Kachura Lake (Urdu: کھورہ گیل‎‎) refers to three lakes in the Skardu Valley.

These three lakes are Upper Kachura, Lower Kachura and the lesser known Zambakha Lake.

The Upper and Lower Kachura Lakes are at an altitude of 2,500 meters.

Lake Horní Kachura is mostly unexplored by tourists due to its rugged terrain. Lower Kachura Lake, popularly known as Shangrila Lake, is a natural gem in the beautiful north of Pakistan for tourism.

Zambakha Lake is located in the small village of Zambakha next to Shangri-la.

Western Himalayas

The lakes are at different altitudes in the Karakoram Mountains in the western Himalayas and in the Indus River Basin in Gilgit Baltistan.
Kachura one of the beautiful valleys in Skardu district has two beautiful lakes named Upper Kachura Lake and Lower Kachura Lake located at an altitude of 2500 m.

Near the Lower Kachura Lake there is a resort known as Shangrila Resort which is a popular tourist destination for locals as well. as foreign tourists.

Subalpine

Kachuras with its rich flora with western Himalayan subalpine coniferous forests and its groves of wild apricot – Prunus armeniaca is a major tourist attraction.

Lower Kachura, known as Shangrila; it takes its name from the Tibetan language, where Shang is place, ri means mountains and la means pass.

The name was first coined by James Hilton, an English novelist in his famous novel “Lost Horizon”. Hilton tells of a plane that made an emergency landing near a riverbed.

Monks living nearby took the survivors of the plane crash to a place called Shangrila. The place has been described as a wonder of nature, with fascinating beauty and refreshing air.
Lower and Upper Kachura lakes are accessible when moving from Jaglot to Skardu. Lower Kachura Or Shangrila is a 30 minute drive from Skardu.

Natural Lake

Upper Kachura Lake, a natural lake about 60 meters deep, is within walking distance of Lower Kachura and Shangrila and can be reached after a 30-minute uphill hike.
Recreational activities at Upper Kachura Lake include hiking, trout fishing and boating in the lower part of Lake Kachura.

You can also enjoy dinner inside the fuselage of a PIA plane that once made an emergency landing near Skardu.

It offers a variety of food from spicy desi dishes to Chinese and local Baltistan dishes.
Inspired by Hilton’s Shangrila, Brig (Retd) Muhammad Aslam Khan.

The first commander of the Northern Scouts, built a charming resort called Shangrila at Kachura Lake.

In the middle of the high mountains of the great Himalayas, the beauty of red huts surrounded by lots of fruit trees cannot be overlooked.

Each room built on the shore offers a wonderful view of the Dolní Kachura lake with floating boats and birds singing the hymn of love, love for nature.
Apart from the Shangrila, there are other accommodation facilities built by the Pakistan Army and other government agencies.

The view of Shangrila Resort is more pleasant from these facilities on the other side of the lake.

Shangrila Resort and its surroundings are fascinating from a distance, which one cannot see sitting inside the resort.

The beauty of Horní Kachura is unused due to the lack of necessary infrastructure.

Sources: guidetopakistan | summitpost