"When we get closer to nature, be it untouched wilderness or a backyard tree – we do our overstressed brains a favour” - National Geographic Magazine (January 2016).
There couldn’t possibly have been a more appropriate and befitting maxim to describe our exultant state of minds after our recent trip to Hunza and Nagar Valleys. Hunza in Gilgit Baltistan had always been a fairyland not only to us but to all nature loving people. Travelling on the KKH (former Silk Road) this is the story of our sojourn to that land of fairies, which consistently failed to materialize on successive occasions in the past. Only last year our fully finalized trip had to be cancelled at the eleventh hour due to early heavy rains and snow in Hunza as well as the earthquake jolts that led to landslides blocking the KKH at several places. This year too after a little hiccup on account of political rallies and demonstrations in Islamabad in particular and KPK in general, we could miraculously escape the smog laden cities and head for the valleys of Hunza, Nagar and Neltar which are synonymous with clean air, blue skies and emerald green waters. Year after year, we had been reading about the land but not about the people who actually live there. We ourselves had been inspired for this trip by the pictorials [1-2] depicting the fall colors but quickly learned that there was so much more to see and narrate for the benefit of those who have not been there yet.
The trip (4-9 November 2016) was organised by the WWF (Pakistan). The party comprising five WWF members besides the trip organizer (Mr Mubashar Azam) left Lahore on a 14 seater Hi-Roof Toyota micro bus early in the morning of November 4, 2016. They were joined on the way (Wakefield Orange Valley Farms adjacent to UET Taxila) by our family of seven WWF members including the ever eager 9 year old Inaya and her younger sister 5 year old Nema (Both of them attend Roots Millennium Academy in Chaklala (RWP) Scheme-3 and were members of WWF under its Green Schools Program).
The journey on KKH was close to 700 km one way and took us two days to complete. We passed through monumental places of history besides those, which are prominent landmarks of the region. While in Hunza and Nagar, we had great views of Rakaposhi besides innumerable glimpses of the autumn colors of Apricot and Poplar trees that are in abundance there. During this visit we could also actually live for a day with a Wakhi family and closely monitor their lives. During this visit we also met with the women craft persons weaving carpets on looms installed in a rented dilapidated shack of a house. We were also fortunate to visit a secondary school and meet with the students and teachers there. Our visits to the age old Altit and Baltit Forts too were very informative from historical perspective. The completion of 7km long five tunnels that bypasses the Attabad Lake is a wonder of engineering completed in a record time of just over two years. These tunnels foretell the importance both China and Pakistan attach to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
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DAY 1 (Friday, November 4, 2016):
OUR FIRST DAY ON KKH
OUR FIRST DAY ON KKH
Having left Lahore at 01:00 AM on 4th Novemver, 2016, the Toyota Hi-Roof carrying the party from Lahore arrived at our Wakefield Gardens Orange Valley Farmhouse at 6 AM. After a brief rest we finally embarked on our destination at 8 AM. Almost all seats were occupied and there was hardly any space left to move around. The atmosphere was however cheerful and jolly. First thing first, we got ourselves introduced. The WWF persons from Lahore were mostly water management professionals. Those of us joining from Wakefield Gardens Taxila belonged to our larger family comprising my wife (Anjum) and myself, our sons Omar (specialist doctor and a major in the Army) and Saad (chemical scientist), Saad's wife and our daughter in-law Sahar (computer specialist) and their daughters Inaya and Nema with plenty of passion for nature and enthusiasm to see the promised land, so much so that Inaya was taking along a route map that she herself had drawn. Saads and Omar had driven to our farmhouse early in the morning that very day from their respective abodes in Chaklala, Rawalpindi and Punjab Regimental Centre, Mardan.
One could go to Hunza taking a flight from Islamabad to Gilgit but thanks to WWF who planned this trip, we travelled on Karakoram Highway (KKH) which links Taxila, where from we started, to Gilgit Baltistan and Hunza via Haripur, Abbotabad, Mansehra, Battagram, Besham, Dassu and Chilas. Even though not completely appreciative of the advantages, we felt fortunate to have adopted this mode of travel, which even though tortuous, tiring and even torturous for some of us, was at the same time hugely informative and scenic at places.
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Route to Hunza on KKH |
As we proceeded further on from Mansehra, we initially climbed to Battagram (1040 m), which is beautiful with pines on the terraced hilly slopes. This district town appeared to be a lively place with a sudden change of scenery, culture and possibly also character of people. In all probability they were rugged pushto speaking pathans. The bazar through which we passed was full of fruits, vegetables and meat in the form of large carcasses of cattle occasionally hanging from the trees. There were mosques, madressahs and roadside cafes.
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| KKH Altitude Map |
As we drove further, we at first climbed down to Besham (613 m), which is the largest town and commercial centre of the Shangla District. Most of the population here too was pushto speaking. There was a PTDC Motel where we stayed overnight on our return journey. We crossed the river Indus at Thakot and from thereon we travelled on KKH to Dasu and all the way to Chilas and a little beyond along the river Indus.
Dasu is in district Kohistan of Khyber Pakhtun Khawa (KPK) province. Located 7 km upstream of Dasu Town (841 m) Town, there is the Dasu Hydropower Project, which is a run of river project on the Indus River. The site is 74 km downstream of proposed Diamer Bhasha Dam site. This Project, which, we passedby will generate 5400 MWe (15 Units of 360 MWe each) hydroelectric power with annual energy of 26700 GWh. The Dasu Hydropower Project is one of the priority projects under the Vision 2025 of Government of Pakistan. It is being financed by the World Bank. As it was dark, we could not see the site of Bhasha Dam, which is stated to have been delayed till 2037. We however had a nice and clear view of the site 40 km downstream of Chilas during our daytime return journey. The provision of the associated lake site on surrounding hills could be seen marked with white paint.
From Dasu, a 122 km section of KKH is in ever deteriorating bad shape. It took us more than eight hours to reach Chilas where we stayed overnight at the Panorama Hotel, which was situated just at the entrance of the city. By the time we reached our hotel it was already 11:30 PM and had taken some 15 hours of a long and tiring journey. It was a ‘no star’ hotel but still good enough for a night stay. We got rooms with twin beds and attached European style bathrooms. The rooms were quite untidy, provided with unkempt and unvarnished furniture but I should not be complaining. The washrooms had running hot water, which after a bumpy and exhaustive bus ride was very welcome. As the hotel had an advanced intimation of our arrival they had reasonable standard of food available comprising balmy chicken, tandoory roti and a vegetable dish. We also had green tea after a late night supper. Following that we had a restful sleep in spite of the fact that the blankets gave the impression of being unclean and unhygienic. We had to ask for extra bed sheets under the blankets and had to use own towels for the white towels provided by the hotel did not seem to be clean enough.
The hotel seemed to be catering only for a single and solitary night stay tourists. The staff appeared to be quite unmindful of improving their business as the demand on account of rush of tourists especially during the summer season must be very high. It was the first week of November in transition and for the time of year it was still not cold enough. The hotel over looking the fast moving Indus down in the gorge had a fruit orchard in the inner courtyard with yellowing oranges, which was the only attractive feature of the otherwise gloomy outlook of the hotel and that of the dusty and desolate Chilas. The sprawling Shangrila Hotel opposite our hotel seemed to be somewhat better but the arrangements had to be made at the lower standard Panorma Hotel perhaps on account of budgetary constraints.
DAY 2
(Saturday 5 November 2016):
THE
STONE CARVINGS
We moved out of the hotel
after breakfast quite early and only about ten minutes on the road to Gilgit
stopped for viewing of the carvings on stones and boulders strewn all over on
the sand along the river Indus flowing in the gorge downhill. It is necessary to understand
that Chilas is a
hot desert area encircled with rigid and stony mountains. It was an important
trade spot on the Silk Route. People from Kashmir to China and Russia used to
travel on this route. Including the
stone carvings near Chilas there are said to be more than 50,000 pieces of Buddhist rock
art (petroglyphs) and inscriptions all along the Karakoram Highway in
Gilgit-Baltistan that are concentrated at ten major sites between Hunza and
Shatial. The carvings, were left by various invaders, traders and pilgrims who passed along
the trade route. The earliest dated back to between 5,000 and 10,000 years
showing single animals, triangular men and hunting scenes. [3]
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| One of the Carvings on a Boulder |
It is conjectured that these carvings were pecked into the rocks with stone tools. Over thousands of years that they got covered with a thick patina (oxide layer) that proved their age. As we approached the rocks, we were shocked to find that a very large carving on the main rock right in front had been almost totally covered publicizing the name of a senator with paint. That publicity poster had almost overlapped the age old carving, leaving barely little to be seen underneath.
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| An ironical testament to our love for the land |
It might be of interest to mention that we noticed the name of the senator painted on many a rocks at impossible of locations all the way from Taxila, where we commenced our journey. We wondered at the ignorance of the person and his followers. Their apathy and indifference to the petroglyphs that provided important hints for the understanding of early civilisation and the social developments was simply mind boggling. Another harrowing aspect, which came to our knowledge was that there were over 37,000 carvings on 6,000 boulders or rock faces, which will be inundated in Diamer-Bhasha Dam besides some 3,000 very important stupas and similar number of drawings will be submerged after the construction of the dam. We were also told that the treasures were protected by the Pakistan Antiquities Act but ironically, the antiquities authority had left the valuable treasures at the mercy of vandals and treasure hunters. WAPDA had conducted surveys and the plan was to preserve whatever it could by cutting the rocks for display at the British time Chilas Fort. Due again to scarcity of time at our disposal we could neither visit the fort nor see the artifacts on display there but contended for the time being for having been reminded about the pathetic situation that existed in our country vis-Ã -vis preservation of our history.
At the site of stone carvings
We left the site of stone
carvings exceedingly depressed but looked forward to more promising things to
come our way. Soon enough we crossed the turning on our right to Babusar Pass.
That route provided an alternate shortest approach to Chilas from Mansehra.
Could we use it, we would have avoided the bad portion of KKH altogether
besides it was scenic and beautiful and also provided the closest view of Nanga
Parbat. Starting on the other side in Mansehra it passes through Kaghan and Naran before Gittidas in Lulusar Dudipatsar National Park. We had planned to follow
this route on our way to Chilas but discovered it was closed on account of
heavy snowfall in Gittidas. On our way back from Huanza we found it was still
closed.
The KKH continued to be in bad
shape till we reached Raikot Bridge, which is 61 kilometers from Chilas. Just
before crossing the river Indus through this bridge, a bifurcation to the right
led to Fairy Meadows and the Nanga Parbat base station. We hoped to be able to
do that sometime as it is also a beautiful valley but at the time of making the
crossing, we were too preoccupied with the thoughts of Hunza and Nagar. One of
the WWF fellow travellers who had been to Fairy Meadows earlier, said the track
was to be traversed on mule back and one must be prepared to camp as there were
no hotels. We thought it would be fun but one shouldn’t proceed without making
appropriate arrangements.
THE MAJESTIC NANGA PARBAT
Soon after crossing the Raikot
Bridge, we reached the Nanga Parbat Viewpoint. It was noon time and the sun was
right overhead and showing brightly into our camera lenses. The mountain too
was somewhat obscured by a cloud overhang. We decided therefore to take our
respective snaps sitting back in the bus, which shielded the sun a bit but
couldn’t help us with the cloud cover.
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| The Nanga Parbat far in the background swathed in all its glory |
Nanga Parbat is the ninth highest
mountain in the world at 8,126 meters (26,660 ft) above sea level. The mountain
is located in the Gilgit Baltistan and is locally known as
‘Deo Mir’ (Huge Mountain). Nanga Parbat lies in the Himalayas and river Indus
skirts round it to enter Pakistan. It has a very clear view from Fairy Meadows
as well as Gittidas in Babusar Pass.
A little further ahead on KKH, we
stopped at another viewpoint of Confluence of Indus and Gilgit Rivers as well
as the point where three mightiest mountain ranges (1. Himalayas: 2400 km,
running through Pakistan, India, China, Nepal and Bhutan 2. Karakoram: 500 km
that lies mostly in Gilgit Baltistan and 3. Hindukush: 966 km long that resides mostly in Pakistan
Afghanistan). The river Indus that meets Gilgit river at this point had already
travelled about 1000 km from its source in Tibet and had just turned south-west
a little before this point.
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At the Confluence of
Indus and Gilgit Rivers where the mountain ranges Himalaya, Karakoram and
Hindukush also meet.
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| The entire WWF contingent with all the three mighty mountain ranges in the background |
From here on we drove to Gilgit
where we found the KKH was closed on account of some political demonstration.
We therefore had to take a detour passing through the city. This detour however
happily provided us an opportunity to see most scenic of small villages that
lie in the backyard of Gilgit. We joined KKH again a little later and passed
through Khizarabad, Sikandarabad, Jafarabad and Nilt before arriving Ghulmet
wherefrom we had the closest of the views of Rakposhi (7788 m high mountain in the Karakoram. It is situated in the middle of
Nagar Valley approximately 100 km north of capital Karimabad).
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| Rakaposhi from Gulmet Viewpoint |
We took a somewhat delayed lunch at a roadside cafe in the beautiful settings here before continuing twith the remaining journey to Karimabad where we had comfortable lodgings waiting for us to stay. More about that and our actual most interesting reminisces of Huzza and Nagar in this blog next week.
[1] Autumn in Beautiful Nagar
[2] Take me back to Nagar
