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Silk Road - The Karakoram Highway

Taking cue from the ancient Silk Road or Silk Route that traversed an amazing distance of more than 8000 kms or 5000 miles through high altitude passes, dry inhabitable deserts, picturesque snowbound lakes and mountain caves connecting China with Asia Minor and Southern Asia, the Karakoram Highway (KKH) is an amazing feat of human endurance and achievement. It today links China’s Xinjang region with northern Pakistan’s Abbotabad district.

It is the highest paved international road in the world across the Karakoram range of mountains. It goes through the Khunjerab Pass at an altitude of 4,693 meters or 15,397 feets, and is also the highest paved International Border Crossing. Yet another amazing feature of this fantastic highway is that, it cuts through the collision zone between Asian and the Indian Sub continent where China, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India come within 250 kms of each other. In terms of strategic and military importance, the Karakoram Highway (KKH) is indeed of high importance.

The Karakoram Highway (KKH) also known as the Friendship Highway in China. It was built by the governments of Pakistan and China, and was completed after 20 years of toil and strives in the year 1986. 810 Pakistani and more than 50 Chinese road-building workmen had reportedly lost their lives while constructing this amazing Highway, mostly due to landslides and high altitude sickness.

The Highway, connecting the Northern areas of Pakistan runs around 1300 kms from Kashgar in the Xinjiang region of China to Havelian, which is located in the Abbotabad district of Pakistan. An extension meets the legendary Grand Trunk Road at Hasan Abdal, west of the Pakistani capital Islamabad. However, not all parts of this super highway is quite motorcar worthy. According to Lee Freeman of Australia who cycled through the KKH as a tourist, “It cannot be called a highway at all since a large section of it, specially the one that runs through Afghanistan, is merely a cattle-track”. Vivid photographs taken by him of the road condition affirms his statement. Abdul Ghani of Pakistan who made a thrilling trip to China through the KKH soon after its completion remarks, “The Karakoram Highway follows the Indus river here for 340 kms, and it’s all like this, narrow and winding, with a steep drop to the river, isolated and awe inspiring.”

On June 30, 2006, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Pakistan Highway Administration and China’s state-owned Assets Supervision (SASAC) to rebuild and upgrade the KKH. “The width of the highway,” according to SASAC, “will be expanded from 10 meters to 30 meters, and its transport capacity will be increased three times. Also, the upgraded road will be constructed to particularly accommodate heavy-laden vehicles and extreme weather conditions.”

“The Karakoram Highway, following the ancient Silk Route that once connected famous landmarks that are now lost to time,” said a tourist recently traveling through the KKH, “today offers an opportunity to visit these sites and capture some of the magic of old times as historical figures like Alexander the Great, Marco Polo, Genghis Khan and Taimur Lang or Tamerlane had all once marched through this Avenue de la Fame.

The Karakoram Highway, in recent years, has become a destination for adventure tourism. The road has also given mountaineers and cyclists easier access to many high mountains, glaciers and snowbound lakes, providing routes to Gilgit and Skardu from the Pakistan end of this amazing highway.

The Karakoram Highway is truly amazing - it is important historically, communicates East and West Asia and the scenic beauty is simply fabulous.