The breath-taking North

In the summer of this year, my friends & I decided to visit the Northern areas of Pakistan. We were really pumped to escape the heat as well as the hustle and bustle of Islamabad during July. It was a hot 11am when we got on our first leg of the journey on a Daewoo express bus towards Batkhela. It took us almost 5 hours to get to Batkhela where our next ride was waiting for us to take us to Timargara. The journey to Timargara was almost two more hours. When we got there, it was almost dark and we were exhausted, so we just had dinner and went to bed. The following morning we woke up to the beautiful view that the officers’ mess offered. It had a lush green lawn with the river and valley as backdrop. It was quite something.

 After taking in the view and filling our tummies, we set out for Chitral. We were told upon inquiry that Chitral was 4 hours from Timargara; this could not have been further from the truth. The road to Chitral is beautiful, with some waterfalls and the river following you along, but it is extremely bumpy. After 3 hours of travelling on that unforgiving road, we reached Lowari tunnel. Now we had two options, either take the direct route using the tunnel, or take the scenic route and go the longer way by crossing the mountain range through the Lowari Top. Without giving it a second thought, we decided to take the scenic route. In about one hour, we had reached Lowari Top where it was quite cold and dry with mountains on either side covered with snow and glaciers.

 It was at the top that we saw a “Welcome to Chitral” sign board. After seeing that and due to the fact that the aforementioned 4 hours had passed, we thought that we were almost there. So, we decided to give our packed lunch to the locals and some guards at the top, thinking that we would have lunch in Chitral. This was the biggest mistake we could have made. Little did we know that we had barely entered the district Chitral and that the city was still 4 hours away. Yes, 4 hours! We were only still halfway through our journey. Unsurprisingly, the next 4 hours to Chitral were torture. The bad road, the hunger, the regret of giving our food away and the never-ending journey finally came to an end when we reached Chitral mess at 8pm. We were completely worn out by then and decided to go straight to bed to rejuvenate for next day.

In the morning, we were up and energized to move forward, but it turned out that we would actually be moving backwards towards Kailaash, which was 2.5 hours away. Kailaash is a beautiful region/village, which is a trio of tribes with a very unique culture. The people have their distinct rituals and clothing, and they are non-muslims. Everything about the village astonished us. From the mess on the river that had gorgeous hand-carved interior to the beautiful houses to the striking clothes of the locals to their open graveyard. We even met a woman who had been part of one of Junaid Jamshed’s music videos in the nineties. She was running a souvenir shop now.

 

Kailaash was an experience. We got to visit one or two of their houses as well as local praying areas. After that, we decided to head back. The road to Kailaash and back is extremely dangerous as it is unpaved, very bumpy and very narrow.

 There are several times when passengers have to get off of the jeep because the angle can get very steep sideways. Anyways we made it back to Chitral before dark and decided to explore it a little. We were invited by a local to his house and we accepted happily. In his house he had grown peaches and some very rare breeds of cherry, which tasted heavenly. He even served us a local Chitrali chicken filled homemade bread. Night had fallen when we got back to our rooms.

The very next day we were up early in the morning to leave for Shandur. It was going to be a long 6 hour journey but we were enthusiastic because Shandur was absolutely the highlight of my trip and we knew it would be worth it. Our first stop was Mastuj which took us 4 hours to get to. We stopped there for some tea and pakoras and to change vehicles. We hired a local jeep with a Chitrali driver to take us to Shandur. There was no paved road but the route was absolutely stunning. We came across a valley which was one of the most beautiful ones I have ever seen.

It was a wide valley with some very green patches and beautiful trees. As we started to climb, the temperature started to drop too. It was noon when we got to Shandur and the weather was really chilly. We were not expecting it to be so cold so we quickly put on our hoodies and jackets. We stopped at Shandur hut which is basically a guest house of Army.

Shandur is actually home to the World’s highest polo ground, and it is one of the most breath-taking yet tranquil places I have ever experienced. It hosts a polo festival every year which many people from around the World come to see.

Just picture yourself there, a cold wind blowing, nobody else for miles and all you can hear is the cattle In the distance, munching on some grass. Also, Shandur was surrounded by snowy and dry mountains, a lake and long green plains.

Shandur is located at an altitude of 12,200 feet. Even at noon, the temperature was well below freezing. And eventhough we had booked rooms there, we were not prepared to spend the night there. Therefore, we sadly decided to leave Shandur, and spend the night in Phunder, which was the next city but still 3 hours away. The journey to Phunder was amazing. It was full of long green plains filled with all sorts of cattle. I have never seen so many cows, buffaloes, goats and sheep together. Oh and there were one or two donkeys as well.

It was past sunset when we entered phunder so we just had lunch and got some shut-eye. In the morning, our ride to Gilgit was waiting for us. But before that we decided to explore the city we had stayed the night in. And that is when we realized that Phunder had one of the most beautiful views ever. It had a lake, a river with teal water and a beautiful valley, all in one.

We left for gilgit and we were in the city after 3 hours. Gilgit was hot and sunny compared to Shandur and Phunder. We had a lot planned for the next few days but we decided to turn it down a notch because we had been travelling a lot. So we decided to roam around the city. We explored the local bazar, went to the river bank, had dinner at the mess which was the first time in days that we had gotten internet.

We were well rested the next morning and ready to travel again. So our journey to Naltar began. This was the first time that we got on the mighty Karakorum Highway or KKH. It is a very well made road that goes all the way to the Pakistan-China border at Khunjerab.

The drive to Naltar was almost 3.5 hours. There were patches on the way that gave a very desert-y look, but Naltar was nothing like it. It is a stunningly scenic ski resort which is covered in clouds all summer. It has beautiful lakes as well. It was cold there and so we decided to eat some fried chicken from the mess there.

 We spent some time there, exploring the area and then decided to head back to Gilgit for the day. On the way back, one of the tyres of our jeep got punctured by a sharp stone. We did not have a spare either and the nearest tyre shop was miles away. So we had to call Gilgit to get another car come all the way to pick us up. We got back to our beautiful guest house which even had a cage full of white rabbits. We spent the night there and slept on time because the next day was going to be a long one.

The next morning we set out for Hunza and the newly formed Atabad Lake. It took us almost 4 hours to get to Hunza. Hunza was gorgeous. It was a very homey place with restaurants and friendly locals all around. The famous eagle’s nest is one of the most Instagram-worthy spots in the region. You get to see the whole valley and it is even more magical at sunrise.

We had lunch at a local restaurant. We kept it simple and ordered mix vegetables. It was served with thin rotis which were delicious. After lunch we visited Altit and Baltit forts and moved on towards Atabad lake. It took us roughly 2 hours to get there. Atabad lake is a new lake which was formed as a result of a mountain breaking apart and blocking the river. It was tragic as it caused many villages to drown, but the lake is really mesmerizing. 

We spent some time at the lake and prepared ourselves for the long journey back to Gilgit. We were out of energy and slept like babies when we finally reached back. We had an early flight back to Islamabad the next morning so we were up at 8 and ready to head to the airport.

We were both sad and happy to be heading home. It was a hectic yet wonderful 7 days and we could not have been more thankful to have visited all the beautiful places we had witnessed. As our plane took off, we got ready to get back to our normal life back home because the flight was only 40 minutes long.