Lahore to Khunjrab Bike Ride, 2019

Tour highlights in three parts:

Lulusar Lake

Naran Tour 2011

The north of Pakistan is so much blessed with natural beauty. Visiting these places every time brings all the more excitement. A little attention paid by the government to these areas can be quite beneficial for tourism and thus generate revenue as well but to our utter disgust it came to pass that there was little work being done in this regard, even the roads where getting repair work at a few points only, let alone the construction of the off-road part from Jalkhad to Babusar Pass.
Our trip consisted of three night stay at Naran, we stayed at the Sarhad Tourism Hotel right by the side of Naran city road. I shall post pics with commentary.

Last year I visited Naran at the start of season, that was entirely a different in fact more exciting experience. You would come across road surrounded by glaciers from both sides. Especially the track to Jalkhad had many such spots. Even the lake Saiful Muluk gave a breath taking view. Some pics from last year.
These pics are not copyrighted, you are welcome to download them. However, I would appreciate if you posted a comment about any pic you downloaded.

Compared to that last year, the road to Naran this time was in a bit worse condition. At one place there was a whole mountain that had slid away the road, work was in progress but the road condition was too much for our low ground clearance cars, Civic and Camry.

About 15km away from Naran we came across this amazing rock. Wonders of Allah's greatness, the name of Prophet Muhammad Sallaho Alihe Wasalm appeared on two rocks. 

Day 1

We hired two jeeps to take us to Babusar Pass. I have been as far as Lulusar lake before so Babusar Pass was a new place and an exciting one. The journey from Naran to Jalkhad is 40k carpeted road journey which takes less than one hour time. From Jalkhad to Babusar Pass there is jeep track of abour 35km. During our visit we didn't see any road construction work in progress in this area.

Some pics on way to Jalkhad:

This part of the road is pretty good. You want to drive fast here unless you are on a jeep as we were:

Jalkhad is the last place before reaching Chillas where you can have something to eat. But they only offer meat, daal or channa here, no chicken. Those who prefer chicken on such trips should keep this in mind.
At Jalkhad:

Yes those cups are being washed..

 

A journey of about more than two hours takes you to Lulusar lake, its diameter is 3km wide:

Some random pics:

Refreshment time..

The lake Lulusar is at a hight of about 11200 feet. This is the biggest lake of Naran valley. At a place nearby called Porbinar, the Birtish had martyred several Muslims so some also call this place as Shaheed Kath.

The Babusar Top is at a height of 13500+ feet. Across babusar Pass you come to view several mountain giving a breathtaking view. It takes about 4 hours to get her from Naran. The road is under construction here and when it is completed it will be the new route to the Karakoram Highway. Our jeep driver told us that this road has been used in the past as well fora route to China.
We had some snow fall here during our visit. At the edge of the mountain blows a very cold wind at a very high speed. I assume that the wind's speed was not at all less than 120km/h I can tell you that because I have felt that much drag of air while riding my bike.

Chillas is not too far from here. The road to Chillas is proper, we were told, and it takes one and a half hour to get there. The road to Chillas:

Some remains of a glacier at Babusar:

Below is a polo ground near the village Gitti Das. Above this place are the mountains shadowing the magical Fairy Meadows:

I saw this pic some time ago. Someone has been there on bicycle, now thats called adventure. The mountain covered with cluods is the Babsar Top. Torward right would be the mountains of Fairy Meadows:

Here is a video clip of the view from Babusar Top. The wind blows extremely fast here. I reckon, its speed was not less than 120km/h, I could hardly keep the camera straight due to fast wind:

Day 2: Lake Saiful Muluk

The road to Lake Saiful Muluk was in worse condition than before. Two jeeps cost us Rs. 1600 each. The journey was roughly of about one hour.

What I didn't like about the lake this time was that it was too much corwded, its beauty marred by the boats floating in it. Becuase of the waves caused by the boats you cannot view the reflection of the mountains in it any more, which was the real beauty of the lake. See the difference yourself:

Last Year at start of the season

This year

We did a round tour of the whole lake which took us about an hour and forty fie minutes including the time spent in taking pics:

Food at Naran is always great:

Poor chicken was eating daal a while ago and now 

The Naran Excursion May '10

The roads to Naran were open I came to know, so I decided to make this trip and spend some times off the Punjab's heat. I left Islamabad on my Coure at 7:15am, made about three stops till I reached the beautiful Naran valley.

Took lot of pics because on this trip I was armed with a 5MP digital camera. I'll share the pics along with commentary(H)

The weather was somewhat hot upto Kaghan, but after that here was a sudden change in the wind temperature:

Much of the road has been rebuilt, as compared to what I witnessed on my August '08 visit. However, the road still gets blocked at some places and then gets cleared in some time, though you might have to wait for upto 45 minutes.

The steel bridge on way to Naran, the old one was destructed by the earthquake.


The under-construction part of the road:


A natural spring of water some 15km away from Naran:


A view of the mineral mountain just before Naran:


On reaching Naran the weather was just awesome:

Since it is the almost the beginning of the season, there are not many tourists in Naran these days so the roads and hotels are not crowded.

Next day was planned for a visit to the famous Lake Saif ul Muluk. I came to know that Jeep takes you half the way after which you have the option either to hire a horse of enjoy walking up all the way.

I took the horse :)


Pics of the horse track:

Riding a horse on a terrain like this is an experience of its kind, you must experience it at least once, I had great adventurous time.

The Jeep drive is about thirty minutes+thirty minutes of riding the horse back+an additional twenty minutes of walk as the end journey to the lake is not possible on the horse because of lose gravel at some places.

Some pics I took during the twenty minute walk journey:

This looks great, right?


Another beautiful view"








Just five minutes from the lake and you get to see a breathtaking beautiful view:
Tell me its not just me ;)

The Jeep was parked in the area as I have encircled, the Jeep is not visible in the pic, this is how much you travel on the horse, including the walking journey:

Zoomed view of the lake from a distance of five minutes walk:


Thats it, I'm here:

The great thing about visiting the lake in this season is that you get to see totally different colours of and around the lake as compared to the regular season, plus presence of mighty glaciers around the lake covering the mountains further add to the charm.

Notice the reflection of mountains:

I strolled around and took some amazing pics, you be the judge:








Some of the lake water is still frozen:

On return from the lake there was still lot of energy and desire left to make a ride on the Naran-Jalkhad road. I was told that its not possible to reach Jalkhad on car as several huge glaciers make it impossible to reach there when your ride is not a Jeep. But there never is a harm on going out on your own, going as far as you easily can, and take some amazing pics:

The exciting thing about the Naran-Jalkhad track driving is that you get to see lot beautiful landscapes, and the same makes it a time taking journey, you crave to take as many pics as you can:

You come across several glaciers on this road, big and small. I crossed about eight of them, two were real skill testing:

I love this pic:


And what about a poser pic?? ;)


Water flowing down the road:


It was quite an effort for Coure to cross two difficult glaciers and get there for a shot:

Since the road is narrow around here, it can be a problem if a vehicle comes from the opposite side:

Another big one:


Notice the track here:


Riding a Harley on a road like this with this kind of landscape is one of my dreams:


A pic taken on way back to Naran:


Some pics taken in Naran, by the riverside:

The next day was scheduled for the Shugran visit. The road toward Shugran has many twists on steep heights on it, so a vehicle with good engine condition only can make it to the top. So if the engine of your car is not enough powerful, don't dare take this road:

Some Shugran pics:

Because of the Hazara province issue blockage of road in the Pakhtunkwa area is no surprise, I too got trapped in one such blockage on my way back: