Finally Found This UNKNOWN Blue Lake EP.19 | PHANDER VALLEY AND KUKUSH LAKE | North Pakistan
So there was one lake back there while this here is the bigger one. Phander seems to be a relatively bigger village. Don't want the track to get any tougher. The track ends there.
Wow... Isn't that wonderful... Assalam Alekum. Good Morning. Namaste. Sat Sri Akal. To Everyone. From Phander. We got here quite late last night. It was quite a rather long ride with some sections under construction. However, despite everything, we got here comfortably.
The reason behind coming here is one place that we'll be visiting today. And it's a lake called Kokush lake. It's situated by a village called Langar on the way to Shandoor. It's the last check post of Gilgit Baltistan if I'm not mistaken.
And after that you reach Shandoor. The route to lake is before that point. We have been told that it will take 1.5 to 2 hours to reach Langar. And after that, it will be a 2 hour hike. So, it's gonna be another long day. We don't know where we'll be staying at night.
If we get late, we might stay in Langar. But we'll try to reach Gilgit tonight. And in order to reach Gilgit, we'll need 5 to 6 hours. That's Ali, having the usual breakfast of egg and paratha.
Along with a cup of tea. That's gonna be our breakfast for today. All our trekking or motorcycle ride early in the day is made possible by this egg-paratha breakfast. Each of us will have at least one paratha before we start our ride.
We'll also try to capture this area for you. Last time we made quite a few videos of this area. But we'll definitely get some drone shots if we see a nice place. Don't know if the color of river has changed or not. We'll go have a look and share with you.
Bismillah... In the name of Allah... *Prayer for the journey* May Allah make this a safe and memorable journey for us. We have been made to feel scared about this ride.
That the route ahead is in quite a bad shape. There used to be a PTDC hotel here at some point in the past; not anymore. That's Phander lake in front of us. It's a small lake but its waters show beautiful reflections.
It's a beautiful cloudy day today. Look at this wonderful lake. Since there's no breeze at the moment, the still waters show an amazing reflection of the trees. Awesome So there was one lake back there while this here is the bigger one.
Is it a lake or a river? It's a river. It appeared to be a lake. Such a beautiful location it is...
Those of you who enjoy camping should grab their tents and come here. But you can't rely on the water level in the river. Or if there's heavy rain in the night...
Then it could be a problem. You can see that the water must have reached here once. So, in case of a heavy rain, you can find yourself in serious problem. Check out this awesome location. I was rather disappointed when I saw the river and the track yesterday.
Because I had really high expectations of this place. Normally, I try to avoid going to a place that I have already visited. I'd rather go see a new place. But I liked this place so much that I wanted to visit it again. Spend a day or two here. And explore some new valleys in the vicinity.
But as we got here today... The very first sight made up for all the disappointment and tiresome ride. That's how beautiful it is. Best camping spot. Do come here and enjoy camping. We have a very light breeze today.
The color of river water is gradually turning into greenish blue. It is expected to transform back to its original color in a few days' time. Highly recommended. Hardly 10 minutes away from the hotel.
You can even walk to this place and it won't take more than 12 minutes. If you don't feel like camping, you can stay in the hotel and walk here in the morning. Walk past the Phander lake and you will find yourself by this river. Ali is busy getting some drone shots. I have also captured some drone shots. We hope to showcase the beauty of this area in the best possible way.
We'll spend some time here before we resume our ride. Time to bid farewell to this beautiful location. And move on to our next destination. We'll stay on this thin strip along the river to get to Phander village.
There are many spots here as well. You can safely pitch your tent here among these trees. It rained here today as well but not as much as yesterday. It kept on raining last night.
We can still feel tiny droplets of rain in the air. But not too much. Let's hope to have a dry ride. When this Chitral to Gilgit road will be ready...
It will truly change the destiny of this valley. And tourism will turn out to be a massive source of income for the locals. At this point in time, not many tourists come here due to the condition of the road. We'll be really happy if our off road till Langar will be like this. The ride will be slow but not bumpy.
Assalam Alekum Now we'll get on the main Phander road. Isn't this a remarkable view of the village ahead. Here you can see a village down there and there's another valley on the mountain above it. You don't really notice if there are people living here. But valleys like this one will keep on coming along this route.
This is the main bazaar of Phander. There is coverage of SCO 4G here. Haven't seen any banks here; did see some hotels and restaurants though. So you don't need to worry about that. Phander seemed to be a relatively bigger village. You can see that the crop here has been destroyed.
That's the result of the recent heavy rains. But I can see good agriculture here. There's river water nearby and water streams as well. Quite nice.
This is a village by the name of Hunderab. Just see how wonderful this is. Shandoor Top is 32 km from here.
It's a really beautiful location. This is the Shandoor check post. I think, it's Langar and that's where our trekking will start. It has taken us slightly more than an hour and a quarter. I have just checked and there's still pretty good coverage of SCO network.
4G internet is also available. You can say that 70 to 80% of this track had internet coverage. 3G if not 4G... You can send messages and make calls.
It's more or less okay. The situation is much better than what it was 3 years back. Hopefully it will be even better in the next few years.
Ali, do we need to go uphill from here? Keep going left? That means we are still moving towards Shandoor. Look at these beautiful meadows on the way to Shandoor top. Moving along this track, you'll reach Shandoor top after a few curves. This track will take you to Kokush lake.
Fishing is prohibited here. Section 144 has been imposed here. Only people with permits can go fishing here. Let's see how far we can go on motorcycle. And how long our trekking is gonna be... Here's a water crossing.
Ali What if this track gets tougher from here... Bismillah.. In the name of Allah We are through... If it's gonna be a plain like this one... we can go really far. The river water here is really beautiful.
I have a feeling that the water in the lake will have this same color. So people do come this far on their cars and motorcycles. Until the road ends. This looks fantastic. The gentle sunlight... Falling on water and the valleys...
With shades at some places while sunlight at some others... And then there's Abrar and Rangeeli (motorcycle) in the company of Ali... What should we call Ali's? motorcycle?? We are there now. We have started our hike. We met some locals here who advised us against leaving our luggage back here. It's almost a 3 hour trek and then we have to come back as well.
Normally nothing bad happens here but still in case... If something gets stolen... and we have a lot of stuff with us.. It would have been better if we had left all our stuff back at the hotel. And we should have brought only our back packs with us. So we have decided that Ali will stay back there with the luggage. And I'm gonna do this hike alone.
It's a 3 hour hike along the river. The trek is really beautiful. We can easily get water from the river whenever needed. Better keep moving. We hope to reach there in 2 hours because I'm going at a higher pace. Won't be taking too many breaks.
So that I can get back before evening. You can say that this trek is among the most beautiful hiking trails in Pakistan. There's a forest here... A river with blue colored water flows here. There are water streams running down the mountains.
There are green meadows everywhere. There are trees all around so you can sit under the shade. Sometimes the sunlight is strong that you can't sit anywhere. There are numerous stunning green meadows here.
Lost at words I didn't expect to see this much beauty here. After a 3 hour hike, I have finally reached this location. What actually makes me happy is ...
Until I had seen this place, I had a feeling that I might be wasting my time. I had no idea if this lake was gonna be beautiful or not. A walking trek of 3 hours or 6 hours total is a considerable amount of time. Even the road from Gilgit till here was so bad that it took us almost 1.5 days.
And now we'll have to take the same route as before, because the road ahead is closed. I think this lake is worth all the effort. Just check out the color of this lake. Mind blowing And there are beautiful peaks all around it. We have a mixed sort of weather today with clouds as well as sunshine. As a result there is a very beautiful light falling on the lake.
It's probably among the most beautiful lakes in Pakistan. Not many people know about this lake. Even I didn't know about it before. If it was not for Ali, I may never have reached this location. It's very close to Shandoor.
There are some really good camping options here. The only thing that makes me feel sad is the fact that I was unaware of this gem of a location. We could have brought our tent with us and set it up here.
And cooked a meal here and enjoyed our night. Such an awesome location this is... I recommend it highly. If you ever get a chance to visit Shandoor and visit this lake, don't waste it. I'm sure you won't be disappointed. That's how beautiful this lake is.
Going up there took 3 hours and the return hike took only 2. I think I went rather fast and didn't take breaks. Especially no breaks on the way back. Here's Ali. He looks rather exhausted from all the rest he has been taking.
He's been trying to convince me from last three days to visit this lake. It's a great place. Thanks very much. Thank you. My advice to anyone who is coming here is to bring their tents along. If you are coming on your vehicle, just park it here.
And after that you have a bunch of places to see. I mean you may not necessarily be camping just by the like. You can pitch your tent at any suitable location you like.
You won't regret it because it's one of the best hiking trails in Pakistan. I'm saying this over and over again. Let's leave now.
Here's Rangeli. We have taken care of the stuff that we unloaded from the motorcycle. And then we'll go towards Phander.
We'll decide it there, whether to stay there or keep moving forward. It's 7:08 pm now. I think we'll reach Phander by 8:30 pm. There is slightly more water here now.
Anyways no problem. Go Rangeeli Slow and steady will get us through. This water crossing... It might be quite difficult to travel here at night without a light source. Ali is telling me about the fishing license here.
You are not allowed fishing without the license. And they charge PKR 500 per day. You can check the price for that at the check post here, if you visit. Our meal has been served. And I don't think we need to tell you what we are having.
It's something that we eat almost 90% of the times. We are having chicken karrahi once again. Ali is very hungry. Even I'm quite hungry because we only had an egg and paratha in the morning. Followed by a 5 hour hike...
Nevertheless, we had a great day. I wasn't expecting this sort of an area... Ali was already aware of it. I hope you must have enjoyed it as well. If you did, don't forget to Like, Subscribe and Share. We'll leave from Phander tomorrow and you will find out about our next destination in the coming vlog. Allah Hafiz
2023-09-19 07:58
