With a swish, gust of wind rushed in the car through my window. Untamed hair flyaways tickled my face and chill in the air reddened my nose. Outside mist was tiptoeing over the crowns of the hills encapsulating
them in a magical aura. Our car was sluggishly climbing the steep road ahead of
us and still my brother was complaining about not getting appropriate time to
capture the dreamlike sights. I could not agree more; every turn on the road
pleaded us to stop and gaze at the picturesque view for hours or, as he would
prefer, settle down to wait for the right light to click some perfect shots. The view below is the one for which we actually halted the car (upper Nathia Gali Road).
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| Click of a Hut: Photo Credit Frustrated Khalid Mehmood |
It had been a long time since our last family trip but that
was not the only reason of our evident eagerness to reach the destination. We
have traveled almost all over the country, living in small and big cities with
occasional family trips which carried only deluxe hotels as the highlight.
Serena Hotel Sawat, Sheraton Hotel Karachi, Avari Lahore, Pearl Continental
Bhurban, even terrible PC hut at Abbottabad combined mostly with shopping trips to market. This time we wanted to exclude all
the plastic from our trip and get a step closer to nature.
No, we didn’t camp
outside in open. Let me give you a sneak peek of our packed trunk of the car
to make you understand. With crates of mineral water which could last a month; gadgets
with chargers (3 pin plugs for annoying sockets); mosquito repellents; anti-fungal
creams; all sort of toiletries from Listerine to hand towels, chewing gums to help
us with ear blockage (Eustachian tube dysfunctions at high altitudes) and even blankets
because, well the ones you get at hotel might smell funny! We burgers could not have possibly camped in open.
Capisce? We, once, rented an apartment in Ziarat and decided it was burdensome to
carry all the food supplies with us. Hence, the final choice was a guest house looking over the mesmerizing gullies of Namli Maira (Nemli Mahra) a village near Nathia Gali which is in close proximity of Ayubia National park
and 1 km away from Main Nathia Gali Road.
It started raining profusely with hail storm which closely
followed by. We drove down the Aabshar road, which was anything but a road
allowing only one car to pass at a time. Guest House was deep in the gullee where waterfall sang at the far corner. The rain stopped as sudden as it
started. We later came to know that nature on this altitude remains on a
constant mood swing; it gets bored easily, so it changes more
often than you change songs on your iPod. One of the room had two windows each
almost 7 by 7 (which we later renamed as nature’s LCDs) looking over the gullee.
We were literally glued to them.
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The scenes outside shifted at a brisk pace, every new
scene smoothly blending out with the previous one and then slowly rising to
dominate the sight. Slow morning drizzle would be accompanied by Sun. It would crack out of the clouds, only to shine its blinding spotlight at one hill while others would gloom in shadows. Fog would put on a misty blanket over the hillsides
and clouds would follow closely to shower some love. After leaving every leaf dripping wet
the rain would seize and out of nowhere a titanic cloud would sink down the
valley and sail across the other end. Later sun would peek from the clouds and
then swiftly stand all alone in its ultimate glory before sinking down the silhouettes
of the mountains.
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| Sunset from the window- by the way I clicked this one |
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| Traces of the stream which flows at the bed of the Gullee |
Life was slow, away from the hubbub of traffic,
deafening din of our televisions and constant buzz of cell phones. Fortunately
or unfortunately, the WiFi was not working at the guest house driving us to abandon our phones and sit together in a huddle to enjoy some family time. At
night we would put out the lamps and pull back the curtains. I have never seen
sky raided by gazillions of stars, twinkling like a muster of fireflies. Lights
of the huts would glow bright on dark hillsides as though the stars have come
down to rest on the hills. The first time you gasp in amazement, unable to tear
away your eyes from the vivid extravaganza of lights, is the moment you feel
the pang of pain on losing such a dazzling sight to the evil of light pollution.
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| Okay, Khalid has a flair for Photography |
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| Waterfall flowing over a road,tires got a refreshing bath-Namli Maira |
I can go on describing the long treks, horse rides, extraordinary birds, freezing
water of streams, and still cannot do justice to the beauty this place offers. I
have met most welcoming people who are ever ready to help you out with
directions and most importantly, the people who took great care of us at the
guest house. This is an ideal
location if you are looking for a peaceful vacation with family since the
facilities of Nathia Gali Bazar are nearby and you get to enjoy the view of the
valleys which stretch out all the way to Abbottabad Road. This place has a tremendous potential for tourism. Pakistan Tourist Development Corporation (PTDC) should provide infrastructure, especially better roads to
this area in order to attract investors and provide job opportunities to locals.
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| Freezing water of Glaciers |
Some DO’s and DON’TS
You need GPS in your car or smartphone to find your way out,
you’ll be very lucky to find a milestone around. And during heavy rains you might get stuck due to the
landslides, a bulldozer fell over the road on our way to Abottabad, blocking it altogether. We did not complain because it made us take a shortcut- cutting through
the heart of Namli Mehra's valleys, granting us the most spectacular views
to ogle at, which made us chant supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (although the road was a lot steeper which could make any
professional driver break into sweat). So you better keep a margin of days to
allow for any delays. If you are travelling in a bus, do make sure you knock
some sense into those drivers. Try stressing on cautious driving.
An important message to all of those people travelling up north
who think it’s necessary to leave their plastic marks behind, by
either washing away their neglectfulness in the fresh waterways or planting a pile of
their foolhardiness on the sides of the roads, please stay back in your packed
concrete jungles. The motivation behind
polluting these heavens is completely incomprehensible to me. There might not be
proper trashcans around but it does not mean that you can dump your trash
anywhere you like. Try bringing biodegradable bags with you and later dispose waste
in trashcans. If you are unable to find one keep the bags in your vehicles, of
course separate out the things which might rot and end up smelly. These degradable materials should be buried in the woods, preferably away from the water
channels.
