nomads are abandoning their traditional way of life, writes Tsering Ngodup Lama in The Kathmandu Post Dorje Rithen, 61, has lived his entire life as a nomad, and he fears that this lifestyle will end with him. Tsering Ngodup Lama/TKP Where Kunga Sangpo and Yangchen …

Will the reopening of tourism in GB provide some relief or has the pandemic made the future of tourism more uncertain, questions Madeeha Syed in an essay published in Dawn Sunday issue.  As the country reels under a pandemic, tourism in Gilgit-Baltistan has been hit particularly hard. The prime minister announced the reopening of tourism, hoping it will provide some relief. But …

Naba Basar discovers the secrets of healthy, organic and innovative mountain cuisine from Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral. She shares her experiences of the mountain regions adventure, hospitality, social customs, lifestyle in a series of features for The High Asia Herald readers. Soups   Don’t expect to find the Chinese soups you are accustomed to in cities. You may or may not …

Student’s Solidarity Protest against Poor Internet connectivity & falsified policies of HEC regarding online classes organised by All Baltistan Movement in Skardu.#teamABM Posted by ABM (All Baltistan Movement) on Tuesday, June 23, 2020 Students from GB, Kashmir, ex-Fata districts, Seraiki and Balochistan regions demand suspension of online classes, waiver of fees Inayat Abdali, Iqbal Salik & Aunil Muntazir   Gilgit/Ghizer/Skardu/Islamabad: …

British colonial officer John Biddulph’s book is considered as one of the pioneering works in English that provided an insight to the secluded societies, lifestyles, languages,  customs, marriages, festivals, ruling families and general characteristics of the many tribes that inhabited the Hindu Kush region Reviewed by Basharat Wakhani Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh written by British colonial officer John Biddulph is considered as one of the …

Pushed to the periphery, Sino-Indian war theatre Ladakh was once a gateway of South and Central Asia as well as a melting pot of ties between Turkestan, China, and South Asia, writes Iftikhar Gilani on the web page of Anadolu Agency, a Turkish online news portal. ANKARA: Not many people know that the landlocked Ladakh region, perched in high mountains and …

Globally over 75m jobs are at risk in tour and hospitality sectors, 48.7m in Asia-Pacific and 75,000 in Pakistan   High Asia Herald Report As adventure tourism season in Pakistan draws closer and the country reeling from the devastating impact of coronavirus pandemic, the tour operators in Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral are still hoping against hope. Although Pakistan has eased lockdown and …

The pandemic causes a 22% decline in tourist arrivals in Q1, or $80bn loss, says UNWTO reports   Herald Report The coronavirus pandemic has caused 22% fall in international tourist arrivals in the first quarter (Q1) of the financial year 2020 and could further drop by 60-80% over the whole year, says a report. The UN tourism watchdog says 67 …

In 1856, the Maharaja Gulab Singh ruled the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir, with the blessing of the British. Lieutenant Thomas George Montgomerie, the commissioner of the Great British Trigonometric Survey of India, was trying to ascertain the heights of the peaks in northwestern Kashmir, but he couldn’t actually get close to ones he wanted to measure: He was …

  There is a need to focus responses on women in Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) regions, write Chanda Gurung Goodrich and Kosar Bano in an essay on gender inequalities during the pandemic published on the ICIMOD website    Disasters and public health emergencies often compound gender inequalities in developing societies. They do not have to, and in fact, rather could present opportunities …