BUMBURATE: PrinceWilliam and his wife Kate flew near the Afghan border to visit a remote HinduKush glacier yesterday, after a morning spent trying on feathered traditionalcaps and luxurious shawls in Pakistan's mountainous north. The British royalstravelled by helicopter to a glacier in Broghil Valley National Park to see theeffects of climate change in one of the most glaciated areas of the world.
Residents of theregion have been sounding the alarm over its melting glaciers, which causeddevastating floods in 2015 that left thousands of families camping in the openjust as another cold winter approached. The Duke of Cambridge called theglacial melt an "impending catastrophe" in a speech delivered at aglittering reception in Islamabad late Tuesday. The couple met withenvironmental experts to discuss the melting before going on to spend theirafternoon with the Kalash -- an ancient, polytheistic tribe who celebrate theirgods with music and dance.
The verdant,plunging valleys of the northern Chitral district have long attracted touristsfor their natural beauty and their brush with legend as the home of the Kalash,who claim ancestry from Alexander the Great. Activists have campaigned topreserve the traditions of the diminishing tribe, now estimated to numberaround only 3,000 people, making them Pakistan's smallest religious minority.
'Complex' tour
Earlier, during arefueling stop on the way to the glacier, the Duke and Duchess tried on aChitrali cap given a touch of luxury with a peacock feather, which local mediasaid was a gift to them from residents. The flat, woollen hats, also known as"pakols", are popular in northern Pakistan and throughoutAfghanistan, though feather decorations are usually reserved for specialoccasions.
They also triedon chapans, long bulky embroidered coats popular in Central Asia; as well as alush woollen shawl for Kate. Kensington Palace has called the five-day trip,which ends Friday, their "most complex" tour to date. The couple hadlunch Tuesday with Prime Minister Imran Khan -- an old friend of William'smother, the late Princess Diana.
They alsosignaled their support for women's education by visiting a girls school inIslamabad, and helped local children set a leopard camera trap in the MargallaHills, the Himalayan foothills just outside Islamabad. Later, they arrived in abrightly painted rickshaw -- usually banned in Islamabad -- for the eveningreception at the Pakistan National Monument. Security is extremely tight forthe trip, during which the couple is also set to visit Pakistan'ssecond-largest city Lahore, once the capital of the Mughal Empire, as well asthe region near the border with Afghanistan in the west. - AFP