Last month, I had a chance to go to Gilgit Baltistan, the 5th time. It was of course a planned trip to line of control (#LOC) from Astore side. We left Islamabad in the afternoon and broke in Naran. Though, during travel we don’t care about eat and sleep. I mean, we eat what we find and we stay where the night falls. Interesting na? But this is major rule of travelling to be kept in mind when we start travel. Anyways, it was good that this time night fell upon us before Naran.
On 2nd day, in the early morning, we left Naran and kept travelling throughout the day until we reached Chilam choki, near Deosai National Park. On the way we met the beauty of nature starting from Kaghan valley, mesmerizing and spectacular vistas, Lulusar lake. From Babusar pass (14100 ft), we started descending down to Chillas. Chillas is 35 km from Babusar top with difference of 10000 ft in elevation. At some places, it gets steep so take care while ascending from or descending down to Chillas. Travel from Chillas to Astore remains hot in summer like the temperature in September was recorded 40 C on my car gauge. In the afternoon, we reached Astore valley, the beautiful valley. Here we had to go through a tough and tiring procedure of getting the permission letter to proceed for Minimarg and Domel. We sought this letter from DC office and got it stamped by a major of Pak army available in the army mess, Astore. This is a mandatory requirement to take a turn towards Minimarg from Chilam. After this exercise, we continued to Chilam and again the night fell upon us before Chilam but we had a reservation this time already in PWD rest house, Chilam.
On 3rd day, we started again in the early morning keeping in mind to utilize maximum day light during travel. After getting clearance from army check post Chilam at 0700 am, we set off for Minimarg. Lol, my drone camera was captured by the soldier. To go to Minimarg, you must have that permission letter duly stamped (Pic attached) and a four wheel drive. Travel from Chilam to Minimarg was the most beautiful, amazing and magical one. We passed through Burzil Top (13800 ft), Burzil lake is the beauty and the panorama surrounding the lake are tremendous. In 3 hrs from Chilam, we reached Minimarg. Again we had a booking for night stay here in PWD rest house. Without booking, they don’t let stay in Minimarg and we have to leave before 4 pm. Anyways, after getting our entry registered by Pak army Jawan in Minimarg, we continued to Domel and rainbow lake. Domel is 15 km from Minimarg. The route is partly dangerous yet wondrous and breath taking. It took 2 hrs to reach there. Domel is just a piece of heaven. It is very close to LOC and there are Kargil peaks across the line. Minimarg is the area that remained under Kargil war back in 1998. Taobat is close to Minimarg and accessible through Jeep and hiking from Shounter pass. We came back to Minimarg in half an hr from Domel. My friends were stunned at the driving skills i showed to them while coming back LOL. We had a wonderful evening in Minimarg.
The next day, we left in the early morning, got my drone back and reached Jalkhad after a day long travel. After night stay in Jalkhad, reached back Islamabad the next day.
Detailed tour in movies can be accessed at following links.
