Deosai Jeep Safari A retrospect of an obvious truth

Deosai plains the second highest plateau of the world resides in the North Eastern hemisphere of Pakistans baltistan; the region which is still characterized by its hospitality, political stability, religious harmony and welcoming nature to foreigners unlike the west side of FANA. Deosai Plains are non habitable and accessible only during July/August throughout the year. Various conservation projects, wet land projects operatives have their igloo type camps at specific sites over the vast plains of Deosai also known as Land of The Giants.

Figure 1: Deosai Sheosar lake at a glance - Photography by Ali Azhar (a_aphilo)

The excursion to this relatively hidden and less infamous heaven on Earth was orchestrated by the Pakistan Adventure Foundation and among participants from diverse walks of life I, my wife and along with my colleagues from telecom industry embedded in. The journey to this far off place (2000 km plus round trip from Islamabad) revived inside my mind the sublime fact/reasoning which has remained buried deep in the layers of our economic/political woes and concerns and delayed democratization. A common Pakistani has been stalled to think beyond his/her very own basic survival concern nowadays. Our national consciousness has remained mostly numbed since our independence; thanks to the power hungry and fighting political poles of our country which are nothing but a meager political clans playing with the fate of our country since long. Under such circumstances one really needs a place of high isolation to contemplate. The expedition to the above tree line Deosai plains National Park (4000 Meters altitude) which is the host to one of the worlds endangered rare specie Himalayan Brown bear kicked off from Mangal base camp in Abbotabad. From here FWO constructed swinging mountainous road took us to the junction point of the great KKH (Karakoram highway) near Besham with in-parallel flowing mighty Indus witnessing the trade and marches of invading armies on the same route for the last thousands of years. The

thrilling journey for travel and hiking frenzy lasted 10 hours till our arrival at Chilas hotel camp and exposed us to the hidden treasure of Pakistan northern areas and reminded us equally the underutilized tourism industry, the sad fact that such exotic heavens on Earth still under the shadow of our national negligence and short sightedness and hidden from the eyes of the world, a systematic developmental move there can attract foreign investment and tourism; though encouragingly enough European and Japanese expeditions were seen at the midway resting camps (private rest houses and Shangrilla hotel/PTDC motel) of Chilas and Besham. Far eastern states nationals come here to pay homage/visits at traces of Buddha reign and Buddhism (carved figures on stones and Stupas one at Thalpan Bridge Chilas) whereas westerners come here in their passion to climb and mark 8000 meter plus peaks of Karakoram mostly and Himalayas/Hindukush ranges. As learnt from the Liaison Officer of Pakistan Army at one of the resting camp hotel accompanying the recent K-2 climb expedition that has suffered eighteen casualties; that each single group/expedition attempting to climb any 8000 meter plus peak brings in at least couple of thousand dollars per head per team/group which is a pretty handful of dollar influx into Pakistan annually collected by ministry of tourism in the form of royalties. The grave pertinent concern here is the big question mark; how long the prevalent peace will last in the eastern FANA? Before the intrusion of foreign mercenaries and resultant military operations the one which have already plagued district Swat and surrounding tourism industry. Sadly enough immediately after our return from the Deosai Expedition we learnt that security forces convoy had been attacked by the militants near Besham (a mountainous road runs near Besham straight from Swat). Such incidents can have disastrous effect on the foreign touring expeditions (hundreds of them annually) which are bound to travel on KKH to access base camps for K-2, Nanga Parbat (Killer Mountain) and other peaks. The need is to project such areas as travel/vacation icon on media just like our neighboring country doing with less exotic landscapes. Imagine the consequence of graphically enhanced, illustrative documentaries on this expedition telecasted on national geographic and BBC media; would definitely be no less than influx of foreign investment and attraction to tourists, researchers and naturalists. But we need entrepreneurship supported by capital to materialize such ambitions; nonetheless time is running out and if our national think tank does nothing at this point we are going to loose another heaven of ours. Twenty kilometers before Chilas the Basha Dam Site paints another sorry picture of our collective national naivety; how we have delayed the construction work of such a mega non controversial hydro-power project; which if started timely would have resolved our present power crisis very effectively. Now the cost of the project has soared up and has been declared economically nonviable, who is going to fund this multi-billion dollar project now? Further traveling into the unruffled lands we discovered our very own mini Grand Canyon (why bother traveling to Americas Colorado river canyon) situated along the flowing turbulent river waters thrashing against the stones and natural mineral/rock deposits starting right from Chilas till Thaleche. At Thaleche we were transferred on jeeps for further traversing to Astore valley, where the camping site at Rama Lake was awaiting us. The lake reservoir is feed by the melting glaciers and nearby snow clad mountain peaks giving a serene view no less than Swiss Alps. On all the major towns/cities over KKH till Astore valley our mobile phone signals never faded away; thus qualifying the coverage claims of cellular operators of Pakistan.

Figure 2: Our Camp Site at Astore - Photography by Ali Azhar (a_aphilo)

Figure 3: A view of snow clad mountain tips from Astore - Photography by Ali Azhar (a_aphilo)

Finally after a couple of days of traveling and camping we arrived at Chilam, the gateway to Deosai Plains, a military check post personnel searched for our NICs ensuring that no foreigner can enter into the worlds second roof unchecked. Soon on entering we were welcomed by the scared and running away Red Foxes and Marmots with their backs at us making us guilty of entering into their peaceful world. It was more like a safari flavor with our jeeps touching and maneuvering through the wild life in open nature. The

narrow swinging road in time exposed our jeep convoy to the majestic lake of Deosai Sheosar Lake at an altitude of 4166 meters, surrounded by flower beds, a place of perfect bliss, where the silence speaks and one can easily write poetry on the sound of silence while observing the mystic beauty. Standing there looking at the Kargil War zone hills in the south east roughly 60km away I could easily imagine how the barrage of cannons must had shattered the thick silence of Deosai during the indecisive Kargil Conflict.

Figure 4: Our Camp Site at Deosai Plains - Photography by Ali Azhar (a_aphilo)

Figure 5: Deosai Plains (Land of Giants) where silence speaks- Photography by Ali Azhar (a_aphilo)

The Deosai Plains stand still in the unfathomable vastness of space and time detached from the volatile socio-economic situation of the entire Pakistan. Maybe the calmness in this region is indicative of peaceful days somewhere in the distant future, days witnessing glorification of Pakistani nation as dreamt by The Quaid of nation decades ago. In the end I was unable to spot rare Brown Bear as if he had already sensed the turbulent times ahead and preferred hibernation rather suffering.

Figure 6: Guardian of Deosai - Photography by Ali Azhar (a_aphilo)