Pakistan
Broghil Valley
Wakhi yak herders camp where Pakistan nearly touches Tajikistan across Afghanistan's thin Wakhan strip.
Felt-roofed shelters dot a treeless valley so high and so far north that Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan are all within a day's walk. Wakhi women bake flatbread over dried yak dung while their herds graze on stubble at 3,800 metres. The wind carries no sound of engines. It carries the sound of absolutely nothing.
Broghil Valley lies in the uppermost reaches of Chitral district, where Pakistan's territory narrows to a sliver between Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor and the Pamir mountains. The valley is home to the Wakhi people — semi-nomadic yak herders whose seasonal migrations follow grass and snowmelt across passes exceeding 4,000 metres. Darkot Pass, at the valley's eastern end, historically connected Chitral to Gilgit and saw use as a military and trade route for centuries. The landscape is stark alpine grassland — no trees grow at this altitude, and the nearest paved road is several days' journey south. Broghil is accessible only in summer, typically July through September, when the snow retreats enough to allow passage. The Pakistan government declared it a national park in 2010, protecting its ibex, Marco Polo sheep, and snow leopard populations.
Solo
Broghil is about as far from everything as Pakistan gets — a place where the reward is total immersion in a way of life unchanged for centuries. Solo travellers with expedition experience will find genuine remoteness here.
Friends
A multi-day trek through yak-herding country at the junction of three nations — Broghil is the kind of shared hardship that cements lifelong friendships.
- The valley lies within 30 kilometres of the Wakhan Corridor — the thin strip of Afghanistan that separates Pakistan from Tajikistan — creating one of the world's most intricate border geometries.
- Wakhi herders cross from Tajikistan and Afghanistan seasonally with yak herds — the valley is a meeting point for three nationalities with no formal crossing.
- The Chiantar Glacier at the valley's head feeds the Yarkhun River, which flows south into the Chitral River and eventually joins the Indus.
- Access from Lower Chitral takes two days on one of Pakistan's most remote roads — the valley has no regular transport and few facilities.
Yak butter tea sipped in felt-lined shelters while women bake flatbread over dried dung fires.
Dried mulberries and walnuts — the trail provisions of Wakhi shepherds crossing between seasonal pastures.
Queenstown
New Zealand
The town where bungee jumping was born, cradled between a glacial lake and jagged peaks.
Sete Cidades
Portugal
Twin crater lakes, one emerald, one sapphire, fill a volcanic caldera wreathed in Azorean mist.
Silverton
United States
A narrow-gauge steam train delivers you to a mining ghost town at 9,318 feet.
Vale do Paúl
Cape Verde
Sugarcane terraces spill down a volcanic crater into the greenest valley in the archipelago.
Hunza Valley
Pakistan
Apricot orchards cascading down terraces where three of Earth's mightiest mountain ranges collide.
Fairy Meadows
Pakistan
A wildflower carpet at 3,300 metres where Nanga Parbat's killer face fills the entire sky.
Skardu
Pakistan
Sand dunes and glacial lakes sharing the same valley floor beneath Karakoram granite walls.
Naltar Valley
Pakistan
Three lakes cycling through turquoise, emerald, and sapphire depending on the angle of light.