Khaplu, Gilgit-Baltistan,Pakistan:

Khaplu  is the administrative capital of the Ghangche District of Gilgit-Baltistan. Lying 103 km (64 mi) east of the town of Skardu, it was the second-largest kingdom in old Baltistan of Yabgo dynasty. It guarded the trade route to Ladakh along the Shyok River.Khaplu Valley of the Shyok River is 103 kilometres (64 miles) from Skardu and six hours by jeep. There is a sprawling village perched on the slopes of the steep mountains that hem in the river. Many famous mountains, such as Masherbrum, K-6, K-7, Sherpi Kangh, Sia Kangri, Saltoro Kangri and Siachen etc. are located here. The town is a base for trekking into the Hushe valley which leads to Masherbrum mountains.

If you can rightly call Baltistan as a hidden country, this applies to much more in the eastern part of the Baltistan Khaplu. The first mention of this former small kingdom called Khápula we find Mirza Haidar's (1499-1551) famous work Tarikh-i-Rashidi (p. 410), in which the author lists as Khaplu district of Balti (stan). Khaplu was also due to close political and family ties with the royal family of Ladakh, in this neighboring country in the 17th and 18th century proven to be very well known. However, was open to Europe Khaplu probably the first time ever called Chílú by Captain Claude Martin Wade (1794-1861), who mentioned this in a UK published in 1835 in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal essay. Moorcroft-Trebeck (her book was published in 1841) have Khaplu described as follows (Part II, p 264): "Kafalun is a province west of Nobra, on the left bank of the Shayuk" Godfrey Thomas Vigne has Khaplu 1835-1838 Be the first Europeans visited, relying in particular on the local mountain fortress commented that he was still in an intact condition vorfand (Part 2, pp. 317f). Alexander Cunningham(p. 28ff), who has not visited Baltistan, published in 1854 a brief geographical description of Khaplu and a genealogy of the rulers of this country. Thomas Thomson Khaplu traveled in November 1847, and briefly described as a place of remarkable beauty for Tibet (p. 210ff). Knight reported on his visit to Khaplu following (p. 253). "This fair spot what Kapalu, the richest district in Baltistan, and Regarded as a very Garden of Eden by the Balti people" Jane E. Duncan reached Khaplu in 1904 and held there for three weeks. Your detailed report on their stay in Khaplu is well worth reading even today. De Filippi, who reached Khaplu 1913, characterized the site as follows: "It is, perhaps, the loveliest oasis in all the region." For further information on Khaplu was on the travel report by Arthur Neve (p. 99f) referenced. Recent descriptions of the place can be found in the guidebooks Arora, pp. 211f, Lonely Planet, pp. 306f and Beek, pp. 252ff.

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