Fairy Meadows

Fairy Meadows, a lush green plateau, is located at an altitude of 3,300 meters at the base of Nanga Parbat in Diamer district of the Gilgit-Baltistan. It is a wonderful site that gives a splendid view of The Killer Mountain, Nanga Parbat. It is situated at the distance of 410 km from Islamabad via Naran-Chilas Road.

Adventure Starts from the Raikot Bridge

At the Raikot Bridge, park your vehicle along the Karakoram Highway and then after registering at local police check post. You have to hire a jeep to reach Tatoo village and perform two to three hours trekking to the heaven on earth, the Fairy Meadows. It is highly recommended to stay at night in Raikot and start your journey early in the morning to avoid dry and hot weather and to complete a trekking loop in the same day.

Fairy Meadows - Raikot Face Base Camp

Fairy Meadows was named by a German climbers Marchenwiese in his book 'Fairy tale meadow', whereas the local name of the region is Joot or Jhel. It is a base camp for mountaineers to access the Raikot face of the Nanga Parbat. It was declared as a National Park in 1995.

How to Access Fairy Meadows

From Raikot Bridge, You have to hire a 4x4 jeep to access Fairy Meadows on unpaved and narrow road. It is one of the most dangerous treks of 15 km long along the high mountains and deep narrow gorges where stream, known as Raikot River, from Raikot Glacier flows through the sheer gravel cliffs. Jeep can be hired from the Raikot Bridge around 15,000 to 20,000 rupees. It is also the second deadliest trek in the World declared by the WHO. Only local drivers can drive jeep there due to dangerous turns and narrow trek where one jeep can move at a time. Sometimes, jeep has to move back for a long distance to give path to coming jeep from opposite direction.

Narrow Trek leads to Fairy Meadows

From Tatoo village, you have to complete 5 Km trek by hiking. It is narrow passage for single person and ascends steady through dry and rocky canyons. Trek is much dangerous to cover as most of the parts of trek are much narrow. You have to be careful due to loose gravels and pebbles, otherwise you can slip there to roll in deep gorge. It takes nearly 3 to 4 hours to complete the trek, then you can see a vast grassland in the shadow of mighty Nanga Parbat in front of Raikot Glacier. You can also hire some local porter or horse from the Tato village to carry your heavy luggage.

Fairy Meadows is a very peaceful and relaxing place after a long difficult and dangerous jeep track to enjoy the mountain atmosphere. It remains a lovely place for hikers, climbers, photographers, wildlife lovers, etc. The pine forests in Fairy Meadows provides one the best scenic view and definitely homeland for a number of species of birds and wildlife.

Camping in the Freezing Nights of Fairy Meadows

The fairy meadows is the lush green grass land with pine trees at an elevation of 3,000 meters. There are few wooden cabins and camp sites, if visitor wants to stay night there. The camping sites are managed by local people and they normally charges for 3000 to 6000 rupee. Cabins are relatively more expensive than camping site. The small streams follow across the green meadows with a rhythm of soft music tones. Spending night would be most exciting experience with freezing negative temperature in front of panoramic view of Nanga Parbat. The temperature drastically decline below zero, so one must have warm clothes and sleep bags to face freezing temperature. The night stay gives you one of the most fantastic view in the dark nights to view the higher number of shining stars in the sky. You can feel sky with shining stars just above your head. In the dark night, it would be a shining sky with millions of stars which sparkle the icy lines of the Riakot Face.

Beyal Camp - Nanga Parbat Base Camp Trek

Nanga Parbat basecamp trek, also known as Beyal Camp, is another most scenic and dangerous trek through pine forest along the Raikot glacier. Trek gives more closest view of the Nanga Parbat as well as Raikot Glacier. Trek has number of patches of glaciers, so it must be hiked with much care. It is recommended to perform hiking in day light in groups. Never try to perform sole hiking, if you do not have any such type of hiking experience.

There is thick alpine forest having various kind of coniferous trees. It gives a unique view of the site at the altitude of 10,800 feet within the shining snow covered Nanga Parbat. In this forest, you can also observe brown bear and musk deer, regarding as endangered species.

Trek Visit Timing

The trek to access the Fairy Meadows is normally opened from April to September, whereas in other months it was totally blocked due to heavy snowfall.

Loop for a quite, untouched beauty in the alpine meadows lined by deep pine forests, then explore our Rama Meadows Travel Guide.

About Diamer

Diamer is the district of Gilgit-Baltistan at average elevation of 4,150 feet on the Karakoram Highway along the Indus River. It is the gateway to access the mighty mountains of Karakoram Range in Gilgit-Baltistan from Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa province. The Chilas is the capital town of the Diamer district.