ISLAMABAD: The flight from Islamabad to Skardu was an experience of its own, and probably deserves an article in its entirety. Majestic white mountains and rocky ranges left us awestruck, but the flight that goes over them can also make you jittery.
It was like reliving childhood fairy tales of a far-off kingdom. I wasn’t alone in my wonder; fellow passengers from diverse nationalities including Europeans, East Asians and Africans were equally captivated.
For the first time I liked the voice of the pilot. He was describing the different areas and regions. All white in some places. It must have been the permafrost on mountains, I believe.
The starry night in Skardu was icing on the cake for a night person like me. Nearly four decades of living in Karachi, experiencing two shooting stars within a span of half an hour was also thrilling. But all this may still not justify the experience of the Skardu night.
There was a local with us, staring at the stars like idiots for nearly an hour in pitch darkness just a few paces from the hotel where we were staying. There was also a small water stream crossing the road. The local told us that the snow melts in the mountains during the day and water reaches the city at night.
I want to apologise to Mohammad Saqib, the local who helped us. He told me that he has seen stars moving in the night sky. I thought he had some sight issues. I conveyed him that. But in the next half hour I realised he was talking about shooting stars.
I believe there is also a need to market the experience of the nights in these northern areas along with the scenic days. Especially to those who come from urban cities that don’t experience the nights like these.
I felt like like an awakening spirit when I took a dip in the cold upper Kachura Lake. To me, Shangrila resort is overrated. It’s the upper Kachura that one must visit.
All this reminded me of Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel Antarctica where he shared the experiences in just four words at the beginning or the middle of some chapters. It didn’t make sense initially. But a bit into the novel, it started to make sense. Each of the four words – describing the landscape has a story behind it.
A lonely early morning brisk walk from the resort hotel – Dynasty – towards the base of the nearest mountain proved to be a mirage. The mountain kept walking away from me even after half an hour of walking. I had to return to the hotel for breakfast and get ready to join the group to travel by road to Gilgit.
We also travelled to Gilgit. It was hot just like Karachi. The road we were staying at – Shahrahe Quaid-e-Azam – looked similar to Karachi’s Mehmoodabad road in the night, only that it was much less littered. During the trip, I got a chance to speak to ZohaibAyub, GM Gilgit-Baltistan Waste Management Company, which is working to clean the region in an effort to keep its tourism attraction continue to shine.
Ayub said that the company was buying recyclable material such as pet bottles. He said workers at hotels such as sweepers now try to increase their earnings by collecting and selling pet bottles to them.He said that private companies were also helping them.
“Now we want to find ways to recycle single-use plastic such as shopping bags and we are working on that.”
Gilgit-Baltistan is definitely highly scenic, full of tourism potential. It seemed half of the Islamabad flight to Skardu were foreigners. But littering is a major concern. I hope the GB government along with the support of the private sector are able to resolve it.
A person in the group who is a regular traveler to the Gilgit-Baltistan region told us early during the tour never to believe the locals when asking about the time it will take to reach some places like tourist spots. “If they say it will take two hours to reach a tourist point, it will take at least four.”
Not taking this seriously was a huge mistake. Waqas, my fellow journalist, and I might have made the whole group unable to catch their flight because we took locals five-minutes away seriously. It took much more than that. One thing for sure is that they don’t do it intentionally. People in Skardu are very friendly.
But takeaways are; never wait for a few people in the group if there is a chance to lose a flight. Moreover, group leaders need to be more proactive and resourceful. They need to read the situation quickly.
In my particular case, I was nearer to the airport and there was a protest separating us reaching quickly to join the group. My group could have easily brought my luggage with them from the hotel and we could have easily met at the airport well in time. It was a close call. Apparently, there was some VIP who was also supposed to take the same PIA flight and as their habit is, they made the flight wait.
The flight delay to Skardu seemed like part and parcel of the game. Our whole trip was moved forward by a day because our flight from Islamabad to Skardu was cancelled.
And then the flight we eventually took to Skardu was around six hours delayed. At one point in time, our whole trip to GB was about to be scrapped. The flight eventually took off, perhaps in the last hour, when flights were allowed to fly between Islamabad to Skardu. Flight from Skardu to Islamabad was also delayed by a couple of hours.
The trip wasn’t without its challenges, including flight delays and misadventures with locals’ estimates of time. However, the stunning beauty of Gilgit-Baltistan and its warm hospitality left an indelible mark on my heart. I hope that the region’s tourism potential is preserved and protected for generations to come.
