Khunjerab Pass Explorer

At 4,693 metres above sea level, Khunjerab Pass is the world's highest paved international border crossing — a fact that gives it an almost mythological status among travellers who have driven, cycled, or walked the Karakoram Highway. The name derives from the Wakhi language: khun means 'blood' and jerab means 'valley' — a reference to the blood of travellers historically killed here by bandits and wolves on the old Silk Road caravan routes. Today, a tidy Pakistani immigration post and a Chinese customs facility sit face-to-face at the top, separated by a few hundred metres of windswept plateau at the head of the Khunjerab Valley.

The approach from Sost (the last Pakistani town, at 2,743 m) climbs 75 km through Khunjerab National Park, one of Pakistan's most important protected areas. The park was established in 1975 specifically to protect the critically endangered Marco Polo sheep (Ovis ammon polii), whose spectacular cork-screw horns can reach 190 cm in length, as well as snow leopards, Himalayan ibex, brown bears, and golden marmots. As the road climbs above 4,000 m, the vegetation thins to sparse tundra, yaks graze on the plateau margins, and ibex can often be spotted on the rocky ridgelines. The air at the pass is noticeably thin — acclimatization days in Karimabad and Passu are essential.

Our tour departs Islamabad, ascends the KKH in stages allowing acclimatization at Gilgit (1,500 m), Karimabad (2,438 m), and Passu (2,800 m) before the final push to Khunjerab. You have time at the pass for photographs at the border marker, wildlife spotting with binoculars, and the extraordinary experience of standing simultaneously in two countries with the Karakoram and Pamir ranges surrounding you on all sides.