13 October 2025
Hans Van Heukelum
A Journey to the Roof of the World
Hans Van Heukelum
A Journey to the Roof of the World
Hans will tell us about a journey to the roof of the world. We’ll hear about the Karakoram Road, which runs some 1,200 kilometres, from Peshawar in Pakistan to Kashgar in China, passing through the majestic knot of the Hindu Kush, Pamir and Karakoram ranges. He’ll tell us about a trip, on the original 1926 Khyber Pass Express, to Landi Kotal, just below the summit of history's most intriguing pass.
After five years with Captour, marketing Cape Town as a destination and directing two festivals in Cape Town, Hans moved to World Travel to market what he refers to as their GSA products. In 2020 he started Unique Destinations, with its main focus on travel to Antarctica and the Arctic region.
Further products joined the stable including small group tours to authentic and often challenging destinations. These included Greenland, the North Pole, the Silk Route and Trans-Siberian Railway, plus Patagonia, Georgia and Armenia, Tibet, Iran, Pakistan, India, Ethiopia and - a firm favourite - Bhutan. Now in semi-retirement, Hans still hopes to discover more hidden gems and repeat past favourites.
For fascinating further insight into this road see: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karakoram_Highway.
This has an account of the major landslide in 2010 that created a 27km long lake that closed the road for 5 years. During that time, goods had to offloaded at one end, shipped on small boats, and loaded on trucks again at the other end.
The road was rebuilt by constructing many new tunnels and bridges in a major engineering feat. It re-opened in 2015.
Hans also described a a "side trip" they did up the Khyber Pass by steam train which resonated with Probus's recent train trip to Elgin!
For more information on the Kyhber Pass railway see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khyber_Pass_Railway
Karokoram Highway and the Kyhber Pass