L for "Land of Just Enough"

During April, I'll be posting on the A-Z Blogging Challenge.
My theme will be the Hunzas
Today is L......for "Land of just Enough."


"Land of Just Enough" is the Hunza slogan. There is no plethora of any One thing, but there seems to be an ample balance of food, water, socialization , religion and strong and healthy bodies. Schooling, high on their agenda is responsible for their literacy rate to be the highest as compared to other similar districts of Pakistan




The Hunza people have an odd method of counting age. It's not based on longevity but certain events that have occured in a person's lifetime. When their isolation was first uncovered in the 1930's. It was thought they lived into the hundreds and even age 130 was not unusual. But that was a myth and they age like everyone else.

Hollywood had produced 2 movies based on the Hunza life, "Lost Horizons" and "Shangra La." The movies are a beautiful myth of the people living hundreds of years but only as long as they remain in their valley. During a blinding snowstorm, lost explorers stumbled, half-dead, upon the valley of eternal bliss and happiness. There's a romance story, secrets, intrigue and I won't tell you more in case you've never seen the movie and you sometime want to.

H is for Hunzakuts

During April, I will be posting on the A-Z Blogging Challenge.
My theme is the Hunzas.
Today is H ..... for Hunzakuts.


The Hunzakuts are a people who have lived in isolation high in a valley of the Himalayas for over 2,ooo years. Protected by the mountainous walls of rock from waring tribes, they have managed to live in peace and self-sufficiency from an outside world.

One claim to fame, is that they are direct descendents from soldiers of Alexander or even Alexander himself.

One of my heroes, Dr. Bernard Jensen, visited Hunza in the 1940's and saw in the men, medium height, broad shoulders, full chest, wide costal arch, narrow waist, small belly and strong legs.


Dr. Jensen compared them to the Aeginetan Sculptures in the Glyptothek of Munich. One sees rare men of peculiar deep-chested breathing, and powerful motility. In fact, Dr. Jensen was so awe-struck that the Hunzas could be the statues and the statues, the Hunzas. Both presented perfect specimens in physique and health.

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F for Food

During April, I'll be posting on the A-Z Blogging Challenge.
My theme is the Hunzas.
Today is F..... for FOOD



Food is the determining factor for the population growth in the Hunza Valley. The population has to remain constant. Visitors are welcome for a short stay but new families never move in.



Dividing up a small farm amongst children would never leave enough land to support a family so the family farm is usually left to the oldest son. Other children in the family leave the valley and settle in larger cities in Pakistan.

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Scenes in the Hunza Valley

E for Efficient

During April, I'll be posting on the A-Z Blogging Challenge.
My theme is the Hunzas.
Today is E.....for Efficient

The Hunzakuts have survived in their small valley for over 2,000 years. All phases of life are well planned and organized so that 40,000 people can live efficiently on a land of crumbling rock.

Housing is limited and newly married couples live with the husband's family. Houses are made of rock and mud and are always 2 or 3 stories tall. Natural birth control is practiced, as after a woman has a baby, she sleeps on the woman's side of the house for 2 or 3 years.



The valley has no real soil, only a silt produced as run off from the glaciers. This silt is carried in buckets up the rocky mountains and deposited on terraced levels for crops.

Farming is thoroughly efficient as a terraced mountain may offer 30 to 50 levels of beautifully terraced gardens.