The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Hindu Kush villagers welcome royal couple
● Visit to glacier highlights effects of global warming
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge received a colourful welcome to a Kalash settlement on their tour of Pakistan.
The royal couple watched a traditional dance and were presented with vibrantly coloured hats and scarves.
The couple made the journey to the Hindu Kush mountains in northern Pakistan to learn about the community, heritage and traditions and how climate change is affecting the region.
They were welcomed with clapping and cheering after the village turned out to meet them on their third day in the country.
The Kalash people are a non-Muslim minority whose religion predates Islam. They are culturally and ethnically distinct descendants of Indo-Aryan tribes.
The couple also visited a village destroyed by flooding in 2015 and met survivors of the disaster.
They travelled to Bumburet, in the Chitral region, where they watched an emergency response drill that included demonstrations of how members of the community carry casualties over a river.
Earlier, William said more education, awareness and political action was needed to tackle climate change as he and Kate visited a melting glacier.
The duke and duchess overlooked the northern tip of the Chiatibo Glacier in Broghil National Park and were shown how it has retreated rapidly in recent years due to global warming.
The duke said communities “vulnerable to change” needed “more education, more awareness and political action”.
He added: “Dr Warren, my geography teacher, would be well impressed that I’m back at a glacier after all these years.”
“I’ve been very impressed by William’s geography,” a smiling Kate said.
Glaciers in the mountain range – which collectively comprises the Hindu Kush, Karakoram and Himalayas – provide water for 1.6 billion people. Global warming has seen the Chiatibo Glacier retreat 10 metres a year due to higher temperatures melting the ice.
The couple arrived in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of the Hindu Kush by helicopter.
On a visit to a flood-hit area in the Chitral region, they spoke with a young woman who was named after the duke’s late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales – and who has a son of her own called William.
“I’ve been very impressed by William’s geography”