Gojal is Upper Hunza, the high end of the valley above Attabad Lake, where the Wakhi people live beneath the Passu and Batura glaciers and the Karakoram Highway climbs to the Chinese border.
Gojal is the northern part of the Hunza district. Above Attabad Lake the valley narrows, the mountains get higher and the villages get smaller. The people here are Wakhi, descended from migrants out of the Wakhan corridor, and speak a language of their own as well as Urdu and Burushaski. Gulmit is the main village, with a small museum and a bazaar; Ghulkin, Passu and Sost follow along the road.
The villages, from south to north
Gojal is a chain of villages along the Karakoram Highway, with side valleys running off it. Coming up from Attabad Lake you reach Shishkat first, then Gulmit, the main village and the best place to stop. Ghulkin, Hussaini and Passu follow, each with its own glacier or bridge; Shimshal, Chipursan and Misgar lie up side valleys, and Sost, the border town, is the last place on the road before China. Each of them has its own page below, with what to see and how to get there.
Highlights
- Attabad Lake at the gateway to Gojal
- Gulmit, the main village and best base
- Ghulkin and the Ghulkin glacier
- The Hussaini suspension bridge
- Passu and the Passu Cones
- Sost and the Khunjerab Pass on the Chinese border
