below are the details if anybody is interested.
Our main focus of attention was Dudipatpar lake but we were too ambitious travelling with a 7 month boy. There was a fully rigged Land rover parked next to the police checkpost at Besal and a hiace and a coaster on a distance while our over night stay at besal they did not return, the only party to return from dudipatsar was a group of 8 young men from Bahawalpur, they claimed to have reached there in 6 hrs and got back in 3hrs.
We decided to call it quits as my cousins family got sick (flu and cold or perhaps mild altitude sickness) plus the negotiation with the horse owner failed he was very rigidly asking Rs. 2000 / day for one horse, we were planning to take horses for women and children + supplies but the cost deterred us, imagine taking two horses for two days it would have costed Rs. 8,000 plus they expect also to be tipped so we thought it to be a ridiculous price.
We started our journey by road from Karachi on 12-Jun at around 3:30 am reached Lahore around 2:00 am, by evening of 13th we were in Shogran, stayed two nights at Skyview hotel for Rs. 1250/night went to Paya and did a small trek to Makra (what we thought to be base) there were cows grazing in open field and right after that was Makra.
Then next day we also did a small trek from Shogran to a waterfall on way to mana meadows it was an hours trek one way and quite breath taking, on our way to the waterfall we stopped near a small local house a dog started barking so we decided to move on. We met a local and he informed that the dog has bitten even his owner twice and is very dangerous hence remains mostly chained. On our way back we encountered a rather funny adventure, we met three cows they had probably seen tourist for the first time in their life, the path was only equal to a jeeps width and they kept running in front of us for quite some time with some occasional rests to look back at us in utter horror and then continue their run, at one point the eldest of them decided to let us pass and made its stand while two other younger ones decided to keep running so we got entrapped and kept moving on untill a place came where there was a small trek upward we tactfully led the cows to go up and we parted our ways. I was a bit concerned both about us and the cows what if they decided to charge at us instead of running or what would happen if they slip and fell down the valley, thankfully it ended up in just a humorous way.
After that we moved on to Naran for two nights, we stayed at Parbat view hotel for Rs. 1500/night. Naran was giving resemblance to a fish market we felt so sorry for the poor saif ul malook that we decided to spare it for four more tourists plus my cousin was also feeling very down because of fever, while he rested me and my wife went for river rafting with Mr. Bashir Ahmed Shah of Walji tours he picked us up on his jeep from our hotel and also gave us a drop back we thoroughly enjoyed the 7 km ride which took about an hour according to our river guide it was mostly class 1 ( no white water at all) and very occasionally class 2 ( 1 to 2 ft of wave) he charged us Rs. 900 per person.
After staying two nights in Naran we headed on for Babusar top and besal, we hired a jeep for Rs. 9,000 for two nights and three days trip would include taking us to babusar top take us back to Besal and stay there for two nights and on our way back show us lalazar as well,
Babusar top itself was quite wonderful, the wind was really really strong ( I guess around 20 knots steady and gusts over 25 knot) plus it was cold too. While we were there I was the only person to get on top of the Babusar I tried to look for Nanga Parbat from there but could not exactly figure out but any ways the view from there was really amazing, melting snow from mountains trickling down to Lulusar and eventually forming into a river it was really nice to see the starting point of Kunhar.
After spending sometime at Babusar we came back to besal to prepare for dudipatsar we booked a room there for Rs. 700 and waited for Horse wala / guides to come over there ( as per the advice of our jeep driver and hotel owner) unfortunately no body came untill the morning, the rigid attitude of the man we talked to and the ailing condition of my cousin and his 7month old son made me took the harsh decision of calling it quits for dudipatsar, though I was really tempted to go alone or perhaps take my motivated wife along who was also worried about my mood.
While we were in Besal we made some small strolls on the main road while crossing small villages again were greeted by chained and barking dogs, made me wonder what happens when one comes face to face with such dogs, however the shepherd dogs who are loose and walking along with goats and other cattle do not display any such behavior, I felt so unprepared for any such encounter should we carry a firearm at all times or always keep company of a local with us, I dont know how do other trekkers feel about such situations or maybe they have thought of a remedy of which I am not aware of or maybe I am being just to over cautious about barking dogs breaking their chains and attacking tourist.
After being so close and yet so far to Dudipatsar we said our good byes to it and started our return journey en-route we made a stop over at lalazar it is a beautiful place but at that time I was heart broken, anyways by sunset we were in Islamabad stayed over night there. Next day we went to Khewra salt mine in noon, we were informed that the mine closes at 2:00 and reopens at 3:00 I looked at my wrist watch and it was 1:58 after waiting for 15 mins or so we were informed that they have started generators and we were back in business.
After that we spent 3 to 4 days with our relatives in talagang lahore etc and came back to Karachi on 25-jun.
All thanks to Allah who guided and protected us in this trip and brought us back safely and gave us the opportunity to see the marvelous masterpieces of his artistry, he is indeed the most powerful and creator of all, may we become among his obedient so that we can earn his blessings and pleasure.
