Wandering Yaks · About
People of the mountains — host-led travel from Hunza.
Hunza-based mountain travel agency founded by Salim Khan in 2016. Small-group, host-led trips across the Karakoram, Hindukush, Himalayas, and Pamir with named local guides.
Based in Hunza · Operating since 2016
- Named local hosts
- Small-group mountain travel
- Rooted in Hunza
Who we are
Wandering Yaks is a Hunza-based mountain travel agency founded by Salim Khan in 2016. We run small-group, host-led journeys across the Karakoram, Hindukush, Himalayas, and Pamir with named local hosts on every trip.
Office and contact
- Address
- Head office: Wandering Yaks HQ, Near Gari Saaz More, Aliabad, Hunza, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan
- Phone
- Phone / WhatsApp: +92 335 2437221
- Email: contact@wanderingyaks.com
Seasonal field coordination in Skardu and Chitral. Contact page
How we started
A phone number in Passu. A jeep in Skardu. Salt tea on rooftops in Hunza. For years the work was informal — friends hosting travelers who wanted villages, trails, and real company. The platform came later, so hosts could take direct bookings and travelers could see who they would actually meet.
What we do
We specialize in mountain travel, cultural stays, and off-the-beaten-path expeditions in Pakistan’s high ranges. Every journey lists a named host, field-checked altitudes and permits, and a pace that villages can absorb.
Where we operate
Primary base: Hunza. Seasonal field offices in Skardu and Chitral. Journeys thread through the Hunza and Gojal valleys, Baltistan, the Kalash valleys, and high pastures toward the Pamir — always with local crew.
Hunza, Pakistan
Salim Khan
Founder, Guide and Photographer
Founder of Wandering Yaks since 2016. Guide and photographer based in Hunza who leads select journeys across the Karakoram, Hindukush, and Chitral.
- Founded
- Wandering Yaks, 2016
- Based
- Hunza, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan
- Role
- Founder, lead guide, and photographer
- Experience
- Guides and photographs across Hunza, Chitral, and the Karakoram high passes
- Leads
- Select photography and cultural journeys each season
I didn’t set out to build a tourism company. I set out to spend more time in the mountains that raised me — and to find a way of showing them to others that didn’t flatten what makes them extraordinary. I’m a photographer, and the founder of Wandering Yaks. Long before either of those became a job title, I was walking these valleys with a camera and no plan beyond curiosity — through Hunza, Chitral, the high passes of the Karakoram, the villages where hospitality isn’t a service, it’s a way of life.
That’s the whole premise behind this company. Wandering Yaks isn’t built around me. It’s built around the community — hosts, guides, and families across the Karakoram, Hindukush, and Himalaya who open their homes and their routes to travelers willing to slow down. My job is to hold that door open — to make sure the experience stays honest, unpolished, and rooted in the people who actually make these mountains home.
I still carry a camera on every trip. Some habits you don’t build a company to replace — you build one to protect.
How we work
- Named hosts and leaders on every published journey.
- Field-checked altitudes, distances, and permit fees — dated on the page.
- Seasonal mountain crew hired locally to the region they work in.
- Real humans on email and WhatsApp from Hunza or Skardu — no chatbots.
What we won’t do
- Run trips in places our team doesn’t live.
- Sell an experience that hasn’t been field-checked this season.
- Use stock photography of anywhere we operate.
- Pretend a village can absorb a hundred visitors a day.
Frequently asked questions
- Who actually guides Wandering Yaks trips?
- Named local hosts and guides from the region you are traveling in lead every Wandering Yaks journey. We do not subcontract to international guide agencies or anonymous third-party crews. Each published trip lists the host or lead guide by name before you book.
- Is Wandering Yaks a local Hunza company or an international reseller?
- Wandering Yaks is a Hunza-based operator, not a reseller. We are headquartered in Aliabad, Hunza, with seasonal field teams in Skardu and Chitral. Trips are designed and run by our own coordinators and named local hosts.
- How long has Wandering Yaks operated in Pakistan?
- Since 2016. Salim Khan hosted travelers informally for years before that. Wandering Yaks was formalized in 2016 so hosts could take direct bookings and travelers could see who leads each trip.
- How does Wandering Yaks hire and pay local hosts and guides?
- Crew are hired from the valleys and towns where each trip runs. Hosts and porters are paid directly for their work on each departure, not through middlemen. We publish named hosts on trip pages so travelers know who they will meet.
- Where is the Wandering Yaks office?
- Our head office is in Aliabad, Hunza, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. Seasonal field coordination also runs from Skardu and Chitral. Full address, phone, and email are on our contact page.