Pakistan: Beauty on Borrowed Time

Mountains of the North focuses on the magnificent wildlife of Pakistan’s highest region and the people sharing this precipitous landscape. It’s home to the world’s second-highest peak and many rare and charismatic species, including snow leopards, Himalayan brown bears, and the world’s largest wild goat, the markhor.

The Indus River Basin in Pakistan, composed of a stunning series of wetlands and lakes, supports a huge variety of wildlife. It is also vitally important for the people of Pakistan as it provides water for drinking and agriculture. This majestic waterway is threatened by climate change as much of its flow comes from fast disappearing glacier and snow melt.

The Tharparkar desert, straddling the Pakistan-Indian border, is the 9th largest in the subtropics. Despite its extreme climate, it is surprisingly rich in biodiversity with several species of large mammals, including the Blue Bull, Asia’s largest antelope, and the elegant Chinkara, or desert ballerina.