Hindukush Trails started as a hobby; the spirit of adventure is what I inherited.
Adventure has always been a pastime of my family (The Ul-Mulks), who ruled Chitral for 500 years from 1456 to 1956. It was my grandfather, His Highness Sir Shuja ul Mulk K.C.I.E., who set a different pace. He ruled Chitral from 1895 to 1936 and became its first member to join the prestigious Himalayan Club in 1911. He had a characteristic love for sport, polo, falconry, shooting, chess, and sitar music.
The famous Col. Kenneth Mason in the 1937 issue of the Himalayan Journal acknowledges His Highness Sir Shuja ul Mulk as one of its most distinguished members.
The spirit of adventure continued; even at a later age, my father, Khush Ahmed ul Mulk, took a daring walk into no-man's-land in Afghanistan all by himself at 72 just to get a firsthand look at what was happening across the border.
About Maqsood ul Mulk
Before launching the company in 1989, I spent my holidays trekking the numerous unexplored valleys of Chitral and the Wakhan corridor bordering Afghanistan. We are indigenous to the mountainous region of Northern Pakistan bordering Wakhan, Badakshan, and Nuristan.
When Hindukush Trails was launched, most of Chitral was a closed area for foreign visitors—a legacy of British India's "Great Game" with the USSR. It was with significant effort that we convinced the authorities to open these breathtaking areas to adventure travelers.
Experience