Chitral, a narrow valley 320 km long in the northwestern corner of Pakistan, is home to some quarter of a million people living in small villages built of square stone houses set amid tiny terraced fields of wheat and maize. Cut off from the rest of Pakistan by snowfall from December to May, the valley comes to life in summer and is an ideal destination for trekking, river rafting and other activities. The contrast between the vivid green terraced fields, the barren brown slopes and the towering snow-capped mountains above gives Chitral its unforgettable beauty.