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A World Away

High in the Karakoram mountains near the border with Tibet, the Hunza Valley has been called the Shangri-la of Pakistan—a timeless land of snow-capped peaks, ancient beliefs, a robust, gracious people, and—if you believe in them—fairies

Mashruf, the bitan of Tsil Ganish village, believes in fairies. Twenty-one, to be exact.

“There are 21 fairies. Always 21. When I burn juniper branches, they come. They like the smell. It reminds them of the forest where they live,” he tells me with mischief in his eyes.

Fairies are no laughing matter in northern Pakistan’s Hunza Valley, a surreal oasis of tranquility in a country fraught with political instability and sectarian violence. They are regularly summoned by Mashruf and a handful of other bitans—traditional healers and soothsayers —to provide advice on all manner of topics, from local election candidates to crop rotations. Though most of the valley’s 50,000-odd residents are devout Muslims, Hunza’s high-mountain isolation has allowed elements of pre-Islamic animism to become woven into the tapestry of local belief; alpine meadows and snow-capped peaks remain places of veneration, while charms, séances, and animal sacrifices are still called upon to enlist the help of the spirit world.

I could have used some supernatural assistance myself on the journey to Hunza. First came the flight from Islamabad to Gilgit, capital of Pakistan’s Northern Areas—a bumpy, hour-long passage in a 50-seat turboprop up the Indus Valley and into the foothills of the Karakoram. The dry pound cake served as an in-flight snack did little to help settle my stomach as the plane pitched and juddered through the clouds. Nor was the jeep ride from Gilgit to Karimabad, the main town in the Hunza Valley, without its panic-inducing moments. The drive took only three hours, but, thanks to potholes, landslides, and hair-raising near-collisions with trucks and the occasional fearless dog, it seemed an eternity.

Story by Mareile Paley Photographs by Matthieu Paley