AUSSIES DRIVING PAKISTAN! – THE KARAKORAM HIGHWAY Pt.1 – The Manner Overland – Episode 59

by Swat Valley December 23, 2019, 3:12 pm 57 Views 122 Votes 25 Comments

Choosing up the place we left off within the final episode, we made our approach again to Islamabad from Kalash. We then spent a few days getting ourselves organised earlier than embarking on our drive up the Karakoram Freeway.

Staying in Islamabad we parked up at Sana’s campground which he is arrange simply to assist out overlanders have a secure and comfy keep as there is not any different designated locations to camp within the metropolis. Not solely does the positioning have room for 2 autos, a few motorbikes and luxurious inexperienced grass to pitch a number of tents on, he is additionally arrange a constructing with a brand new rest room and a communal space to hang around in. What a legend!!

Thanks a lot for having us Sana and likewise for taking us on an journey to Chitral and Kalash. It was an incredible expertise which we’ll keep in mind endlessly!

Transferring on from Islamabad we hit the street with our first cease as Besham, about 7 hours drive away. We had been suggested to remain within the parking of a lodge for safety on this space and that we must always go to the PTDC, which we did. It appears that evidently this specific lodge is aware of that they will money in on these circumstances as we had been charged 1000 rupees/$10 AUD to park right here in a single day!

From Besham to Chilas, 200km additional north, we might learn that we might have a police escort for this complete leg altering from one escort automotive to the following at every test level. Arriving on the first test level simply after Besham we handed over the photocopies of our paperwork and politely mentioned to the officer that we might be okay with out an escort, which to our shock they agreed and bid us farewell. This ended up being the case the entire solution to Chilas which was nice as we might journey at our personal tempo permitting us to essentially respect the attractive panorama which we had been traversing.

We spent the evening tenting about 20km to the east of Chilas, which was extra of only a relaxation cease earlier than we continued additional north to take a look at Naltar Valley.

It was nonetheless pretty early within the season (early April) which sadly meant that plenty of the aspect tracks had been nonetheless closed as a consequence of snow. We had deliberate to discover Fairy Meadows, Deosai Nationwide Park and Skardu as they give the impression of being unimaginable (in the proper purpose), although it simply offers us purpose to return again once more quickly!

The drive from Chilas to the flip off to Naltar Valley was unimaginable; snow-capped peaks, slender valleys, huge drops-offs and luxurious inexperienced villages popping up sporadically. Each nook we turned I could not assist however say “wow!”, because it appeared just like the surroundings simply saved getting higher and higher!

A part of the explanation why we wished to go to Naltar Valley was to see the ski resort there, the opposite was to have some enjoyable on the monitor up there! Just a few very unfastened rocky sections, mud and snow definitely completed the trick! Additional up the valley can also be some stunning lakes although the street was nonetheless shut off from the winter..

We spent the afternoon enjoying round within the snow (a novelty for us Aussies) and ingesting chai as we took within the stunning mountain views.

That is it for this episode! Thanks for watching! Within the subsequent one we’ll be persevering with our journey up the KKH!

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