Stuck On The World’s Most Dangerous Road: Pakistan Travel Stories

If you have followed my blog for a while, you’ll know that adventure travel is my jam. I don’t look for convenience when I travel but rather let adrenaline fuel my trips. Therefore, I didn’t turn down the opportunity to embark on a spontaneous road trip to Naran in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province despite knowing that we’d be driving on one of the most dangerous roads in the world: the Karakoram Highway.

My epic Naran road trip didn’t disappoint in any way. From the time my partner and I hired the driver to the last goodbye, this trip was filled with adventures that cured my severe case of adrenalin-deprivation better than anything else could have. Yet one of the most breathtaking adventures that made my heartbeat drop and then completely overshoot was certainly the time we got stuck in the middle of the road – yes, you heard that right, we got stuck on the Karakoram Highway, one of the most dangerous roads in the world.

Here’s what happened exactly:

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A High-Altitude Day Trip

You’d be wrong to assume that the day hadn’t already been exciting enough for me. As a day trip out of Naran, my boyfriend, another friend, and I decided to drive a little further up north to visit the scenic spots around Lulusar Lake and Babusar Top. The ladder location is the highest viewpoint near Naran at over 4,000 meters altitude and offers a breathtaking view of the entire region. We visited this chilly place in the late afternoon and after a good couple of hot chais and breaths of thin mountain air, we decided it was time to head back down to Naran. The drive involved a 1,700-meter drop in altitude and the sky was getting darker as the sun disappeared behind the mountain ranges.

Read more: What To Pack For Pakistan: A Complete Packing List

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Close Encounter With The Abyss

I had just fallen asleep when the car suddenly slowed down. There were many cars lined up in front of us and everyone seemed to proceed very carefully. As we got closer, I realized that people weren’t driving straight. There was a narrow detour that cars had to pass through and everyone seemed to be driving dangerously close to the edge. I was wondering what was going on but when we got to the detour, I couldn’t believe my eyes: There was a hole!! In the mountain! Yes, a hole in the mountain that created a 1000+ meter deep gate to the abyss!

My heartbeat fastened as we carefully drove over the short but deadly detour. With certain death only meters apart from us on either side and no railing around, our driver tried his best to get us over it safely and thanks to his amazing driving skills, he succeeded.

We all took a breath of relief as we finally entered the normal road again but we were still left wondering what the heck had happened to the road. We had driven the exact same route only hours earlier and everything seemed fine then. We agreed on the theory that there had been a controlled blast as part of some road construction work but we never really found out.

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Stuck On A Deadly Slope

I was relieved to be back on the normal road at standard speed but it wasn’t long until the car slowed down again. This time, there were way more cars around us and I realized that we had gotten close to the popular destination of Naran. Here, the roads weren’t as steep and narrow as earlier but still dangerous.

It wasn’t long until we came to a full stop. We had ended up in a giant traffic jam and no progress was in sight. So we waited. And waited. It was already midnight and we were all tired but none of us had an idea of how we would reach Naran. We tried to contact the traffic police to figure out what was going on but there was no network. On top of that, our car was running low on fuel so we were wondering if we should even attempt to get to Naran with this minimal progress. There were no hotels around anywhere and we were already getting prepared to spend a night in the car.

The endless wait made us wonder what could have possibly created such a huge traffic jam. Our first suspicion was that there was another mountain hole somewhere and my stomach already turned inside out again. It probably also didn’t help that it was national holiday and an estimated half of the country was in Naran. Time passed slowly but thanks to the tension in the air, I never felt bored for just a minute.

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The ‘Traffic Police’

After hours of waiting in the middle of the night, we noticed some movement on the road. It was very slow but at least something. After a quick thought exchange, we decided to turn the engine back on again and carefully make our way into the moving lane.

After such an enormous wait, you can probably imagine the euphoria that broke out in the crowd. People were singing and blasting loud music in their cars, waving giant flags, and even dancing in the loading areas of their jeeps. It was finally party time again.

As we progressed very slowly, more and more cars joined the lane while others broke down. Saying that things got chaotic would have been an understatement. And although most of us had proceeded to a spot where there was sufficient network coverage again, calling the traffic police still proved futile because nobody ever picked up. Yep, that’s traffic police in Pakistan for you.

This lack of organization created an unbeatable opportunity for those who had gotten bored the heck out of their lives to finally contribute in an apparently meaningful way. As we looked around, we saw a couple of young guys our age, fellow vacationers, walk between the sea of cars giving directions to other drivers. They had formed their own traffic police! A little bit of training would have been clearly useful for these guys and some people even had the audacity to directly tell them in their faces that they were useless. This made me feel quite bad for them. After all, they had just volunteered their time to do something they thought would be helpful.

Still, there was no actual traffic police in sight and nobody knew what had originally caused the jam.

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A Safe Arrival?

A couple of minutes later and cars finally began to proceed at a faster pace. I had no clue whether the traffic police had finally arrived or not but information suddenly spread like wildfire among the drivers and finally revealed the reason behind this horrible jam: There was a narrow spot in the road and drivers coming from both directions were arguing who had the way. Yes, that’s what caused our immense panic and hours of congestion.

The remainder of our drive to Naran felt incredibly smooth. We arrived late at night and had to look around for quite a while to find an accommodation for the night. Nevertheless, we were glad to be back to safety and enjoy a little bit more relaxing rest of our trip – that was until we were followed by a scary car on an abandoned small road near Balakot, but that’s a story for another time!

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How Dangerous Is The Karakoram Highway Really?

By now you’ve probably had enough of my sensationalist storytelling and might be wondering “how dangerous is the Karakoram Highway really?” and “is it even safe to travel to northern Pakistan?”

First of all, the Karakoram Highway wouldn’t even be open if half of all drivers plummeted to death here. Or at least it wouldn’t be such a popular tourist route. While it’s true that over a thousand workers lost their lives during the construction of this Chinese-led project and disastrous accidents still happen, most travelers will make it off the Karakoram Highway just fine.

In fact, almost all tourist excursions in Pakistan cross the Karakoram Highway in one way to another. It’s the best way to admire the breathtaking natural beauty of Pakistan’s northern areas and reach some of the world’s tallest mountains. In addition, most roads in the area close during the winter months or any periods with bad weather to ensure that nobody will get hit by a landslide.

Essential Safety Tips For Driving On The Karakoram Highway

That being said, everyone is responsible for their own safety while traveling the Karaokoram Highway and there are some essential safety tips one must keep in mind at all times:

• Only (ONLY!) hire experienced drivers who specialize in the difficult terrain of Pakistan’s northern areas. Never attempt to drive yourself unless you’re super experienced.
• Check the weather forecast beforehand and discuss it with your driver. The last thing you’d want to do is face a landslide.
• Start your drive as early as possible to avoid driving at night.
• This should be a no-brainer but don’t speed! I can’t believe they had to put up so many signs for that on the way.
• As a general safety tip, only gradually ascend to higher altitudes and always have some altitude sickness remedies handy. Believe it or not, we actually witnessed a man fall to his death while taking a photo on a bridge. He most likely passed out due to altitude sickness.

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Read More About Pakistan

Enjoyed this story? Make sure to check out these ones as well:

• Warm Encounters At The Icy Border: Visiting Khunjerab Pass From Hunza Valley
• Celebrating Eid Al-Adha In Pakistan: My Eye-Opening Experience
• Is Pakistan Safe For Women Travelers? – Here’s What It’s REALLY Like

And while you’re at it, explore the following destinations through my travel guides:

• Naran
• Skardu
• Fairy Meadows
• Islamabad
• Taxila
• Karachi
• Balochistan

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Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed reading about one of my more adventurous travel experiences. Believe me, my heart rarely beat as fast as it did that night but I was grateful for the adrenaline kick and my safe arrival in Naran afterward. Although traveling on the Karakoram Highway is a must-have experience for any tourist in Pakistan, it’s important to keep in mind that it’s still one of the most dangerous roads in the world and every traveler is responsible for their own safety. Therefore, it’s absolutely essential to follow the basic road safety tips listed above while enjoying a scenic drive on the Karakoram Highway.