green field of fairy meadows (Gilgit Baltistan)

31st March 2017

 

About 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 by turning right to Karakoram Highway after Chilas toward Fairy Meadows. From Raikot Bridge on Karakoram Highway, you have to hire a jeep to reach Tatoo village, then two to three hours trekking, then you will be in the Fairy Meadowns, a heaven on earth.

Fairy Measows was named by a German climbers Marchenwiese in his book 'Fairy tale meadow', whereas the local name of the region was Joot. 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.

From Raikot Bridge, You have to hire a jeep to access Fairy Meadows. It is one of the most dangerous treks of 15 km long along the high mountains and deep narrow gorges where stream from Raikot Glacier flows. 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.

From Tatoo village, you have to complete 5 Km trek by hiking. 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 may slip there. After completing the trek, you can see a vast grassland in the shadow of mighty Nanga Parbat in front of Raikot Glacier.

Nanga Parbat basecamp trek is another most scenic and dangerous trek to visit. 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 cover with much care.

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.

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.

There is camping facility to stay there for night. The camping sites are managed by locals. 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 night, the temperature drastically declined below zero, so must have warm clothes to face freezing temperature.

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.