Tour Guide, Gilgit, Pakistan
| 3 mins read
We have the privilege of presenting this invitation for a group of foreign women to join Pakistani women on an exploration of the rich and diverse heritage of Pakistan. This journey, in the company of women from Pakistan, will provide opportunities to learn about how women live in Pakistan today, their cultural and ethnic origins, their lifestyles, family and religious celebrations and their professional interests.
Here you have opportunities to meet women from the cities, the villages, tribal areas and from the remote valleys of the Hindukush. We will visit their homes and share aspects of their culture, visit hospitals, schools, craft cooperatives, and women’s projects.
Our trip is timed for the autumn when temperatures and humidity are at comfortable levels. The journey begins in Karachi, the commercial centre of Pakistan and its largest city. Our friends here will host us for home visits and sightseeing before we travel to Hyderabad, the commercial centre of the ancient Sind Kingdom. In Hyderabad, other than routine sightseeing, we will visit women’s section in Preston University and have experience of dinner in a local house. From Hyderabad, we will take a return flight to Karachi.
Our program takes us next to the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi where we will have opportunities to meet with women who are active in politics and health care. Our route next takes us west along the Grand Trunk Road- Sher Shah Suri’s imperial highway between Kabul and Delhi. We visit Taxila, the seat of ancient Gandhara with cities that Alexander the great passed by on his journey to the Indus. Overnight stay will be at picturesque Swat where we can visit the homes of tribal women of the Pathan before we make our way by road to Dir and over the Lowari Pass to the green wale of Chitral. Here, nestled beneath the towering peaks of the Hindukush, we will visit the mysterious Kalash valleys where we will visit the women of the Kalash tribes. We can also take flight to Chitral from Peshawar if Lowari Pass is blocked by the snow.
From Chitral, we will fly to Peshawar, which is one of the subcontinent's oldest and most historic cities. Here we will explore bazaars that seem like windows to the excursion to the Khyber Pass and the infamous smuggler's bazaar at Landi Kotal.
From Peshawar, we will fly directly to Lahore, capital of Akbar the great and site of the subcontinent's greatest assemblage of Moghul architectural heritage. You will join Pakistani women in an exploration of this ancient walled city, meet women in the bazaars of the Old City that provided the palette for Rudyard Kipling`s imagination. From Lahore, we will fly back to the homeward destination.
It is a unique opportunity to travel in the company of Pakistani women. Visit our host's homes and families in Hunza, Gojal, Skardu and Balistan. Meet with Pakistani women both socially and professionally in different forums. Experience tribal cultures – the Kalash in the Chitral area, the Pathans of Swat and Peshawar and the tribal people of Sind. Visit craft co-operatives, women’s health and education projects, etc.