Skardu Deosai National Park High Altitude Plains
Drive to Deosai National Park — the world's second highest plateau at 4,114 meters average elevation, an extraordinary alpine meadow the size of Switzerland that blazes with wildflowers in July and August, where the last population of Himalayan brown bears roams freely and golden marmots whistle from every rocky hillside.
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Skardu to Deosai Ascent
The drive from Skardu ascending to the Deosai plateau — the road climbing steeply from the Skardu basin through switchbacks to the plateau edge, the view opening dramatically as the vehicle reaches the plateau rim and the vast grassland expanse of Deosai appears seemingly without end in every direction.
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Sheosar Lake Plateau
Sheosar Lake at the heart of the Deosai plateau — the high mountain lake reflecting the clouds and the bare hills above, the lake shallow and clear, surrounded by the alpine meadow that covers the plateau, the water cold even in August when the wildflowers are at their peak.
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Himalayan Brown Bear Habitat
The territory of the Himalayan brown bear — the apex predator of the Deosai plateau whose population has recovered from a handful of individuals to over 40 bears since the national park was established in 1993, the bears visible at dawn and dusk in the meadows far from the road.
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Wildflower Meadow July
The July wildflower meadow of Deosai — the plateau carpeted in thousands of species of alpine flowers at their peak in the brief mountain summer, the colors extending to every horizon, the meadow one of the greatest concentrations of high-altitude biodiversity in Asia.
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Golden Marmot Colony
A golden marmot colony on the rocky hillside — the chubby rodents endemic to the Karakoram and western Himalaya, emerging from hibernation in May and spending the summer fattening on the plateau vegetation before retreating underground as the first snows approach in October.
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Panoramic Plateau Sunset
Sunset on the Deosai plateau — the vast flat expanse catching the last light without obstruction, the clouds over the distant Karakoram peaks lit orange and pink, the marmots making their final forays before retreating to their burrows, the silence of the high plateau broken only by the wind.