Sallam:
Kafi arsar say house arrest may tha may ....aur autumn nikalta ja raha tha tu socha kay kun na Kalam ka trip mar aon. plan aik do dinu kay asan trek ka tha aur chill karnay ka..... so i planned a trek to Doangar and ahead jahan tak ja sakay.... so safeer and me set out on my vitz towards kalam on friday (4 nov) and reached kalam at around 9 pm... got a room at Hotel noor palace (same place i stayed on my earlier dessan meadow trek) and called up my guide , Nazir, to cordinate our trek the next day. arranged jeep for pic and drop at saifullah lake (rs.5500) and 2k per day to nazir. next day our uide was late as he was not feeling well so we delayed our plan a bit till the sun was shining bright. it was really cold there by the way.... we reached saifullah lake by 11.30 and started trek at 11.45 am. reached Doanger at 2 pm and had a short rest.
Doanger is commonly known as Dewanger but its original name is Doangar which in Pashtu means two blacksmiths. there is a beautiful stone wall peak there as well called Doangar Peak. this place is the starting point for the Dadrilli Pass trek. after a short rest here we moved ahead to the last proper settlement b4 the famous Bashkaro and Kachikhani passes Base camps. its called Baraparal. it was abandoned tough at this time obviously all the locals had moved to lower regions. we had lost the benefit of sunshine ahead of Doangar and the fresh snow all around coupled with chilling winds created a very cold cold trek for us....... we stayed the night in a hut there with fire burning all night to keep us warm.... next morning the weather was taking a turn and ominous clouds were gatherin up valley so we had a short breakfast of coffee only and packed up for our descend to Mahodand lake. the trek back was no less painful as far as the cold winds are concerned.... well we reached Mahodand lake by 12 pm and had lunch there. trout bhe taste ke ham nay. there were a few tourists around there also....... our jeep arrived on time and we moved ahead to Kalam.
on reaching kalam we decided to move to Mingora as we had a spare day on our hands and wanted to cover some historic sites in the region.....
we reached fiza ghat at around 10 pm and stayed at hotel river palace (@1200 per nite) it was a good standard hotel with running hot water and clean rooms....
next morning we landed our first target... Odigram.... to see the Mehmood Ghaznavi Mosque and Raja Gira ruins.......
the Ghaznavi Mosque was very impressive structure constructed abt 1100 years ago and is the oldest mosque in Northern Pakistan. Mr. Afreen Khan who is a guide there and an archeologist himself gave us a complete tour and historical respective of the mosque.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmud_Ghaznavi_Mosque_(Odigram)
i was not expecting such a marvelous structure here at all....... it was a huge compound with an excellent design. then after a short climb to a hilltop is located the Raja Gira fort ruins which are estimated to be abt 3000 years old
Castle of last Hindu king Raja Gira in Swat crumbling - Pakistan - DAWN.COM
although the ruins are in horrible state themselves but they provide a great view of the swat valley and even Mankial Peak was clearly visible from there....after some thoughts there we decided to move ahead and have breakfast at Barikot. from Barikot we turned towards buner road for a couple of kilometers and then took a left to Amluk Dara Village (3 kms inside) where the famous Amluk Dara Stupa is located. Located at the foot of mount Illam this hue complex is thought to be between 2nd to 9th CE. it was also dug up by the Italians like the Ghaznavi mosque and raja Gira. A local man by the name of Khewagar (very unusual name) provided us with a complete tour of the place. very nice old man he is Masha Allah.
well that was the end of our tour.. we also tried to locate a Stupa called Gumpat but couldnt find any route to it.
we reached home via mardan at abt 4.30 pm on monday the 7th of November 2016.
baki pics are coming up