From chaos to pure magic (Chitral, Kalash, Kumrat, Jahaz Banda & Katora Lake Tour)

[desertdevil]

Lovely just truly lovely. The narration the details the photography, very neatly done. Good job done and congrats to the whole team who pulled it through successfully.

[MSSR]

Lovely just truly lovely. The narration the details the photography, very neatly done. Good job done and congrats to the whole team who pulled it through successfully.

Thanks a lot sir for your kind words of appreciation

[MSSR]

all Pics are nice and info is help full too
i am new to this forum i have visited many places and now planning to visit chitral and kalash in coming year first time with my Family from lahore. can you please provide some guidance and info

My Trip details are as follow

5 family members including 1.5 years small kid as well
travel by bus no own vehicle
please let me know the weather conditions i have 7 holidays in May 2015 last week
please guide me the traveling route to follow also estimated cost
in 7 days can i visit some other place as well in same trip like hunza or fairy meadows
also please provide hotel info in chitral and kalash
necessary equipment i need to carry with me

Thanks raheel for appreciation.

Keeping in view details provided in ur posts (#198/199/200), find below my suggestions in green;

I have visited many hill stations but now first time I am planning to visit Chitral and kalash in coming year and i am planing to visit with my family including a small kid of 1.5 Years can you please help me to provide some info and guidance my trip details are as follows

i will travel on Public Transport from Lahore
You can take any public transport from lhr to isb (i would prefer daewoo for family traveling). Then you will have to take 25 seater hiace from isb to chitral. For kalash, u can easliy hire a taxi from chitral city.

my holidays will be in the end of May 2015
I have 7 days will May the best month for me to visit there
what about weather in May
End of May is a good time to visit chitral and kalash. Weather will be warm during days and slightly cold during nights at kalash (preferable to take warm clothing escpecially for ur 1.5 years old kid).

except Chitral and Kalash any near by place which i can visit in this same tour like Hunza or Fairy Meadows etc
Chitral/Kalash are in KPK while hunza/fairy meadows are in Gilgit-baltistan and they are far apart. It is impossible to cover these four places in 7 days with family. It is better to cover to stick in chitral/kalash region. You have many options like chitral city, chitral gol national park, barmoghlasht, garam chashma, bamboret and rambur valleys in kalash and if you still have time, u can travel till shandur pass or even till boni.

please let me know the estimated cost as well
Well, the costs are always higher when you travel with family and depends upon your itinerary. isb -> chitral coaster charges 1200 rupees per seat. Chitral -> kalash taxi almost 2500 rupees and you can stay overnights in chitral/kalash hotels at almost 2000 rupees per night on the average (if we talk about suitable family hotels)

also let me know the route to follow from Lahore
Lahore -> rwp/isb -> mardan -> malakand -> lowari pass -> drosh -> chitral -> kalash and back.

we will be 5 persons including our Kid as well

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask for any further help. Thanks!

[urdost]

TRAVELOGUE COMPLETED!

We are a group of professionals (engineers) working in fertilizer sector in South Punjab but hailing from different cities of Pakistan. Like all the professionals, we too get tired and dead at work, and a break is a must-needed thing from all that politics, leg-pulling stuff and hard work. (A) In 2012, 9 of us traveled to Nanga parbat/Fairy Meadows/Babusar/Naran and had a lifetime experience and it was a worthwhile break from work. In 2013, our group couldn't dare for an ayyashi tour because most of us got married in fall 2012/spring 2013 so we confined ourselves to "work" only.
After a year's break, the courage came back this year and we decided for a bachelor trip to Chitral/Kalash and Kumrat (and i owe this decision to pakwheels forums otherwise i didn't even know if Kumrat Valley even existed). Our plan altered temporarily few days before start of tour due to Shandur Festival dates' announcement. But we couldn't attend the festival because we had to reshuffle our leaves (which we couldn't do) and time constraints. So we toured as per our original, yet slightly modified, plan (without Shandur, unfortunately).
Few advised us to skip our tour due to initiation of militarty operation but we remained adamant to be martyrs (H) so cancellation was simply out of question. So exciting was the start itself that few hours into the tour and we were crouching inside coaster seats due to a crossfire between terrorists and police which we survived by few seconds a then a bomb blast by 10 minutes :-#. Fortunately, remaining tour was a complete opposite to all the chaos we faced during first night. I will try to give as much detail (of above incident and everything else) as possible in my thread. Till then, major information is as follows;

Total Duration:
7 days (Isb to Isb)

Tour Dates:
21 June to 27 June 2014

Group Members:

Zaheer Abbas (Sargodha)
Farhan Maqbool (Lahore)
Najam Butt (Lahore)
Junaid Shakeel (Hayderabad)
Waqas Ahmed (Mansehra)
Nadeem Shah (Multan)
Salman Ramay (Bahawalpur) (Me)

Breakdown:

[TABLE="width: 500"]
<tbody>[TR]
[TD="align: center"]Day[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Activities[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Transport[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Fare[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Overnight In[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Rent[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]1[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Isb to Chitral[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Coaster[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]1200/head[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]-[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]-[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]2[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Chitral City[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Walk[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]-[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Pamir Riverside Inn[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]3500 per double room[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]3[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Kalash (Bamboret)[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Jeep/Walk[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]3500 (Jeep)[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]PTDC Motel Bamboret[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]3200 per double room[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]4[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Kalash to Thal[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Hiace/Jeep[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]600/head(Hiace)
300/head(Jeep)[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Shadow Resthouse (Thal)[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Complimentary[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]5[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Kumrat/Jahaz Banda[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Jeep/Trek[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]5000[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Jahaz Banda Rest House[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Details in thread[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]6[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Katora Lake/Jandrai[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Trek[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]-[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Jandrai Rest House[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Details in thread[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"]7[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Jandrai to Isb[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]Jeep/Taxi[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]4500(Jeep)
7000(Car)[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]-[/TD]
[TD="align: center"]-[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]

Average cost per head:
PKR 14000/- (Isb to Isb including traveling, accomodation, food and everything)

Cameras Used:
Nikon D3200 with 18-55mm VRII & 50mm 1/1.8G lenses (Mine)
Sony Cybershot WX5 (Mine)
Sony Bridge Cam SX1 (Junaid)
Canon P&S (Waqas)

I thank @Shahbazzain, Sufian @Xoofi, @hassangr8, Hassan @Bruit and @asifcae from the bottom of my heart for all the support, tips, suggestions and advices. Thank you guys!!!

Awesome thread brother. very well narrated. Maza aa gaya

[waseem14pk]

Absorbing and engaging narration, completed the thread in one go
Well done Team

[MSSR]

Thanks dost:slight_smile:

[MSSR]

Oh thats great to know. Glad you liked it

[maazasim]

Just click your thread in a very ordinary manner but could not keep away from this vary well narrated travelogue. Much appreciated. Now making a plan to visit that place, can u share some other thread on the same place Kumrat, Jhaz banda.

[MSSR]

Thanks a lot for your kind words of appreciation. I guess you will find several threads related to Jahaz banda. Just google the words along with pakwheels and you will have access to those threads.

By the way, below is the thread which helped me plan our trip. Its very detailed and really awesome;

Tour De Heaven "Kumrat Valley" ! and Track to Jahaz Banda & Jahaz Dand (Katora) lake

Assalam O Alaikum Dear Friends, We group of 6 members just came back from Heaven on earth ?Kumrat Valley? Kumrat valley is situated in Upper Dir District KPK & adjacent to Swat Valley. Both valleys are connected via a high pass between Thal & Utror. It is fully jeep track used by locals. Kumrat Valley is very less explored due to security concerns, Valley is Lush Green with many Meadows & full of trees in whole valley. Main River of the valley is River Panjkora which flows throughout the va…

Hope it helps!