Shigar Fort was once home to Mongol princes, today it welcomes visitors to one of the most remote and dramatic parts of Pakistan while helping transform the lives of the local community. Abid Shah reports

This is a tough post,’ says Karim Khan, manager of the Shigar Fort resort in northern Pakistan. ‘I had to train my staff from scratch to bring them up to five-star standard.’

Khan could be exaggerating his problems, but his hotel is in one of the most underdeveloped, neglected and ungovernable valleys on the planet, in an area where girls can only study up to the age of 14 and boys to 16. In this environment, his hotel has become a driver for development, education and emancipation.

Shigar Fort has been the centre of this community since the early 17th century, when it was built by the Mongol dynasty that ruled the stark Shigar valley until its overthrow in 1840. Even after its fall the dynasty retained influence through landholdings in the valley and its rajahs, the rulers, continued living in the stone and clay building.

Seventy years ago, as the fort crumbled with neglect, the royals took the seemingly drastic decision of moving to what had once been their cowshed, and then to an outbuilding next door as even the shed began to collapse. Then, in 1999, the Aga Khan Development Network, aiming at cultural and economic development, offered to restore the fort and build the rajah a new home, on one condition: the fort became a public trust.

The rajah agreed and the foundation spent $1.4m rebuilding the fort and converting it into an up-market, 20-room resort. The finished product was handed over to the luxury Serena hotel chain last year, with the organisation training the Shigar employees at its other hotels across Pakistan.

Luxury is a newcomer in this area. Until recently it only attracted the kind of adventurous traveller for whom comfort came in the form of Gore-Tex and Windstopper. Shigar valley is a trekking and mountaineering hub. K2, the world’s second tallest peak, is a seven-day walk from the valley head. Crossing the 57km Baltoro glacier, trekkers can see four of the 14 highest peaks in the world: K2, Broad Peak and Gasherbrum 1 and 2.

Entire villages survive on trekking dollars: in Tissur, a village straddling a river near the start of the walking and climbing routes and surrounded by peaks, half the male population work as porters. The other half are guides, cooks and drivers for expeditions. The road to Tissur from Shigar is rocky and navigable only by four-wheel drive – it is not a place you want a novice behind the wheel.

Fida Shirin, a contracted driver with Shigar Fort, reckons 20 per cent of the town’s population now earns its income through tourists. ‘Before the building was restored we saw very few visitors,’ he adds.

Rajah Muhammad Azam Khan, whose father donated the fort to the foundation, agrees. ‘Tourists came only for climbing. Today they come and stay to see our culture and so there is pressure to preserve it.’

That pressure has not come a moment too soon. ‘Villagers had started to build houses and shops in concrete,’ adds Khan. ‘That’s an ugly material and it’s a bad insulator during the harsh winters we have here. Now, with builders having learned from the restoration of the fort, many locals are switching back to mud, stone and timber, which are traditional and more comfortable.’

The village in the shadow of the fort, Markunja, has also been cleaned up. The old bazaar, with its small, single-storey shops, has been renovated, public toilets have been built and a laundry station has been constructed – where dirty water drains separately from fresh stream water. The stream itself powers a flour mill and has been covered by stone slabs where it runs past houses – stopping people from throwing their rubbish into the water as they once did.

‘Our plan is to combine tourism, jobs, the environment and development,’ says Jaffer Ali, an officer with the Aga Khan Development Network, which has been working in the area since 1979.

Today, what was once the fort’s audience hall is a museum. The royal bedroom is the grand suite and the cowshed-turned-dwelling is a restaurant. The rotted woodwork has been stripped out and replaced by the delicate creations of local craftsmen who have been trained in the artistic traditions of the region. Other customs also endure. To enter the resort you have to pass through a small door that forces you to lower your head – a reminder of a time when supplicants had to bow when approaching the rajah.

The fort garden is verdant with cherry, apple, walnut, almond and apricot trees that overlook the Shigar stream. Follow a path alongside the water and you soon reach the one-room office of the Shigar town management committee, where villagers meet to discuss developments.

Fida Ali leads this village committee. It is made up entirely of men and when I visit they are absorbed with a pressing issue: should the girls who are being trained by the Aga Khan Development Network in survey work be allowed to go to another town for their training?

The discussion ultimately reaches a conclusion. ‘We are not at the stage where we can send women to town alone,’ sums up Ali, who adds that only one in 100 families in Shigar educate women, as this means sending them outside the valley.

Besides, the council has other responsibilities and concerns. This area is a political nether world. Shigar is part of the Northern Areas which, while claimed by India, are nominally a part of Pakistan – but are not fully integrated into that country. Consequently, when elections are held, the territory does not send representatives to the national parliament in the capital, Islamabad. Instead, the Pakistani government appoints a minister for the area. The north, however, is neglected and NGOs have attempted to pick up the slack with local projects.

Ali’s town management committee is one such initiative and it has learned from the tourism that the fort has brought. With more visitors coming through to experience the local heritage, the villagers are getting more commercially minded. Their latest idea is apricot shampoo. ‘Women here used to wash their hair with the residue from the production of apricot oil,’ says Ali. ‘Now, they use modern shampoos and that residue is wasted.’

The committee is lobbying organisations for funds to help create and market this idea. Elsewhere in the valley, one group is already producing apricot massage oil and moisturising cream.

But these initiatives need tourism if they are to flourish. While the fort may be attracting high-end visitors, Pakistan is generally struggling to lure travellers. So far, the Northern Areas territory has been spared the violence that has broken out further south – suicide bombings, mosque protests and insurrections in what were formerly tourist districts such as Swat in the North West Frontier region and in cities such as Islamabad and Lahore. Events such as the death of leading politician Benazir Bhutto have kept away even the most dedicated climbers and trekkers.

Zahid Yaqin, manager of the PTDC motel in nearby Skardu, says tourist traffic at his property, whose walls are lined with decade-old mementos of mountaineering expeditions – has dropped by 80 per cent since 2004.

This has affected employment – during winter, when the roads are barely passable and the fields frozen, increasing numbers of men move to the cities south for work. As most are uneducated – failing the Pakistani 10th grade matriculation exam seems to be a legitimate academic achievement; more than one driver proudly told me he was a ‘matric fail’ – they end up in menial jobs.

‘Children hope to become drivers,’ said Muhammad Ibrahim, a taxi driver who was ferrying me around the valley. ‘After all, it’s better than carrying a bag up a mountain.’

Ibrahim’s car was a mobile advertisement – plastered with Hewlett-Packard signs. When he met me, he did not know what the text on his car meant, and he had bought it four months earlier.

Khan, Shigar Fort’s manager, has been dealing with the education gap. He found his employees were struggling to get up to speed with international ideas of service and efficiency. So, last winter, with the resort closed, he took everyone to the Serena Hotel in Faisalabad for training.

Most of his people are new to the hotel business. Shabbir Hussain, for example, worked as a supervisor during the fort’s renovation. Now, he is in charge of the outdoor barbecue in the evenings or takes his turn as a waiter – bringing guests plates full of mouth-watering local specialities.

And, just as Hussain is adjusting to his new job, Shigar valley is adjusting to new demands. When I was leaving, I overheard a conversation between Rashidud Din, a Serena manager, and village headman, Ali.

‘Would it be possible,’ asked Din, ‘to hire a female receptionist for the museum? Aren’t some women being trained in the village to do this kind of job?’

Ali demurred. ‘It might not be right. Villagers might object.’

‘All the employees are hired from the village anyway,’ pleaded Din. ‘Surely, any objection would not be a problem as it was all in the family.’

Ali murmured something in a low voice. He would check and see if there was a woman who was willing and available to work.

He did not sound convinced.

Shigar Fort Residence

Rooms range from $100 for a single to $250 for the royal suite. It is worth booking early as the resort is often filled by groups for stretches of the summer.

The fort has its own drivers. Normally, they charge $50 per day. Trekking gear, equipment and guides can be sourced from Northern Climbing Equipment in Skardu.

www.shigarfort.com

What to wear

For women, short-sleeved shirts and jeans are permissable, but anything that exposes more flesh will offend local sensibilities. It is recommended that even arms should be covered.

Currency

There are currently about 62 Pakistani rupees to the US dollar – exchange currency in Islamabad. Credit cards are accepted at the hotel but not in town and the ATM there does not take foreign cards.

Visas

Source from your nearest Pakistani embassy, several weeks in advance.

How to get there

Fly to Islamabad then catch the PIA flight to Skardu which leaves at 9:30am, depending on weather. A round-trip Islamabad-Skardu flight costs $153. The residence has a complimentary pick and drop service from the airport.