Waheed Karim

Hi, I'm Waheed Karim — most people in the valleys just call me Moon. I was born and raised in Hunza, so the Karakoram has been my backyard for as long as I can remember. For the past six years I've worked as a mountain guide with a Polish tourism company, leading travellers through Hunza, Nagar, Skardu and the high passes of the Karakoram, and I've come to love the moment a first-time visitor realises how big and quiet these mountains really are.

Guiding, for me, is less about ticking off summits and more about pace, safety and the small human moments in between — a cup of salt tea with a shepherd, a village that welcomes you like family, a viewpoint reached slowly enough to actually take in. I speak the local languages of these valleys, and I see my job as translating not just words but the way of life here, so that every guest leaves with a real sense of the place and the people who call it home.