Indus Kohistan….usually just a part of the KKH that I have rushed through without stopping, merely wondering what lay beneath the surface, but recently I had the good fortune to discover a little more about this remote area, stuck between Mansehra and Gilgit.

Team taking rest at Moghulabad

This was made possible by the generosity of Palas Conservation and Development Project (PCDP, a project jointly funded by European Union and GoNWFP), and in particular, Rab Nawaz (Programme Officer - Biodiversity, PCDP/WWF), who arranged for a small group of us to trek into the remote Palas valley. We were keen to see the landscape and to go bird watching in the almost untouched forest above the village of Karoser. The area has very seldom been visited by tourists and so it was especially interesting to see a virtually untouched valley, where the communities are self sufficient, growing mostly maize and now wheat as well and keeping goats and sheep. They also produce honey and walnuts that they are beginning to sell for profit.
The PCDP is working to conserve the habitat of the Western Tragopan peasant, which is currently under threat with numbers estimated at around 900 in Pakistan and 5,000 in India. This is an especially shy pheasant that hides in the dense forest vegetation that they inhabit at heights of between 2,400m and 3,600m. It is a very colourful bird and is under threat from forest loss, hunting, fodder and fuel wood collection and disturbance by humans. The PCDP is working through the local community to encourage conservation of the forests and awareness of the environment. The locals are very aware of their environment and its safeguard; the concern is that outsiders will exploit them for the valuable forest. PCDP are helping to improve crop yields, improve health and sanitation, especially for women, and encourage some ecotourism in the valley. Some of the locals were rather surprised that people would be interested to pay to visit their valley!

Our starting point was the Kohistan Inn at Pattan, which also houses the offices for PCDP, 7 hours from Islamabad. We drove to the end of the jeep road 2 hours from Pattan, on the edge of the river Palas, where porters took our loads. There we started the trek, crossing first a sheer rock band that had been blasted to make a path. After an hour of flat walking we crossed the river and started the steep ascent up the mountainside, through oak forest.

A villager brought us tea and maize roti on the way; our first indication of the hospitality of these people, and we finally reached the village of Karoser after about 5 hours of steady walking, at an altitude of about 2200m. We camped in the summer settlement above the village itself, and the porters made a home and fire in the hujra, or visitors’ house, which had a lovely central fireplace and plenty of straw for comfortable seating. We looked down onto the well-constructed wooden chalets of the village itself, often built on stilts, with several of the homes having smoke towers above the building. The porters turned into wood gathers, cooks and tea brewers without any fuss, and were helpful, friendly and full of humour. We were overwhelmed with their hospitality and in the evenings enjoyed plenty of campfire chitchat. We ate extremely well and lacked for nothing.

The following day we took a local shikari, or hunter, and his dog out with us to look for the pheasants; we were especially keen to see the illusive Western Tragopan, as well as the Koklas and Himalayan Monal that inhabit this stretch of forest. Unfortunately the still, grey cold day was not conducive to much in the way of bird life, so we settled for a morning walk only, returning to the campsite for lunch, and rested as the weather closed in during the afternoon, with some flurries of snow.

Day three saw us clambering up steep forest and across scrubby gullies through snow, and into the Tragopan habitat at around 3000m. Here the forest was really impressive, with huge pine and oak trees, untouched and really beautiful; I only hope that it remains that way. We were again accompanied by the shikari and his dog that flushed out the three pheasant types for us. We would rest for a few minutes on the rocky outcrops to watch them flying away down the gullies. We got glimpses of several Koklas, Monal and one Tragopan, so were happy with our morning.

We returned to the campsite and as the weather was closing in decided to break camp after lunch and move back down to near the road head to ensure our departure the following morning. It was a pleasant walk, a different route to our ascent, down through several small villages all surrounded by beautifully terraced fields and goats and along some rocky outcrops that required nimble feet.

Team on the last day, before departure for the road head

The porters travelled very fast with heavy loads and plastic shoes, never once tripping on the decidedly slippery rocks. We crossed rickety bridges, which were well engineered but still felt vulnerable with the river rushing by. We camped in a forlorn hospital that was built some years back but unfortunately never completed or used. It is a sad testament to a change in policy or government at some point in the past. Sadly, there is very little basic health care for these remote villagers, although there is a dispensary at the hospital in Kuz Paro village and some visiting clinics as well as immunisation drives were held with great success last year. We awoke the following morning to see the snow line even lower so were glad of our decision, and left the valley by jeep, back to the KKH, thence to Islamabad, to arrive as un-seasonal snow was falling in town.

Virginia Bird
Islamabad