CHALT (WHERE CONTINENTS COLLIDED)

About 60 kilometres north of Gilgit, Chalt stands as the southernmost settlement of the old Nagar Kingdom. In 1891, the British arrived with a force of 1,000 men, and strengthened Chalt Fort by using it as their base to overthrow Hunza and Nagar in a fierce battle at Nilt. Chalt rests on the line of collision between two geological plates. The Indian subcontinent is still pushing northwards into the Asian land mass and a small Island plate is being crushed between them. The deepest, oldest layer of this Island plates are at Paten, further south on the KKH and the top layer appears at Chalt. Guests can spot a sign on the cliff next to the KKH before Chalt that reads: Here continents collided.