Neelum Valley 2016 (Ratti gali lake, Hans raj lake, Taobut and Arang kel)

[RashidYounus]

AoA Tariq Sb and @ lastsoul (sorry cant recall your name). First of all i must say that I am a very old visitor of this forum, I guess from 2007, and since 2007 I have not seen such a captivating thread by anyone. It appears as if I have just finished viewing a wonderful copy of National Geographic magazine from the past. Really the ability of Mr. Tariq to capture this natural beauty into the frames of his pics is breathtaking and equally the ability of Mr. lastsoul to consolidate the events into easy vocabulary is equally mesmerizing. Hats off to both of you for creating such a wonderful thread which has compelled me to get up and without delay reach TauBut really. tahnks once again for such a painstaking job of presenting it to all of us.
regards
RY

[shoaib_ahmad_khan]

sir i am impressed with your spirit i also visited ratti gali this july i also had a plan to visit hans raj lake but my team mates were so afraid to move ahead. i will show them ur pics to motivate them for future tours

[shoaib_ahmad_khan]

this is a beautiful thread pictures are awesome. your photography skills are amazing.. can u please tell which camera n lens u r using.

[lastsoul]

Dear Brothers, Rashid Younus and Shoaib Ahmad Khan, I thank you from the core of my heart for taking time to visit this thread, spending time on its ( so many) pages, Liking the story and pictures. What you wrote is in reality a great inspiration for me.

We, two persons team did this travel. I am Dr. Shafiq Ahmad from Multan. I like to travel, photography, fishing, hunting, hiking, camping, any activity where I can stay out of walls and bounds. Though due to professional engagements I dont get this chance very frequently.

My companion is usually my friend Tariq, an engineer by profession, runs his own business as well. He is kind of person who keeps his phone switched off most of the time in 24 hours. A very relax jolly and genuine person. Most of the time, he is the person who starts motivating me at the beginning of summer for a tour to the north.

AoA Tariq Sb and @ lastsoul (sorry cant recall your name). First of all i must say that I am a very old visitor of this forum, I guess from 2007, and since 2007 I have not seen such a captivating thread by anyone. It appears as if I have just finished viewing a wonderful copy of National Geographic magazine from the past. Really the ability of Mr. Tariq to capture this natural beauty into the frames of his pics is breathtaking and equally the ability of Mr. lastsoul to consolidate the events into easy vocabulary is equally mesmerizing. Hats off to both of you for creating such a wonderful thread which has compelled me to get up and without delay reach TauBut really. tahnks once again for such a painstaking job of presenting it to all of us.
regards
RY

[lastsoul]

The camera I used are:

1. Olympus OMD EM10, with 14-42 lens.

2. Canon SX40 HS.

[lastsoul]

Me, Dr. Shafiq Ahmad.

My previous thread about Kumrat and upper dir area.

https://www.pakwheels.com/forums/road-trips-vacations-hiking-trekking/241508-kumrat-valley-katora-lake-travelogue

My Flickr page, if you like photography, Flickr is good site to share.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/68421120@N08/

[lastsoul]

Tariq Sahib, my company in most of the travels.

[lastsoul]

This dreamy, vast landscape was one of the reasons for our travel to Neelum valley this year.

[lastsoul]

Arang Kel, is about a thousand feet above the neelum river opposite to the Kel. It is vast flat land, Carpeted with lush green grass, studded with wildly colored flowers and surrounded all around by thick pine forests.

There are many trails of different length, time duration and difficulty level which take you to this hill top, the shortest of these is most often used, is the steepest and most strenuous. This lovely hill station is located at an altitude of 8,379 feet (2,554 m)

[lastsoul]

The famous Musk Deer Resort, the blue one.

[lastsoul]

Every view is like a beautiful painting by some old master.

[lastsoul]

We reached Arang Kel in the evening, when a prolonged episode of drizzling had just ended.

[lastsoul]

[lastsoul]

We had only my smaller back pack, which had harbored cameras, some emergency medicines, my shaving kit and a towel etc. As we were to spend the night there, we made ourselves comfortable by getting a room on the first floor of the first guest/rest house we came across at Arang Kel. I will give an account and pics of rest house later, but then we took tea with tasty and spicy pakoras and strolled down in this sea of grass to get some evening snaps of the area before it gets dark.

[lastsoul]

This is how I saw it, now it's for you

[imranhameed1]

Going up, to Arang Kel from where chair lift leaves is a sternuous half to one hour ascend on a tortuous trail which gets very slippery after rain that is quite frequent here. So utmost care is advised especially for children and the elderly.

oh yes - I was there in 2014 with family - Chair lift was not working
have to go all the way up with family
it was quite hard
but when reached there - the beauty remove all our tiredness

[lastsoul]

[lastsoul]

[lastsoul]

It was an endless canvas with brilliant colors spread on it all around us.

[lastsoul]