Kashmir Jannat Nazir – A Price Less Hidden Pearl – (Chitta Katha and Shonter Tour June 26 to June 29 2008 – Moazzam)
In the last week of June me and my friend Intikhab Butt traveled to Neelam Valley. We started our journey from Lahore in the evening of June 25, 2008 around 8:30 PM in my Daewoo Racer and reached Muzaffarabad 5:15 AM. We stayed there for a little more than one hour and after breakfast started our journey again around 6:30 AM and reached Kel around 5:15 PM. We stayed at Parbat Hotel in Kel. The main destination of our tour was “Chitta Katha” Lake in Shoonter Valley. Upon inquiry we came to know that cars can’t go towards Shoonter beyond Kel.
So next day we parked our ride in front of the Parbat Hotel and decided to move on a local rout jeep for the sake of excitement and it surely was the journey of a life time. One side fare to Domail was Rs. 80 per person and we squeezed in a jeep cramped with almost 30 adults and children, 3 huge sacks of wheat flour and to make our journey unforgettable 2 live goats and a chicken were also added. Our local jeep mates were very friendly and caring, among numerous other thing we discussed the main purpose of our visit i.e. Chitta Katha. To our great disappointment we came to know that we can’t go to the lake and come back down to Domail during that day, as per our planned itinerary and we also have to hire the services of a local guide. We reached Domail at around 11:30 AM after two and a half hour of rib breaking journey.
We were a bit disappointed as we reached Domail, a jeep mate introduced us to a local guide Mr. Mushtaq. After discussing the matter with him we came to the conclusion that we will have to stay overnight at Domail and then start our trek early in the morning next day around 6:00 AM. Mushtaq also told us about the nearby Shoonter Lake and also about the difficulties in Chitta Katha trek and about numerous people who tried and failed. We told him that today we will trek to Shoonter Lake and tomorrow we will go to Chitta Khata Inshallah. So we put our things at the hotel owned by Mr. Qamar-u-Zaman and went to Shoonter Lake and came back around 3:45 pm and had lunch we eat a local delicacy called “Karram”.
Next day we woke up early around 5:30 AM and as I came out the our room it was drizzling and dark clouds were covering the sky rapidly. Mushtaq also came and told me that it’s not the weather to go for our intended trek, but I was committed and explained to him that it is a temporary weather and will be over as the time passes and I have experienced the same thing the earlier morning in Kel. We waited for about an hour to let the weather clear up but it was not the case.
We packed some stuff i.e. a torch, biscuits, 1.5 liter soft drink, some parathas, equipment for tea making and some sweets. Upon my persistent requests we started the trek around 7:10 AM. At first we started descending to cross the Shoonter Nala through a wooden bridge (approximately 1 km away from Domail) and after that it just steep uphill climb some times it was a bit slanting and some times straight up just like climbing a wall. After covering approximately 2 km Mushtaq judged the difficulties being faced by my friend Intikhab Butt (he was feeling some pain in his right leg) suggested to hire another porter/guide and it will cost us Rs. 400/-. It proved to be the right decision as we walked further approx 1 or 0.5 km Butt refused to go on as he was in serious pain, so we had no other option to ask Butt and the other porter to turn back and the two of us (me and Mushtaq) continued the journey we went up and up and up and up, it was just like a never ending trek.
As we gained the altitude the cloud cover became so thick that we could not see any thing even 20 to 30 feet away and I was following the sounds of his replies. During hike we compromised many patches of slides of snow and steep wall like rock formations two times I slipped from snow patches and once from the lose dusty rocks and Mushtaq saved me from going in the depths of the valley and pulled me up. We reached at the top around 3:30 PM and the lake was no where to be found Mushtaq told me that the cloud cover is so thick that he cannot figure out the markings in other words we had lost the way. Mushtaq went in every direction to figure out the way while I rested at the ground. After 15 min he came back and told me that he couldn’t find the way asked about our next course of action. I thought for a moment and decided to head back, perhaps the sight of the lake was not in my destiny as I have given this quest my 100% so I was not so disappointed, one other thing lead to the decision that it took almost 9 hours to climb up and if we take 7 hours in going down it will be around 10:30 PM (too late in the night).
As we started to descend the trail kept on looking unfamiliar which I pointed out to Mushtaq once or twice. After descending a little bit further Mushtaq told me to stay there while he went to figure out the way home. Just then I heard Mushtaq calling me from far away to come quickly. As I moved towards him I saw the first glimpse of the lake. Allah has rewarded our hard work.
The lake was so so beautiful that it can’t be explained in the words nor the camera can really capture its beauty. We could only capture 4 to 5 pics and a short clip. The nature gave us only 2 to 3 min after that the whole lake once again disappeared in the clouds. Instead of waiting there for the clouds to clear up again we started our journey back again. Now Mushtaq was going down very confidently as if he was wandering in his home backyard. On our way back we had tea and prathas in a local Bakarwal’s tent and started our downhill journey again and reached hotel at Domail around 11:45 PM with the help of only one torch and Mushtaq’s guidance, strength and wisdom.
As I reached the hotel I started shivering with cold after having 2 fever pills I lied down with two blankets over me for half an hour after that we hired a jeep and head back to Kel as we must have reach Lahore before Monday morning. Next day we started our journey at 7:30 AM from Kel and reached Muzaffarabad at 4:30 PM and Lahore at 2:30 AM all in one piece.
Now enjoy the rest of the pics
Regards
Moazzam Hussain
