Unexplored Kashmir – Naranag Temple, Dudhpathri, Srinagar

May 24, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

05-Oct-2012:

We woke up early as it was our last day in Gurez and wanted to enjoy the morning in that heavenly land. Weather was sunny and our own Sunny Paaji was there, so it was all the way sunny . Had some photographic session with Sunny Paaji and his friend and then Sunny’s team gone out to Brigadier’s camp for getting their permit to visit Chorgaon advance post. Somehow they were denied the permit on that day, Army said they had some movement of higher officials on that day and they won’t be able to allow any visitors but to me more likely was as they were a big group of 15+ people, may be that’s the reason for permit denial. These are not tourist spots and army never wanted to project that way to allow a bus full of tourists to an advanced camp. If you are a small group, especially with family, getting permits usually becomes much easier, that’s my experience everywhere starting from Kashmir, Ladakh to Arunachal.

With Sunny Paaji and his friend at Gurez:

Bidding goodbye to Haaba Khatun and Kishanganga for time being:

Rajdhan Pass with season’s first snow:

Anyway we had our breakfast and started our long journey back to Srinagar but we thought of taking a detour from Bandipore towards Mansabal lake and then towards, Gandharbal, Kangan and finally towards Naranag. The return journey was smooth and dust was much lesser than what we faced 3 days back because of last nights shower. As we approached the upper reaches towards Rajdhan Pass, we started finding the snow, season’s first snow on the road itself. On the top one side of the ridge was covered with snow, which turned the scene completely from what it was 3 days back. We stopped there for a while, chatted with couple of CRPF Jawan and then further proceeded towards the Bandipore. We took a short tea break just after Bandipur again with a vast vista of Wular lake in front of us, hope someday after the cleaning activities, Wular would be a nice stop for the visitors. We soon crossed Mansabal Lake, that’s picturesque too but we didn’t have time to take a break there, continued and hit the NH1 soon and turning left we were going towards Kangan. The road was fantastic and after the bad road of Gurez, it was a welcome break, just couple of km before Kangan, the road towards Naranag takes left diversion, we took that, hit a very narrow yet well built road and reached Naranag around 4.00 in the afternoon. Naranag is more famous as the start or end point of famous Kashmir Great Lakes Trek. People usually start from Sonmarg and covers Vishansar, Kishansar, Gadsar, Satsar and Gangabal lakes before ending the trek at Naranag. I have seen some amazing photographs of this incredible landscape and hope someday I will be able visit too. Naranag is a small village, very nicely located with few trekkers hut and a stream flowing rapidly through the dense forests and meadows, surrounded by high hills. The major attraction of Naranag is the temples built in 8th Century with ancient Aryan structure.

Source: Wikipedia
The Naranag temple is the main attraction for the tourists. It is one of the important archaeological sites of the country. The site consists of a cluster of temples facing each other at a distance of about 200 meters. Historians say that the temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva by the 8th century ruler Lalithdatiya muktadiya. It is believed that the king Awantivarman paid a visit and donated a pedestal for bathing at Bhutsher. Its architecture reveals the art of the 8th century. The government has only constructed walls to protect it from encroachments and nothing else has been done. It is now left in ruins of which only faint traces have survived. This temple has the typical Aryan structure as was present in Aryan Kashmir.

Small Pool believed to be filled up with water from Gangabal Lake:

Eighth Century Ruins of the temples, see the Shiva Temple:

Naranag – Nice Valley:

We had a nice time there, visiting the archeological wonders, you would be surprised and thrilled to see how people brought those heavy stones way back in 8th century and made the geometrically accurate curvature with them at a height of 50 ft from ground. This is a place one shouldn’t miss on the way to Sonmarg.

We started our return journey as sun was tilting towards west horizon, we came back to the highway again and hit srinagar around 7.30 in evening with a huge traffic jam as usual. We were very hungry as we didn’t have our lunch so headed to Mughal Durbar and had a wonderful dinner with various types of Kababs. No journey should be completed without the great foods, we had it here after several days of skipping breakfasts and lunches.

06-Oct-2012:

This was practically our last day in valley and it was kept as a spare day in case if something pushes our plan. We initially planned to enjoy Srinagar, especially the Dal Lake on this day, but as we already lost a day in Aharbal due to a strike, we had to use this day if we wanted to visit Dudhpathri. So the question was Dudhpathri or Dal Lake, we chose the first and started around 8.00 in the morning towards Budgam. Dudhpathri is a newly identified spot which is still being developed as a full fledged tourist spot by J&K Tourism. To do that they have created a separate entity called Dudhpathri Development Authority and this entity is still developing this little known beautiful meadow to a well established tourist spot. Now they have already made good roads for most part, Dudhpathri is 61km from Srinagar and a day trip to this scenic location is very much possible and highly recommended. We reached Budgam (20km from Srinagar) in a short while and going further 26km we reached Khan Sahib, the known junction from where road to Dudhpathri diverts. From Khan Sahib you would get another 7km of well tarred road and after that bad / unpaved road started for last 10km. The road was still being made and some part of that was really quite steep and we found few of the small cars and also big buses could not reach till the end point, but looking at the pace of the work, I believe by starting of next season the whole work would be over and it would be a nice and easy drive to Dudhpathri from Srinagar. Nothing much could be written about this place, it’s a very scenic and gorgeous meadow which would keep you short of words, if you try to describe it. The meadow is quite huge and starting point of couple of good treks uphill. The river Shali Ganga flows through the meadows and dense forests in higher reaches surrounded by snow peaks made the whole ambience amazing. Probably May/June would give visitors even better view with more green and snows around. We spent almost whole day there, there are few pre-fabricated huts where one can have a lovely stay. To stay there you have to contact Dudhpathri Development Authority and as the location is quite remote, they would arrange for your foods and everything once you confirm your arrival.

Shali Ganga River:

Awesome Tourist GH at Dudhpathri:

Inside the Pre-Fabricated Huts at Dudhpathri:

New Wooden Huts are being built:

We didn’t have time to stay the night but wish we could, had some snacks, noodles, tea made by the caretaker of the GH who was a very nice person and we had a wonderful picnic on that day. We took Kazim’s son who was studying in Srinagar for this day trip with us and the young boy was really happy to be with us for the day.

Kazim and his son:

Our Picnic:

Lovely Meadow Dudhpathri:

We started our return journey towards Srinagar around 4.00 and by 2 hours we reached Dal Lake, lean season and some hard bargain, earned us a very sweet deal of houseboat stay in Young Golden Palace for just Rs. 1200/- But we didn’t have time to enjoy, as we rushed towards Sunny Paaji’s place for dinner, he invited us couple of days back and we were already late. Reached there around 7.30 and really didn’t know how we spent next 3 hours, it gone like a flash with delicious dishes prepared by bhabi and paaji himself and some intense chit chats on remote areas of Kashmir. Paaji is an avid trekker, has been trekking since his school days and showed us lot of wonderful snaps of his various treks from school days onwards, What a great and nice end to a wonderful trip!! I will surely return to Kashmir again, just to have those Kababs again at Sunny paaji’s place, Paaji thanks a lot for that great dinner, wonderful photographs and the warm get together. We came back to house boat around 11.00 at night and then suddenly I started feeling a void, no more planning, no more discussion with Kazim for next day, it became almost a habit for last 15 days. We have done what all we have planned, in some cases even more than what we planned, still we felt, it could be more, couple of days more!! Srinagar Airport was infamous for rounds of checking, so we had to realign our luggage accordingly, repacked those again and gone for sleep quite late.

Delicious Dishes at Sunny Paaj’s House:

Bhabi and Paaji, what a wonderful couple:

A fantastic get together:

Back to the House Boat:

07-Oct-2012:

We got up very early to catch the typical morning in Dal, wonderful experience it was, people started lives on water with small boats, selling flowers in a foggy morning in the lake made it fabulous. We enjoyed the lake for almost all the morning before we had to leave for airport. It’s a non eventful journey with some tiring checking in Srinagar airport (3 layers of checking where first layer would be by offloading your luggages from car and put into an X-Ray machine and reloading into the car again) and even more tiring wait time in Delhi Airport T3, took us back to Kolkata. We were very tired but it was really a wonderful trip with so many memorable moments and wonderful people and beautiful places.

Morning at Dal Lake:

Previous: Unexplored Kashmir – Gurez Valley, Chorwan, Bagtore valley

The End

Unexplored Kashmir – Gurez Valley Dawar and Tulail

May 24, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

03-Oct-2012:

We woke up in the morning, had our breakfast brought from Sabbir’s hotel and initiated our discussion with immensely helpful caretaker of the Guest House, Mr. Lone. When he heard we had 2 full days of time, he suggested us to visit Tilail valley to Abdullah (Which now a days known as Chakwali) village on first day, till the point civilians are allowed. The road goes further 17 km to reach Kabul Gali and finally runs just by the side of LOC to reach Mushko Valley (famous for Kargil war in 1999) and then finally meets Srinagar – Leh highway at Drass. Gurez is a narrow valley sandwiched by mountains in north and south side where river Kishanganga flows in between from East to West. The valley is one of the best I have ever seen, narrow yet very fertile, having lots of villages along side the river, you would see farming activities all across, mainly they are into potato farming, potato of Gurez is very famous. The valley gets narrowed initially after Dawar towards east and then again starts widening from Barnoi Village, which is considered as beginning of Tilail Valley.

Kishanganga at Dawar:

Wild Flowers enroute:

Barnoi village, start of Tulail Valley:

The Amazing Valley continues:

Potato farming in Gurez:

Kishanganga River and Tulail Valley:

It goes on through Barnoi, Dangithal, Tulail, Jurniyal, Manzgund, Badugum, Baduaub to finally Chakwali and then valley again narrows down and the road goes up to the Kabul Gali to cross mountain pass to reach Mushko Valley on other side. We started our journey and kept going keeping river Kishanganga beside us. The picturesque valley was difficult to describe in words, the interesting part was we were invited almost in every village enroute for a cup of tea and roti. We assured all of them we would be back while returning, kept going ahead. It was almost 2.5 hours drive to cover 55 km from Dawar as the road was not not in a good shape.

Tulail Valley at its best:

Farming activities at full swing:

We reached Chakwali and crossed the village and kept going ahead, we didn’t see any police or army check post and our idea was to drive until we were stopped by someone.

Chakwali Village and locals:

After another 7km drive we came across a bridge where BEACON labourers were working and we found the bridge was not opened, though there was another road to cross the river through river bed, it was not possible for a low GC car like Innova, though Army convoys could easily cross that and move towards Kabul Gali. We could see from that point, road started ascending again towards hill top and we were told in another 3km there would be an army post where the permits would be checked and as of now no civilian (except army convoy and VIP like MP/MLA/DC) is allowed in that road to Drass beyond that check post. So we took a stop there and cajoled the BRO workers to get a cup of tea but it didn’t happen as they were working in the site and they told they had nothing there to prepare tea. The place was looking amazing, all snow peaks around, the valley half turned into golden yellow due to fall colors, half still in green, looking amazingly gorgeous in the backdrop of clouded sky.

Awesome mountain scenaries as we approaching end of Tulail Valley:

Gurez is really very scenic place and more beautiful are the people there. While coming back we stopped in Chakwali village for a while and started a small chat with the locals. They were telling us how indifferent Govt/ administrations were for their causes. They got alienated from rest of the world for more than 6 months due to pass closure and Govt couldn’t even provide a simple medical facility there. Any medical emergency usually be attended by Army Doctors and any emergency evacuation even done using army choppers. They have couple of primary and middle schools and one high school in all these 12 to 15 villages across 55km but all of them were mostly built and managed by Army. This was a place where people were really appreciating the work of army for local development. But they have some grudges too, not entirely unreasonable, I have seen myself, the LOC fencing whatever they have put, was atleast 5km inside the actual LOC and unfortunately gone through the middle of the farm land even after the disagreements of the locals. They were telling how these fencing in middle of land and village used to create trouble for them, every day, be it by reducing the farming area, cutting down the short walks across the village, even the cattle get themselves trapped and hurt while grazing through those fences. While chatting, we didn’t even realize when they arranged for namkeen chay and makai ka roti for us. It was really fun to have those with them enjoying the chill outside. That day probably we had 20 cups of tea on the way back to Dawar at different villages. They had to walk 10km for buying biscuits from nearest grocery but they won’t hesitate to offer those biscuits to the complete strangers like us.

The road approaching towards Kabul Gali:

The Bridge upto which civilians are allowed in Gurez – Drass Road:

Warm people of Chakwali Village:

Notice the valley at far side, a walk of 2 days through that would take you to Sonmarg:

We finally reached Dawar around 6.00pm and watched TV for sometime. Dawar was most important and biggest town of Gurez and it is powered by generator between 6.30pm to 12.00 midnight and again between 5.00am to 6.00am in morning mainly for water heating. Dawar JK Tourism GH was inaugurated last year, located in a fabulous place beside river Kishanganga with Habba Khatun at backdrop. We had our dinner and retired for the day with a plan of exploring the Bagtore side on next day.

Habba Khatun Peak:

Amazing location of JK Tourism GH at Gurez:

Previous: Unexplored Kashmir – Karnah Valley, Teetwal, Lolab Valley, Entering into Gurez Valley

Next: Unexplored Kashmir – Gurez Valley, Chorwan, Bagtore valley

Unexplored Kashmir – Karnah Valley, Teetwal, Lolab Valley, Entering into Gurez Valley

May 23, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

30-Sep-2012:

We woke up by 6.30 in the morning and had tea, roamed around Reshwari for one last time, the place was so serene and peaceful, you would always like to comeback. Soon Bashir prepared a nice breakfast for us and after having that we said good bye to them and proceeded for our day with unknowns. We soon hit TCP Nawgam, the army asked us with a smile if we gone to Bangus, we answered with a smile keeping the answer vague that how beautiful the whole place was. Reshwari to Handwara was around 20km drive. We soon hit Handwara – Baramula road at Langate and turned towards Handwara. We traced back our route to Kulangam to meet Sopore – Kupwara highway and then turned left towards Kupwara. The road was in excellent condition and a further 18km drive from Handwara took us to Kupwara.

Enroute to Kupwara:

Kupwara had a T-junction, bottom end of T is coming from Handwara side and the top left of T is going towards Karnah Valley via Chowkibal – Tee Pee – Sadhna Top. The top right is going towards Lolab Valley and Machal Valley (Towards LOC). We took left as Sabbir saab arranged our accommodation at Chowkibal PWD GH. We reached there after a drive of 23km from Kupwara, found out the PWD GH but surprised to see presence of many police persons there. Anyway we spoke to the caretaker there and he was already informed by Sabbir Saab and shown us the room on upstairs in no time. But it was little congested and not having much openings, felt slightly damped as well. We didn’t like the room and were preparing to spent the night there somehow. Then we thought of taking a tea break there and in this time I noticed a gentleman with 2 other persons sitting in the lawn and heavily guarded by police force. The gentleman saw us and invited us to join him, we gone little hesitantly but then started a nice conversation with him. His only son was studying engineering in Delhi and he started telling us about Kupwara region. He told he had come there for going to a day trip to Bangus with his family members. I was surprised how Bangus trek can be started from Chowkibal but he said there was another approach from Drangyari (Tee Pee) towards Bangus where again after some distance one had to trek, later I found that road as well while going towards Sadhna Top. Soon he introduced himself as Mr. A.R.Khan, DSP, Kupwara. He was very nice and amicable person. Once he heard we were about to settle the night at Chowkibal, he suggested us to visit Karnah Valley and suggested us to visit Teetwal specifically, the border between India and Pakistan and from there we would be able to see Pakistan’s village even in hand shaking distance. He mentioned there was a PWD GH in Teetwal just beside the river Kishanganga where we should spend the night. We were very excited but asked him how we could get the permission. Khan Saab then asked for a paper and just there made a handwritten letter to Karnah Police Station SHO at Tangdhar to arrange everything for us to stay the night at Teetwal. We couldn’t ask for more really, didn’t think even a second to say a thank you and good bye to the caretaker of Chowkibal GH and proceeded towards Karnah with his letter.

A.R.Khan, DSP Kupwara without whose help we won’t be able to make Teetwal or even Sadhna Top:

The Map of Karna Valley – Note the last road marked orange is ended in Teetwal and other side the North South Road marked in yellow is in Pakistan going from Astore (Neelam Valley) to Muzzafarabad. — Source Wikimapia

Just after Chowkibal, first time we had to register our details in an army check post in this route. But problem came when we approached the second army check post just before the ascent of Sadhna. There the army was not willing to let us go even upto Sadhna Top without a valid permission taken from DC, Kupwara. Initially I didn’t tell them about DSP’s handwritten letter as I was trying to understand the reality, I knew couple of people visited till Sadhna Top without any permission. But he explained me rule has been changed and now to cross that check post and going further we need permission from Kupwara District Administration. Finally I was forced to show him the letter given by DSP and realized had we not been meeting DSP at Chowkibal, we won’t even be allowed to Sadhna Top. Anyway we proceeded further and the initial part of the road was not that good but from 10 km before the top, the road turned very good. We crossed the nice meadow of Tee Pee (Drangyari) and there we noticed the road marker to Bangus. It was written as Kastwar – Nildori – Bangus – Lokut – Drangyari Road showing 37.225km and maintained by BEACON. If anyone is having any idea about the exact alignment of the road, please let us know.

The Road Marker to Bangus from Drangyari:

We reached Tee Pee which was 10km from Chowkibal and then another 16km drive took us to Sadhna Top. Just 5 km before reaching the top there is a place enroute from where you would get an excellent aerial view of vast valley of Kupwara and the narrow Keran Valley.

Keran Valley at far from a bend enroute Sadhna:

The top was excellent, on the other side road slowly winding down towards Karnah Valley. Now again the TCP at Sadhna Top asked us to show the permit and all details. Initially they asked us simply to turn back stating civilians apart from locals were not allowed beyond that point. We showed him DSP’s letter and he spoke to his seniors and came back stating this letter was just hand written and not with official stamps, so he couldn’t accept that. Somehow DSP mentioned his 3 mobile numbers there in the letter (probably apprehending this kind of trouble enroute), I asked the army guy to call and verify, now he was in trouble as there was no connectivity (of mobile) on and beyond Sadhna Top. He again gone back to camp to consult his seniors and then came back and asked for Driving License of Kazim. Army kept that and asked us to go quickly till Tangdhar and back and collect the license while returning on that day itself. Though we didn’t mention our intention to go till Teetwal to them, just told we would be visiting till Tangdhar but the direction of coming back on same day was really too much to accept for us. The argument kept going, we said we couldn’t come back on same day as it was already 2.00pm by then, one more round of discussion with their seniors and then finally they agreed to let us go with two conditions, first, we had to come back by next day and second we won’t be going beyond Tangdhar.

Sadhna Top:

We accepted and proceeded further, the valley started getting widened and vista opened up. Karna Valley was really a treat to eyes, we reached Tangdhar which is 26km from Sadhna Top in another one and half hour and straight went to Karnah Police Station there.

Karnah Valley – So lovely:

We met SHO and told him our intention of visiting Teetwal which he rejected out rightly telling no tourist is allowed there, they only issue the permits to local and that too a day pass only. Then we showed him the letter from DSP, things changed slightly but SHO was still not convinced and he said he needed to verify by calling DSP’s mobile number. Next few hours it was a frantic try going on to reach DSP, it was difficult as I said this side of Sadhna has limited phone connectivity due to security reasons, no mobile worked this end, they were trying from landline but as DC gone for Bangus trekking, I was not expecting to reach him any time soon. So police told us to roam around Tangdhar and mean while they would keep trying contacting DSP. We thought of doing the same but finally ended up loosing almost 2 hours by looping around Tangdhar hills in very bad road across the hilly region. We took a tea break at a small village called Tad, spoke to the locals there, they showed us the ridges occupied by Pakistan in far but suggested us to visit Teetwal for a closer look to Pakistan.

Tad Village:

We returned the Police Station around 5.30 and by then they were able to contact DSP. Then they said at most they could issue a day permit, no way they could give permit to stay at Teetwal, we really had not much to bargain, we accepted that and asked for Teetwal permit for next day and mean while planned to stay the night at Tangdhar PWD GH. We met Javed, the caretaker and wonderful guy there at GH but he said he couldn’t issue a room without consulting executive engineer, as we were with family, he was kind enough to take us to Executive engineer’s home and there we got the permission of staying at the GH. Executive engineer was surprised too to hear tourists from Kolkata came to visit Tangdhar. The guest house was really nice and food served by Javed was even better, we retired for the day quickly having a big hope of reaching LOC next day.

Teetwal Permit:

Tangdhar PWD GH at evening:

Ever helpful Javed, the caretaker with my daughter:

01-Oct-2012:

We quickly had a breakfast in the morning and started our day. The destination was Teetwal and a 7 km drive took us to Chamkot, the first army post where we had to show permit and prove identity. At this place, they again asked for Kazim’s Voter I-Card and kept it with them asking us to collect it during return. This was strange, no where in India I have seen despite of having valid permits, army insists on keeping the original proof of identity with them to allow us to proceed further. Anyway we have gone through 7 such check posts including Army, Police, CRPF, BSF etc. for the next 10km journey to Teetwal and road was simply pathetic. The last evening at Tangdhar GH, civil dressed CID persons met us and verified our identity cards, they had the information about us from local police station and according to them any new comer at the valley except locals used to be thoroughly checked. Anyway the other notable point was in all these 7 check posts we had to leave one or the other of our original I-Card. Finally Kazim had run out of all his I-cards and I also had to submit couple of my I-Cards in between. Finally reached Teetwal around 9.30 in the morning. I have seen borders many times but difference in Teetwal was the inhabitation, roads, buses, trucks plying, people walking, even women washing clothes in other side of river, it was all so close within 50 mtrs of where I was standing. The border didn’t look like normal LOC where you would just see a fencing but no human being around, it was rather full of life, could even see those Toyota Van, colorful buses of Pakistan going to Muzzafarabad. But strikingly the roads made in Pakistan end was fully metalled (heard it was built by Chinese) and in much better condition than what we faced in Indian side. Locals mentioned Pakistan end was better in terms of power, road and telecom infrastructure. The locals here too would touch your heart by their simplicity. One old man came to my car and requested me to take his complain that though his house had no electricity for last 3 months, he was paying the bill, they never saw tourists and thought we were some officials came in a visit and honestly looking at his innocent face, I couldn’t tell him the truth, I gave him some false assurance that I would inform the appropriate authority and the smile that appeared then was simply unmatched and priceless.

Teetwal Middle School, Pakistan in background:

Pakistan’s Army Truck going towards Muzzafarabad:

The Toyota Van in other side of border going towards Astore (Neelam Valley, Pak Occupied Gurez Valley):

Pakistan’s Village just on other side of Kishanganga:

The colorful buses of Pakistan:

Towards Teetwal Bridge – Locals cross it to their relative’s place with appropriate papers, so it’s not a closed border:

Otherside of Teetwal – Flag of Azad Kashmir (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir) and Pakistan:

Teetwal Bridge – Otherside in Pakistan you can see Muzzafarabad – Astore Highway and this side Indian Village of Teetwal divided by River Kishanganga:

The last turn – Kishanganga after on and off into India, finally enters Pakistan, renamed as Neelam and meet Jhelum and finally Indus

Return was through same route via Tangdhar and Sadhna Top, only important thing was to collect all our I-cards we submitted in between. We had a quick tea break at Tangdhar and then back to Sadhna Top – Tee Pee – Chowkibal – Kralpora and Kupwara. Just before Kupwara we got stranded in a traffic jam due to an army convoy, lost almost half an hour. We didn’t loose any more time in Kupwara, as it was already afternoon, we were hurriedly moving towards Lolab Valley. We were supposed to stay at JK Tourism Guest House at Chandigam, a brand new GH, inaugurated just 2 months back. One of the best JK Tourism GH in terms of cleanliness and facilities, would be this one for sure. The caretakers Umar, Ershad, Yaqub all three were very friendly, we had a nice dinner there and then had a long post dinner chat with them along with cups of hot coffee which was really interesting. These guys were very tired after hosting 3 days of Lolab festival but we never missed their smiling faces and helping hands whenever we approached them. Umar prepared a nice map for us to explore Lolab Valley and with that we would start our journey next day.

02-Oct-2012:

We woke up early as it was a long day ahead of us. We had to visit Lolab Valley and then we had to move to Gurez Valley (Dawar) for our night stay. Umar first took us to a place called Naya Chandigam, which was 7km apart from Chandigam GH and the place was very scenic. JK Tourism has acquired land in that place to develop a nature park, which would really be a nice plan. Chandigam is centrally located in lolab valley and the major two big villages in the valley are Sogam and Lalpora. We planned to start from Sogam and took an anti-clock wise loop across the valley via Sogam – Walkul – Takipor – Lalpora – Wavoorer – Khumriyal – Kupwara. Considering the time left we decided to leave Kalaroos for some other day as it was a detour after Khumriyal and we had to reach Gurez on same day. The Lolab valley was a vast land surrounding hills and dense forests and huge farm land, it was somehow giving me a feel of rural Bengal. When we visited, the leaves started turning yellow/red and by October end / November we heard lolab would start looking amazing and gorgeous with fall colors. Lolab is a place where you don’t have any specific destination, you can roam around any road that comes your way and certainly you will enjoy it, it’s just a kind of exploring this wonderful land. DSP, Mr. Khan and Tourism Guest House Caretaker told us, the place was still not completely safe, there were lots of army camps in every 2/3 km and anyone staying in Tourism GH had to be reported to them with all details and that was the reason why during checking in, we had to furnish a lot of information including skin color. Few stray incidents happened mainly after sun down in last few months but when we visited the valley in morning we found it very warm, charming and full of lives.

Few snaps of Lolab:

Lolab’s hand made map by Umar:

Distance Chart of Lolab:

Lolab Valley:

The New JK Tourism GH in Lolab:

Big Lawn was favourite of my daughter:

Awesome setting of the GH:

Umar, Ershad and Yaqub, the nice caretakers of Chandigam GH:

Naya Chandigam:

Lolab Valley:

We planned to trace back to Kupwara and Sopore and then turned towards Bandipore via Watlab for our journey to Gurez. But locals confirmed the direct road between Lolab and Bandipore had already been built and awaited to be opened for civilians, it gone through the dense forested region and would be a very scenic route and one could reach Bandipora from Lolab in just 1.5 hours through the new route which now takes almost 4 hours. 10km before Sopore we found a short cut for Sopore Bandipora road through a place called Bumei and we saved almost 15km. We took a short break in Watlab for tea, the place was nice overlooking the Wular Lake, which was really in a sorry state, currently Govt has taken big projects to restore this lake and hope sometimes in future it would be great sight for visitors. We reached Bandipora after 100km of drive from Chandigam. The road became awfully bad after Bandipora and the major reason seem to be the construction of Kishanganga Dam and all the big dozers, trucks of NHPC had destroyed the road completely. It was full of dust in a dry day and during rain would surely turn into a nightmarish muddy state. This was the worst part road we covered during our whole journey. I would say as even in Warwan we got roads very bad but atleast air was clean there, we didn’t get this much of dust and pollution. 42 km of worst road would finally take you to Rajdhan Pass that separates Gurez Valley from Kashmir Valley. From this place you can see Nanga Parvat in a clear day, it was not that clear in afternoon, so we took some snaps and proceeded towards Gurez. The road condition in other side of Rajdhan pass was in much better shape. We reached Kanwalzan where the road had bifurcation, left was going to Bagtore, where we would be back soon but then we needed to take the right road towards Dawar. Here you would see how Kishanganga’s main channel was completely blocked now and the whole water was diverted through a tunnel inside the mountain, might be to get the height difference to generate hydel power. The work had completely stopped due to a stay order from high court and that seems to be the primary reason for putting so much restriction in permit process to stop outsider to enter Gurez as Govt is apprehensive of a bigger movement there against the dam project. We reached Dawar around evening when last ray of sun touching the mighty Habba Khatun peak. We gone to the GH and happy to got our room, thanks to Iliyas Saab (Dy. Director under whom Gurez Tourism comes) and Md. Lone, the nice caretaker of otherwise filled up GH. We called up a month ahead to both and ensured they would keep a room for us. Unfortunately there was no provision of food in the GH and people used to visit Sabbir’s hotel nearby for food, we were tired, so quickly had our dinner and retired for the day as next day we had plan to explore Gurez in details.

Kashmir Valley from Rajdhan Top – Ullar can be seen at right:

Rajdhan Top:

Winding Roads going down to Gurez Valley:

Habba Khatun in the last ray of evening sun:

Previous: Unexplored Kashmir – Bangus Valley

Next: Unexplored Kashmir – Gurez Valley Dawar and Tulail

Exploring Paradise on Earth: Lesser Known Kashmir – Introduction

May 23, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

This trip would never be possible without the tremendous help from Amit Tyagi (Hiambuj), Anirban (ADC) and Sunny Paaji (SunnyKashmir). No amount of thank would be enough for them as from starting of planning the itinerary, getting permits, connecting me even to Director Tourism of J&K, these guys were instrumental in making this trip happen and when I felt almost frustrated, these guys keep on encouraging me and such a trip in terms of complex logistics with family won’t be possible without their unconditional help and support.

When we did a fabulous Zanskar and Ladakh trip last year, I was pondering about coming back to the state again but this time specifically for the Kashmir Valley. Kashmir has been attracting highest tourist footfall in last 2 years among all Indian states but saddest part is like Arunachal it’s concentrated just on pocketful of places like Sonmarg, Gulmarg and Pahelgaon. I can vouch you won’t get the experiences of Kashmiri warmth and raw beauty of valley in any of these established commercial places. But then comes the next question where we will go, honestly I was not aware of any places except those so called established tourist places and along with that the ever volatile situation of the valley that makes it more difficult to plan especially when you go with family.

The planning started a year back and first we started debating over the time to go. From the perspective of natural splendors you really can’t make a call, Spring is the season of flowers blooming all across, summer is the time to enjoy the lush green with snow scapes, autumn is the time for fruits and the valley turned fire with fall colours and winter brings a different perspective with it white veil altogether. Weather plays a very important role in any Himalayan trip and so we gone by familiar wisdom of selecting either of the two windows, one just before monsoon arrives around June by which high passes should be opened or just when monsoon recedes around end September as the reversal of wind flow keeps the weather usually better and dry during these periods, if you have noticed most Himalayan summits are attempted during these two windows. We chose September end over June primarily because of

1. The pass openings are almost guaranteed
2. Roads are at its best condition in Himalayas and water crossings are mostly manageable which was a must for us as we were venturing in the unknown roads.
3. Season would be at its leanest and obviously you have an upper hand in bargaining which is essential in valley.
4. Airfare usually be cheapest in the quarter ending September (than that of in June)

I booked my flights from Kolkata – Srinagar and back way back in January this year and for 3 of us return cost just 25K (which subsequently gone upto 70K later, thanks to shut down of Kingfisher).

I called up Sunny Paaji around January and had some initial discussion on the places I should include in the trip, that time it was very sketchy and only thing we could conclude that keeping 2 weeks for the trip is safe to cover the most part of the valley, flight tickets were booked accordingly. Then several rounds of discussion with ADC (Anirban) who did his Kashmir trip in last year October and Hiambuj (Amit) who did another brilliant trip in August, slowly started giving me clarity on the plan. This is the first trip in my life where I didn’t have the clear idea of the routes / plans to be taken even couple of weeks before starting the trip. Slowly the names of the places, I repeat just the names (as I still have no idea on what they could offer then), were started figuring out. Gurez, the famous Kishanganga river outlining the LOC and Habba Khatun peak in backdrop, Bangus the brilliant meadows, very popular to foreign trekkers till mid eighties and the Warwan valley, hidden treasure of nature sandwiched between Pahelgaon and Zanskar Valley were came out as must go. We included Dudhpathri too as it was close to Srinagar and heard about its beautiful meadows. I wanted to visit Lidderwat Valley, courtesy Sunny Paaji’s T-log and hence wanted to include Aru too. Amit’s extremely useful suggestion on including Aharbal made a lot of sense which we realized once we visited the place. I also have a hidden wish to explore atleast one of three frontiers from Kupwara, Karna Valley, Keran Valley and Machil valley but even on the start of the trip not sure how to get permits to visit those places.

Once the destinations are in place, question comes in which order, clockwise / anticlockwise how we would travel as I was not so keen to touch Srinagar every time enroute. This time the thumb rule we taken was let’s go for the places first where permits not required and that would give us additional time to try for permits of other places if required. This turned out to be a very good strategy as we later realized, when to get Gurez permit I had to spend almost 2 full days in Srinagar.

So route plan charted as follows:

22nd Sep – Kolkata – Delhi – Srinagar (Reach by 12.00 noon) and proceed to Aru and stay at Aru.
23rd Sep – Aru Stay and visit Lidderwat Valley
24th Sep – Aru – Mattan Sun Temple – Kokernag – Valioo – Mattihgawran – Lehanvan – Margan Top – Inshaan (Warwan Valley)
25th Sep – Visit Around Warwan, go as far as Dasbal in south (another 10km from there road ends and you will reach Nayapool and 2 days trek via Marwah can take you to Kishtwar), Aftee in North (where road ends and a 2 day trek in either side can take you to Panikhar in Zanskar Valley towards east or in Pahelgaon towards west.)
26th Sep – Inshaan – Margan Top – Valioo – Kokernag – Verinag – Quazigund – Wanpu – Kulgam – Aharbal
27th Sep – Aharbal – Spohiyan – Pulwama – Budgam – Khan Sahib – Dudhpathri
28th Sep – Dudhpathri – Budgam – Sopore – Handwara – Reshwari
29th Sep – Visit Bangus Valley
30th Sep – Reshwari – Handwara – Kupwara – Sadhna Top and if possible to Karna Valley till Tangdhar and if could manage permission then till teetwal.
01st Oct – Tangdhar – Sadhna Top – Kupwara – Lolab
02nd Oct – Lolab Valley – Kupwara – Sopore – Watlab – Bandipore – Rajdhan Pass – Kanwaljan – Dawar.(Gurez Valley)
03rd Oct – Dawar – Barnoi – Neeru – Chakwali (Till the point civilians are allowed and road starts winding towards Drass via Kabul Gali) – Tilail Valley – Back to Dawar
04th Oct – Dawar – Chorwan Forward Post to LOC if permission granted and then move towards Kanwaljan – Bagtore till Tarabal where road ends. Planned to trek towards forward post again if permission granted. – Back to Dawar
05th Oct – Dawar – Rajdhan Pass – Tragbal – Bandipore – Gandherbal – Kangan – Naranag – Back to Srinagar
06th Oct – Spare Day considering the infamous track record of Strike/Bandh in Valley (This came very handy later)07th Oct – Srinagar – Delhi – Kolkata Flyout.

So now with an ambitious plan in hand, the next question comes from where and how we get permissions.

This should be a separate part in T’log as during my extensive travels in remote Ladakh or Arunachal I never faced so much complicacy in getting permits and spent so much time to get those elusive permits.

Let’s chart out the permit processes in a nut shell:

Gurez: If you are not a resident of Bandipore, J&K you have to get your permit from SP (Tourism Enforcement) at Srinagar office. For that you have to apply with your details in a prescribed form 15 days in advance atleast (I will suggest do it a month in advance) with your photographs. If you are in a rental car, even the driver’s details and photograph is needed. This will go through proper scrutiny before it would be sent to your local police station for pre-verification which is simply a MUST now. The rule has changed recently on 31-Jul-2012 and now SP/DC Bandipora can only issue permit to people residing in Bandipore, all others have to follow the long drawn process mentioned above. Read the exact Government circular below (Clause ‘e’ is the difficult one) and prepare for some difficult times if your police verification doesn’t reach in time. Keep photocopies of the permission and we had to give it in 4 different places and our passports / I-Cards were checked 8 times between Bandipora and Dawar. I tried to figure out why these rules and formalities and when speaking to locals, it seems Govt discourage people from outside to visit Gurez and main reason is the 3X110 MW Kishanganga Hydel Power which is going through terrible rough times as tussle between Govt and locals now gone upto court and right now all works in dam sites are stopped because of a stay order from court. Otherwise the LOC and other issues remain much peaceful here than the areas like Samba sector in Jammu or Bangus area in Kashmir Valley.

Govt. Circular on Gurez Permit:

Permission to visit any forward post like Chorwan has to be taken from the local army brigade.

Bangus: Really unpredictable and it’s absolutely your luck that can take you to this magical valley. You have to apply to SP, Handwara in plain papers and SP will issue a written permission on behalf of civil administration and request 17th Infantry Brigade stationed there to issue final permission. So you are at the mercy of the army and their movement and other factors. When we went, an encounter was going on and I heard myself in army brigade out of 12, 2 were eliminated, they were combing for rest 10 if they slipped out to POK or hidden in the dense forest region. We were denied permission by Army for good enough reasons but how we finally made it to be told in the T’log later.

Karnah / Keran / Machal Valley : In all cases permission has to be taken from office of DC / SP Kupwara and then visiting forward post needs army permission.

To visit Teetwal, last Indian village from where you can see Pakistan’s village, roads, bus/trucks everything in 50 mtrs distance, has to be taken from Police Station / Tehsildar of Tangdhar. Same will be verified and countersigned by Army at Chamkot, 10km before Teetwal. There is an excellent PWD Guest House at Teetwal, just beside river Kishanganga which might be an excellent stay but unfortunately Tangdhar Police doesn’t issue more than a day’s permit which makes it impossible to stay there.

Warwan : Doesn’t need any permission but just before the ascent of Margan starts, you have to make an entry in Army check post and similar entry would be required once you reach Inshaan.

After a lot of text, it’s time for a few snaps to show you the highlights, details would come soon as I proceed with this T’log.

Aru – The start of Trek to Lidderwat:

Warwan – Untouched Heaven on Earth

Nun-Kun Peak from Back side : From the Margan Top – On a clear day it’s very well visible.

Verinag – The best garden I have seen in Kashmir

Elusive Bangus – I can walk many miles to go there again

Teetwal Bridge – River Kishanganga makes the divide. We are in Indian Side , Other side is in Pakistan, try to identify the flags of Azad Kashmir (POK) and Pakistan on other side:

Fall colors playing at Lolab:

Gurez Valley with Kishanganga flowing across:

Dudhpathri – The lovely meadows:

Next : Unexplored Kashmir – Aru, Lidderwat Valley

Explore The Unexplored

Tag: Gurez

Unexplored Kashmir – Naranag Temple, Dudhpathri, Srinagar

Unexplored Kashmir – Gurez Valley Dawar and Tulail

Unexplored Kashmir – Karnah Valley, Teetwal, Lolab Valley, Entering into Gurez Valley

Exploring Paradise on Earth: Lesser Known Kashmir – Introduction