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Shangri-La under threat

I’ve never read the novel Lost Horizon written by James Hilton but I’ve heard and seen documentaries about the legend of Shangri-La.  Shangri-La is said to be hidden paradise somewhere in the Himalayan mountain range.  No one knows exactly where it is located but there are several candidates.  One of it is the Hunza valley located in northern Pakistan close to the Tibetan border.  It’s an isolated valley along the Hunza river only accessible by the Karakoram highway.  Earlier this year a massive landslide cut off the highway, creating a 700-foot high natural dam across the Hunza river (Pictures - Boston.com). The blockage has created a 16km lake that is threatening to submerge low lying farms and villages along the banks of the river valley.  The only mode of transportation available are boats as the highway is rendered inaccessible.  The highway also serves as vital trade route just like in ancient times.  In the pictures, goods are unloaded from boats then transported by land using human power.  No wonder in those pictures you won’t see any overweight people as many of the tasks are the best fat burning exercises. To counter the threat of flooding due to the lake, a spillway was created over the natural dam. However a new threat has emerged as the spillway was seen to have widened thus threatening to cause serious flooding downstream if the dam gave way.  Even by looking at the pictures one can see how beautiful the place is.  It’s such a tragedy how a beautiful place can be under threat by nature itself.