Every working man gets tired of his work and wants have
some fun during the holidays in a year, like spending a weekend with family members
and friends with fun and get relax for the day. Most people prefer to spend
weekends being far from electronics which became a part of life and most of the
people fed of them, but cannot be avoided because the life is impossible
without them and they are the source of live alive and part of our economy and
development.
Once it was
surprising for me about twenty years ago, when I was going on mountains with
trekkers and climbers, they used to say wow! God what a nice day of my life
while sitting on a stone looking on the mountains, without phone, car and air
conditioner and so on. It was really surprising for me why these people are fed
up of such nice resource and luxuries of life, mostly of them I considered stupid.
Today when I came across with some of those things such as mobile, computer in
office,television at home, noisy and polluted vehicles, and some of the modern materials made our life
easier but trouble too. We must not avoid them, need sometimes to spend without
those and be relaxed with natural beauty of the earth, such as weekends,
holidays and other free time in our life and enjoy it.
My aim of working on
this blog with the name of explore hindukush is to give information about the
beautiful parts of Pakistan where you can enjoy your long holidays and free
time of life far from the electronics and have fun with nature. In my previous
posts I have given detailed information on the treks of some parts of the
Hindukush which has natural beauty and places to have fun of your holidays. You
will discover new places, have all sorts of new adventures, and get to know a
whole side of each other. There are places to see and enjoy with them. You may come
across different kind of people, cultures, traditions and landscape on the planet
earth.
CHITRAL
Chitral is one of the best spot in Pakistan to spend your
holidays. It is an isolated 320 kilometers long valley in the North Western corner of
Pakistan. The Hindu Kush dominated by Tirich Mir (7780 meters) the highest
mountain in the region, separates it from Afghanistan and the Soviet Union in
the west and north. It is divided from Hunza, Gilgit, Swat and Dir on the east
and south, by the lower Hindu Raj Mountains, where the range is called Hindu
Kush. Chitral offers several treks that are easier and greener than those in
the Karakorum and Himalaya ranges further east. The Hindukush are lower and
generally less jagged then the Karakorum, and in lower Chitral, which just on
ridge of monsoon belt, the steep slopes are covered with trees over 3000 meters
and the lower ridges sometimes crowd with sparse pastures.
Further north outside
the monsoon belt, the valleys look more Like the Northern Area ( Gilgit
Baltistan) of Pakistan, with villages forming small irrigated oases along the
rivers wherever water can be channeled to some flat piece of land. The modern
technologies made it easier now to take water to long distances now. Even in
the North there are reasonably large areas of pasture at higher altitudes and
on the passes.
Chitral is
accessible from through Dir via Lawari Tunnel and the pass 3,200 meters in the
summer it is interesting to by the pass but in winter it is blocked by snow.
There is daily flight from Islamabad to Chitral it depends on weathers
condition, and across Shandur Pass (3730 meters) from Gilgit via Shandur Road
it is one of the interesting journey along the beautiful villages of Gilgit
Baltistan once it was great trip for jeep safaris.
The Chitral valley is
home to millions of people, who show a strong influence from both Iran and
Badakhshan, as well as the incient civilization along the Oxus River. Though
many languages are spoken in Chitral but 90 percent speak Khowar which is
mostly called Chitrali in Pakistan. Most of the people of Chitral are Muslims
but there about 6,000 Kalash people are there in the villages Bumbreth and Birrir
with their unique culture (will write in details in the next post). Chitral has
many distinct villages worth to visit and spend your holidays and discover new
places here. There are a day walks, or a month long treks.
In the recent year Chitral is developing rapidly because of
Lawari tunnel, it was cut off from the other parts of Pakistan for half of the
year before it. There was only a Fokker Flight from Peshawar to Chitral in the
Past to access in the winter season. Now it is open for the whole year and
people do there trading with the other parts of the country.
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