Visiting Neelum Valley, Taobutt, Shonter on Bikes August 2012

[imarshad]

Gallery of the guest house....

[imarshad]

After securing our luggage in the guest house went out on a stroll across the bazaar and found a small stream near the bazaar... The weather was very good and pleasant. Didn't have enough time to reach down the Jagraan Nala.....

Kutton Bazaar visible in the background. This track leads to Jagraan....

The small stream... Was very refreshing to wash hands and feet in this cold water.....

[imarshad]

The next morning.......Views from our hotel balcony......

These small mountains were calling out the hiker in me but had a tight schedule so left them for next time....

Kutton Bazaar....

[imarshad]

Jagraan Track:
It is a 4x4 track. No car can complete this. For bikes it is possible but dangerous and one should be vary careful about driving on this track. It ascends from Kutton and reaches a specific height and then it is flat and then it descends back to Jagraan Nala near the hydro power plant..... The rent of jeep for this track (round trip) was Rs. 2500 and it was almost a 45 min. journey....

Gained some height.... The Jagraan Nala is visible in the valley........

Gained considerably more height and the Nala is way down in the valley... Barely visible down below.....

and then came the snow laden mountains of Kaghan region. I think (though not sure) these mountains are near to Makra top......

[imarshad]

Flatter portion of the track....

The snow laden mountains...... We were nearing them....

The closest we got to those mountains.(Just before the Jagraan village).....

[imarshad]

Descended all the way down to the Jagraan Nala....

The opening of the tunnel where the actual turbines of hydro power plant are.....

[imarshad]

Jagran Hydro Power Plant:
The security guard here took our cameras/mobile phone before allowing us to enter the tunnel. Our jeep driver was a local and he took his mobile inside and took the following photos which he shared with us via Bluetooth.... Although I am not sure why they have prohibited photography inside in the first place???

BTW Jagran Hydro Power is a gift from French govt. and can produce 30MW of electricity.... Another good news is that France has agreed to construct Jagran II power plant which will be 48MW....
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

On of the five turbines visible in the background.....

The tunnel.... It is actually almost 500-600m long.

[imarshad]

This barrage is almost 2-3KM away from the tunnel with the turbines. It is here that the water of the nala is diverted into tunnels (3KM) and then it is used to run the turbines and then again joins with the nala....

This is also the last jeepable part of Jagran valley as you can see the landslide has destroyed the track.

The last view of the snow mountains....

[Skill]

[imarshad]

The last pics of Jagran.... The Jagran bazaar is 2-3KM before the Power plant. Just before the bazaar a small stream crosses the road. We had some spare time so we walked along the stream for 15-20 min. These are the scenes which we encountered on our way.....

Start of Valley.

It's ME crossing the stream.

It gets narrower.....

and much more greener....

but the worst nightmare for nature lovers.... Yes deforestation and loading them into the truck....Although I am still unsure of how the truck got there... I mean it was an absolutely difficult track for the truck.

Maybe a jeep can but how can a truck cross this??....WOW.... and now it had to cross it fully loaded....

[imarshad]

This was it for the Kutton-Jagran part of the trip.....
Upper Neelum:
We returned on the main Neelum valley road (at Kundalshahi) and crossed Athmuqam and reached Keran (Neelum).... Here again we took a little detour and went to view the upper Neelum. It is about 2-3 KM from Keran and is a quite tough ascend. Like Pir Sohawa or maybe a little bit more tough. When we reached there the weather was very hot. So we just took a couple of pics and again descended to the main Neelum Valley road at Keran.

[ranasherdil]

Jagraan Track:

and then came the snow laden mountains of Kaghan region. I think (though not sure) these mountains are near to Makra top......

Its Saiful Malook side.

[zaid7]

AOA, dear how r u? i need some information about neelam valley plz send me ur mobile number... my mobile number is 0300-9779838....

[zaid7]

AOA, imran send me ur mobile number i need some information.

[aesiege]

and then came the snow laden mountains of Kaghan region. I think (though not sure) these mountains are near to Makra top......

Mahandri and Beyaari Village are on the other side of these white top mountains. Malika Parbat and its adjacent block is further towards right. While Marka peak is towards left and these peaks are also visible from Paye Meadows.

[ranasherdil]

What is the purpose of this water fall/block?

[imarshad]

What is the purpose of this water fall/block?

As you can see on the other side of the river a small barrage is feeding water to a tunnel/canal. This water is used to produce electricity further down (I think it is some army power generation unit).... It is visible from the road but I don't have any picture of this particular power generation plant....

[ranasherdil]

As you can see on the other side of the river a small barrage is feeding water to a tunnel/canal. This water is used to produce electricity further down (I think it is some army power generation unit).... It is visible from the road but I don't have any picture of this particular power generation plant....

Ya right. There are more than one power plants.

[imarshad]

Well I just looked at the pictures of my friend's mobile and he shot it. So here goes the pics of this army related power generation plant..... This is just 1KM from Kundal Shahi bazaar....

Rana Sahib aap ki nazar.....Aap ki Uqabee nazron se yeh chupa na reh saka....

[imarshad]

So now I guess Rana Sahib ke missing paani ka masla hal ho gaya hai.....