Assalam u Alaikum,
Alhamudulillah I am back after a successful family trip of Chikar, Sudhan Gali, Ganga Choti, Dao khan, Leepa valley and Jehlum valley (Chakothi - URI crossing Point) from 05 June 2013 to 09 June 2013 with my family.
Our Ride:
Honda City 2012 Model.
Suzuki Mehran 2008 Model.
Day1: Thursday 05 June 2013
Left Islamabad at about 0900AM.
Our route was via Murree Expressway to Lower Topa/Danna.
Then on Kohala road via Alliot, Phagwari etc. reached Kohala and crossed Jehlum river bridge and then towards Muzaffarabad on Shahra-i-Quaid-e-Azam.
Then from Domail in Muzaffarabad turned towards Chakhoti. Just a couple of KM shy of Hattian Bala turned towards Chikar and reached Sudhan Gali at 4PM. Night stay at Sudhan Gali (In Benazir Palace).
Day2: Friday 06 June 2013
Hiked all the way upto Ganga Choti top.
Left for Dao Khan from Sudhan Gali at about 3:30PM reached Hattian Bala at about 5PM and left the Jehlum river at about 5:30PM from Naily and reached Dao Khan at 7:40PM.
Night stay in Forest Rest house in Dao Khan.
Day3: Saturday 07 June 2013
Left Dao Khan at about 0900AM on a rented jeep towards Leepa valley through Mauji route.
Enjoyed Mauji, Kappa Gali, Leepa, Naukot, Chananian and Kulimandal.
Started the return leg through Reshian Top at about 5PM from Leepa. Crossed the famous 72 turns and reached back Daokhan at about 6:30 PM.
Night stay in Forest rest house in Dao Khan.
Day4: Sunday 08 June 2013
Left Dao Khan at about 10:30 AM. and reached Naily on Mzd-Chakothi road at about 12 noon. Moved towards Chakothi and were allowed to visit Uri-Chakothi crossing point and Dosti bridge... Spend some time there and on our return spotted a wonderful waterfall just 2KM shy of Chinari. Spend almost 2 hours there.
Reached Muzaffarabad at about 5PM and had a traditional Kashmiri lunch (Goshtaba, Yakhni Gosh and of course boiled rice and red beans) in Pakistan hotel. Left Muzaffarabad at about 6PM. Reached our home in Patriata at about 8:30PM and spend a couple of hours there. Then left for our home at about 11 PM and reached back safely to our home in Islamabad at about 12:15 AM.
Distances and Road Conditions:
Islamabad-Lower Toppa:
Approximate Time: 1hour 15 min.
Distance: 60KM
Excelent road condition on Murree Expressway.
Lower Toppa - Kohala:
Approximate Time: 1 hour.
Distance: 40KM
Road is in good condition although it is a narrow one. One has to take care in overtaking on this road. There is one patch which is damaged due to landslide. It is a permanent landslide and has been this way since my childhood.
Kohala - Muzaffarabad:
Approximate Time: 1 hour.
Distance: 36KM
For most parts this road is quite good but there are at least two places where due to landsliding the road is in terrible condition. Although they are working on these areas but it might take a couple of months before it is completed.
Muzaffarabad-Hattian Bala-Chakothi:
Approximate Time: 1hour 15 min.
Distance: 70KM.
This is the best road in all of Azad Kashmir. Really fun to drive on. Very wide newly carpeted and not too much load of traffic.
Hattian Bala-Chikar-Sudhan Gali:
Approximate Time: 2 hours
Distance: ~30KM
The road is not in good condition. But still any car can reach there. There are a few good patches of road and a few terrible ones but still it is really enjoyable. Also note that it is continuous ascend all the way upto Sudhan Gali.
Hattian Bala-Naily-Reshian-Dao Khan:
Approximate Time: 2 hours
Distance : 28KM
After leaving Jehlum river near Naily the road is in excellent condition for about 13KM till Lamnian. Newly laid and fun to drive. But after 2KM from Lamnian there is no road and you have to travel on gravel and dirt for almost 10KM till Reshian. If you have a low ground clearance vehicle like I had then you should be very careful as your car might get hit quite a few times on larger stones.
From Reshian to Dao Khan the road is in even worse condition as you have to tackle the stones as well as the steep ascend. Although it is just 4KM but it was really scary (For Honda City). The Mehran did better as it had better ground clearance.
Dao Khan - Mauji - Leepa - Mandakuli - Reshian:
Pure 4x4 track. No non 4x4 vehicle except motor bikes can do this.
Jeep Fares:
Please note that usually jeeps are not available at Dao Khan. You have to hire one from Reshian. So it is advisable to rent the jeep in Reshian before going up to Dao Khan. Tell the jeepwala to pick you up from Dao khan and also drop you there. The fare from Reshian to Leepa village is Rs. 250 and they usually have 10 people in the jeep. So they usually do a round trip of Rs. 5000. But if you want to add other places like Mauji, Naukot, Chananian etc. then they will ask you for about 6000-7000 rupees. We managed to get the jeep at Rs. 6000. which included picking us up from Dao Khan and driving through the Mauji route and then also visiting Naukot and Chananian and return via Reshian top and drop us at Dao Khan.
Also note that you have to explicitly tell the driver about the places you want to visit otherwise he might not take you to other places like Mauji, Chananian etc.
Accomodation:
Sudhan Gali:
There is a AJK Tourism rest house with 2 rooms availabale for rent. You have to get advanced booking from Bagh or Muzaffarabad. Usually it is not available as in summer it is usually booked in advance.
Also there is another option and it is called Benazir Palace. It is adjacent to the Toursim resthouse and is an excellent choice to stay. Room rent is a little bit on the higher side (Rs. 4000 per room/suite) but it is worth it. We got it for Rs. 3000 per room due to some contacts.
The official website with contact numbers is
Benazir Palace
Dao Khan:
There are two options to stay in Dao Khan. First is the Kashmir Hotel. It has 5 rooms and direct phone number is 0343 - 5782719. You can book it in advance via this phone number.
Second option is to book the forest resthouse via some links in forest department. We booked it via some contacts through DFO Muzaffarabad. Room rent for both the rest house as well as the hotel is Rs. 1000.
Other Information:
For detailed information about other possible routes to Sudhan Gali and details about hiking to Ganga Choti please visit my earlier thread.
https://www.pakwheels.com/forums/road-trips-vacations/166343-ganga-choti-hiking-expedition
and as far as Leepa valley is concerned there are no two opinions that the ultimate resource is the one and only Mubeen's (@aesiege) thread...
https://www.pakwheels.com/forums/road-trips-vacations/199249-23-aug-2-sep-2012-heavens-leepa-neelum-valley-ajk-never-seen-before
Also I would like to specially thank Mubeen (@aesiege) for the wonderfull information that he shared with me using PM....
Important Note:
NOC is absolutely essentially required for going to Leepa valley. You can get the NOC from Hattian Bala DCO office by producing your actual NADRA NIC..
