This is Part 3 of 5 of Kalash and Fairy Meadows 2012 Travelogue
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| Shandur Valley: Heaven on Earth |
There was a reward associated with that tough decision – i.e. passing through one of the most scenic mountain passes in the world: the magnificent
Shandur Pass which connects the Hindukush, Pameer, and Karakoram valleys at a height of ~12,000 feet through a whirlwinding trek.
Even a quick
peek into googlemaps can give an idea how tricky the route was. If you put Chitral and Gilgit in the
mapping website, it will actually show a weird routing; first going into Afghanistan, then back to Pakistan all the way to Islamabad and then again to the North to Gilgit, rather than making a straight forward A (Chitral) to B (Gilgit) path. Perhaps,
googlemaps considers the direct route too dangerous to make it public! Nonetheless, this had to be the most exciting and colorful road trip of my life. What else should one expect while cross-sectionally creeping through the epic mountain ranges?
Because of the logistic constrains, we had to divide the route into three parts:
1) From Kalash to Mastuj,
2) From Mastuj to Gilgit, and
3) from Gilgit to Fairy Meadows.
Each part had to take atleast one full day depending upon the availability of public transport and our luck. Not to mention that terms like land sliding, glacial outburst, altitude lakes, avalanches, etc are not rare in that part of the planet!
May 17, 2012
We left Kalash early in the morning and reached Chitral city around noon after a little inconvenience as we could not find the direct transport and had to changeover in Ayun, a small town between Kalash and Chitral. From Chitral city we had to continue to Mastuj – the Northern town of Chitral – to catch the NATCO bus to Gilgit the next morning.
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| Ayun: The Gateway of Kalash |
For the rough Mastuj trek, we had to aboard on the old but sturdy 4x4 jeep available from the bus station in Chitral located at Attaliq bridge (near National Bank). I guess the Land Cruiser was modified so that it could not only accommodate 15 people in the belly but also hold a few hundred kilograms of the carriage – mostly ration for the far flung settlements – on the roof top and could still run like a deer!
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| Chitral Bus Station for Mastuj |
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| The Jeep to Mastuj |
By the time we reached the bus adda, the first two of such jeeps had already departed. We asked around to get reassurance from almost everybody that those were not the last jeeps of the day but nobody knew when will the next jeep depart, or in fact arrive in the first place! Taking advantage of the ‘layover’ we treated ourselves with the ‘sumptuous’ lunch of Kabuli Pulao from Abdul Qahhar Badakhsani’s Aabshar Hotel, which we had already tried earlier while on the way to Kalash, upon recommendation of a local we met in the Rawalpindi-Chitral coaster.
the 100 km distance – which the jeep covered in around 4 hours – was rather straight forward and could be done in an ordinary car should the government procure some asphalt. It was scenic also, off course!
To my surprise, almost all the locals I talked to praised the former dictator, General Musharraf, for the development work during his era and were unhappy with the incumbent democratic regime. It was around sunset when we reached Mastuj town where Khalid’s father was waiting for us at the bus station. Before heading to the guesthouse, he rightly suggested us to visit the NATCO office located nearby to confirm our seats in tomorrow’s Gilgit bound bus.
The family run guesthouse was located on the other side of the town so we had to walk a couple of uphill furlongs.
During the conversation, he surprised us by asking how he could visit Karachi and contact Altaf Hussain, or any of his comrades, partly because he wanted to introduce the Karachi based political party in his remote town and mostly because he wanted his son could get admission in a renowned college! He was also a big fan of Pervaiz Musharraf!
The discussion was getting more interesting every passing minute but we had to excuse him so that we could wake up in time for the early morning bus. While going to the sleep it occurred to both of us that the small town was charming enough to deserve at-least a couple of nights stay, which would also help in getting refreshed before the upcoming big journey.
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| A cup of hot tea! |
May 18, 2012
We woke up early enough in the morning to catch the 5:30 bus but Khalid’s father gave us another good news that we did not need to walk all the way back to the bus station as his guesthouse-cum-home was located enroute and the NATCO bus would pick us up right from the doorstep.
I was a bit shocked to see the full size bus as I was expecting a smaller one – if not another jeep – keeping in view the tortuous road ahead. But hats off to NATCO – the Northern Areas Transportation Company – for doing such a great job of connecting the far flung areas of the country, and that too in a style. Amid the shock, I asked the driver if the bus is a 4x4 which he replied affirmatively, however, it was hard to believe then and hard to believe now.
It was not even an hour that the bus had to stop due to fragile road condition. Frankly speaking, I had no idea until the crew started using their pickaxes, shovels, and hands that it was actually a medium sized glacier which was chopped to the road level and they guys had to level it every time they cross it over to ensure that the bus would not poach into it! When the icy ground was ready to the satisfaction of the chauffeur, he ordered everybody to alight but I took an exception to enjoy the rare ride!
What I can say with surety is that the valleys between Chitral and Gilgit deserve a full fledged trip if one wants to see the real heaven on earth. Soon Inshallah!
In Gilgit, we wanted to stay overnight at Madina Guesthouse, which is famous among backpackers around the world, however, we found a convenient option right at the bus station.
May 19, 2012
Today we had to conclude the journey, which we started from Kalash a couple of days back, on a high note, i.e. by reaching Fairy Meadows, a natural ~11,000 feet high lush green platform, standing in front of the white snow clad 26,660 feet high Nanga Parbat – the world’s 9th highest mountain.
Reaching Fairy Meadows from Gilgit is a three step process:
1) 1. Gilgit to Raikot Bridge through Karakoram Highway;
2) 2. Raikot to Tattu village by hiring an exclusive jeep; and
3) 3. Finally hiking a couple of tough miles to the highland
Step 2 was also not the rocket science in term of the effort but it was a complete pocket breaker for a budget traveler. There were ‘fixed price’ jeeps lined up on the other side of the bridge to take us to Tattu village where we could hire a porter for onwards hiking. The jeep trail runs between the high barren mountains. All the jeeps are owned by the adjoining villagers who setup a cartel knowing the importance of the dirt track. One jeep can accommodate 6 people at maximum, along with their luggage, but they charge the same fixed rate even if there is only one commuter. So we had to take the financial burden of four other companions who were not even accompanying us!
As per cartel rules, one does not have the choice to select a particular jeep and can only go with one which is in front of the queue. Commuters need to pay for the return journey also but all the payment needs to be made no earlier than one comes back.
In a couple of hours we reached Tattu village after an exhilarating ride but without any signs of the famous mountain. There we stopped at a small hotel like settlement and opened the food can for lunch which we especially prepared from Karachi, thanks to Nadeem and his generous mother.
In the meantime, the jeep driver took instructions about our intended return so that he could come to pick us up from the same venue. That was the end of the step 2 and the start of the final and the most strenuous step to reach Fairy Meadows.
As the jeep stops at the end line, marked with a big stone, boys start gathering from around. They were all porters actually! As per cartel rules, one porter can take ‘only’ 25 kg for a price fixed for that season (PKR 850 then), and is chosen by a ‘lucky draw’! I wanted to see the process myself but it happened when we were busy in filling up the empty stomach. One of the enterprising locals also built a hut there for those who want to take an overnight break but that was more of a tourist trap I guess.
There we developed a little dispute also, with the porter brigade, on the weight of our backpacks. They insisted that it was more than 25 kg, one ‘bojhee’ in the local jargon, contrary to what we thought. Finally, it was decided that it will be weighed at the destination as we were convinced that hotels there would have their own weighing machines, which we found not true later and rather had to depend on manual guess, but luckily not to our disadvantage.
The trek was not easy at all, far strenuous than the
Sheikhenende one, as it was a bit steep. A time came when it looked unending but the kind words by those passing by brisk locals avoided us to lose the hope. A few them even found that a business opportunity and offered to take us on their horses; actually another tourist trap which I already knew from the trip reports of those who had already doen that.
Surprisingly, most of the locals, and the porters, were acting as a tout for one of the hotels named Broadview! They in fact took us to that hotel, manager of which – Fazlullah – was not only very rude but also wanted to take advantage of our week bargaining power after a tiring walk. It was cloudy and started getting real cold because of the sunset.
To know if we could strike a reasonable deal at a place where one hot chapatti (bread) costs PKR 50 and what we saw in the following days that made the price worth it, you may like to wait for the Part 4 of the travelogue!
So please stay tuned and in the meantime enjoy the previous postings:
