Exploring Neelum Valley (10-13 July)

[Dark_Walker]

Crossing yet another spring.

Spotted a GIFT University Hiace crossing the same spring.

Proud To Be A GIFTONION:)
This Van pick & Drop Me and My Bro Daily To My Home:)
But Driver Uncle:S
Will Ask Them:$

[imarshad]

Proud To Be A GIFTONION:)
This Van pick & Drop Me and My Bro Daily To My Home:)
But Driver Uncle:S
Will Ask Them:$

:):).
What about Driver Uncle?

[imarshad]

Information about KEL
Finally we reached Kel at about 2:00 PM. We went to the Tourism Rest House and got the bad news that it was fully booked by some Minister who was coming later that day. Then we went to the second rated hotel called Parbat Hotel and again it was completely booked. So we looked for any other decent hotel but couldn't find one. So we had to book two rooms in a very low standard hotel. In one room there were beds while the other room didn't even had mattress. The Rs. 500 we paid for both the rooms even seemed higher. The only good thing about that hotel was that its dinner was very delicious.
We didn't have time to enjoy Kel and immediately booked a jeep for Shonter and Taobut. It was an open Top jeep. We paid Rs. 9000 (Rs. 4000 for Shontar and Rs. 5000 for Taobut). It was not a very comfortable jeep for sitting but we for the most part of journey kept standing and enjoyed the scenery with an unobstructed view. My Father and Mother sat on the front seat and all of us remaining sat on the back seat. The hard Top jeeps which are much more comfortable could accommodate only max of 7 persons while we were 8 so that was the main reason we booked the open top jeep.

[imarshad]

Lower than Manji Hotel standard room.

To be honest this was the lowest point of our entire tour. But anyways when we returned to Kel in the night we were so exhausted that within 10 min. of laying in the bed we were all sleeping and woke up only in the morning. So basically the only time we spent in that room was while we were sleeping.

[imarshad]

We couldn't take much snapshots of Kel as we had to rush to visit both Shontar and Taobut. Also when we came back from Taobut it was raining quite heavily and so we couldn't take much photos.

The diesel pump which was inside a Chicken shop. They also had Petrol (Open in Canisters) and their rate was Rs. 90/liter for petrol. We managed to negotiate the price down to Rs. 85.

[imarshad]

Our Jeep:

The leather top was only to protect from rain/cold. For most of the time we had it removed.

This is how we spent all the time on the jeep. i.e standing and enjoying unobstructed views of scenes.

Interior of jeep. Doesn't look quite impressive but we enjoyed it a lot.

[imarshad]

Visit To Shonter Valley:
Near Kel the Shonter Nala which is almost as big as the Neelum river itself joins the Neelum river. The Shonter valley is the valley along this Nala up to the Shonter lake and the Shonter Pass. One can cross the Shonter pass and enter into Astore valley. (I think the place is called Rattoo in Astore).
I think this was the most beautiful and unique area of the whole trip. If you are at Kel and missed this trip then you have missed everything.
I am not so sure about the distances but I think Shontar lake is almost 30 KM from KEL if not more. The time it takes to reach Shontar lake from Kel is almost 3 hours. It is hardcore jeep track and a very steep one. Also there are many places where even the jeep had problems to cross. For most part of this journey the 4x4 locks were applied.

[imarshad]

More updates tomorrow as I am leaving for a small hiking trip to Trail 3 in Margalla hills for a couple of hours.

[Dark_Walker]

:):).
What about Driver Uncle?

Pata ni Kis ki Qismat Kharab Thi Is Route K Liay...

[jadogar72]

This is really a great great information Want more information ........and pics please add

Thanks & best Regards

Khalid

[imarshad]

OK so now I will be starting pics from our Shonter Valley visit....

[imarshad]

We left Kel for Shonter at about 3:00 PM. We had just traveled for 5 min. and the rain set in. It rained for about 15-20 min. so we couldn't enjoy the scenery around Kel.

One of the many glaciers that we faced enroute to Shonter.

[imarshad]

The first major settlement we came across was called Nichli Domail (Lower Domail). Here the Shontar Nala is joined by another Nala. It just consisted of 8-10 houses.

A few pics of the houses....

[imarshad]

The complete village in view.....

[imarshad]

Stopped just after passing Nichli Domail.

Our Jeep.

The scenery was stunning.

A high spring falling into a large glacier.

[imarshad]

More beautiful scenery....

[imarshad]

Yet another huge glacier.... The Entire Shonter Nala was passing beneath the glacier....

[imarshad]

Just before the town of Domail Bala (Upper Domail) is the small spring/nala coming from Chitta Katha lake. The track to the lake goes along this nala.

[imarshad]

Some pics of the Domail Bala village. It is a very calm village with about 30-40 houses. There is a restaurant from where you can take tea/meals etc.
This is the starting point of the track to Lake Chitta Katha.This year we had no intention of going to the lake as we were not fully prepared. Maybe next year we will go fully prepared for the hike to the lake.

Some pics of Domail Bala.

The restaurant where we took tea and eggs.

Some Pics of the village.

Looking back at the Domail Bala village.

[imarshad]

I don't know how the jeep crossed this area.... Even the helper of the driver Mr. Imdad Ali Shah had to get out and help the driver stair over the stones..