PAKISTAN: THE VALLEY OF THE IMMORTALS | France 5 | Les Routes de l'Impossible

The Hunza valley lies in the far north of Pakistan, clinging to the foothills of the Himalayas on the borders of China and Afghanistan.

In winter, villages perched at over 12,000 feet altitude are practically cut off from the rest of the world. A mere few tracks, hacked into the mountain schist, overlooking dizzy precipices, lead up to them. These tracks are the only supply routes for the villages of Shimshal or Chipoorson.

Raymond and Mohammad are two of the rare drivers crazy enough to risk taking these roads covered in snow and ice. The least mistake at the wheel of their 4×4 vehicle or minibus will send them crashing down two thousand feet below.

A few miles from the Chinese border, nestling in the hollow of the Hunza mountains, the Wakhi villages carry on their ancestral traditions: like bouzkachi, a ferocious game where acrobatic riders fight for the carcass of a goat.