Paragliding as Tourism Product in Northern Pakistan

“When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return”, said Leonardo da Vinci.

Flying like birds has always been the earnest desire of men. The launching of HIKAP [Hindu Kush Association for Paragliding]—the first registered Civil Society Organization with a mission to promote paragliding in northern Pakistan—on December 6, 2009, is a big leap forward towards the realization of this unusual dream of the Chitrali youngsters.

The association has opened categories of professional and honorary membership with fee of Rs 1000/- for professional members. The beginners have to pay Rs 2000/- entry fee to learn the sport.

To begin with, Miftahuddin, ACO Chitral administered oath to the new office bearers of the association and wished the sport could be instrumental in the wellbeing of the entire region by highlighting it into an ideal destination and attracting more national and international paragliders on equal footing to Phokran in Nepal.

The speakers underlined the significance of paragliding as an innovative technology for tourism growth in future and ranked it as a budding product after the Kalash communities with mountaineering and free style polo to be ranked at third and fourth respectively.

Meanwhile the forum appreciated the step of the paragliders who, at first hand, learnt the sport without institutional supervision and now working assiduously to impart the gliding skills to other young people. The total number of senior pilots and new entrants is ten at present.
Given the perfect launching points and open landing spots coupled with clear blue sky, lofty snow-clad peaks and the buoyancy of the everlasting thermals keeping a pilot afloat for nine hours at times, Chitral could be the hub of both national and international paragliders.

Mr Saifullah Jan, himself a pilot and the newly elected president of the association shared his story of how he learnt to fly. He lamented the fact that in the beginning people discouraged him that the sport was life threatening and a difficult one. Despite all difficulties, he did not surrender. He saved some money, proceeded to Islamabad for some training and learnt it. Now he is recognized as a good trainer also.

“I can not find words to express the thrill that come when you fly through the air. It is a unique and unusual experience only to be appreciated by those who fly”, he said. He believes the sport is safe and easy for energetic youngsters to learn. “I was motivated for the first time when I saw a foreign paraglider who landed in Chitral polo ground twenty-three years ago. “On the inauguration of Jashan-e-Chitral 2004, five years ago, when I landed in the same polo ground for the first time, the crowd believed I was a foreigner. But when I took off my helmet, they were awe-struck to see a Chitrali paraglider”, said Mr Saifullah Jan. He thanked Shahzada Capt Siraj Ulmulk for the moral and technical support in the course of learning the sport.

We can not arrange international cricket or soccer events in Chitral given the deficiency in infrastructure and the huge budget that it involves, but we can easily organize an exceptional international paragliding contest as we don’t need any preparation or ground infrastructure for the sport. So why should we not use our favorable natural topography for promoting the sport and earn handsome income?

The participants termed the sport as an innovative sector of community development necessary to diversify people’s livelihood opportunities the way it has done in other parts of the world. They thanked the pilots to take adventurous initiatives to promote paragliding in region.

In his concluding speech, Mr Sartaj Ahmed Khan, Tehsil Nazim Chitral, appreciated the launching of HIKAP as a good omen for the future development of paragliding in Chitral and considered it not only an innotative area of entertainment but also a new sector of tourism promotion in future. He pledged his committed support from the Tehsil administration for the cause.

Adventure in the Eastern Pamir

It is a bright morning on July 9, at the end of the Shandur polo festival that with a group of 6 people we start from Shandur over Chamarkand Pass to participate in the Broghil festival and to continue our trek over Darkhot pass further on to the Yasin valley. After night stay at the Chamarkand pass (4328m), we manage to get to the village Chapali (2500m), 8 kilometer north to Mastuj. This village is acknowledged for its traditional folksingers, folkdancers, solo sitar players and vocalists. We stay with Mr Akhtar Murad Khan, whose house perches atop the mountain overlooking the village.

The next morning we have a thorough visit to have glimpses of the women activities in handicraft, cooking and the rest of the household chore. We observe several women harvesting wheat crops. Many more are occupied with weaving traditional woolen carpet, goat-hair carpet and embroidered women cap. Every house we visit, we are warmly welcomed and presented with cherry and mulberry besides tea. Some of the group members buy the local woolen carpets and embroidered women caps. In the late afternoon we arrange a big cultural event in the wide orchard under the cool shadow of the fruit-bearing trees,, where ‘Lokzhore’ and ‘pasthok’—the two famous floksongs are showcased through the participation of the elderly folksingers and folkdancers. Some tourists also join the dance party and make a fun.

From this village to Lashkargaz (3660), the venue of the festival, it is about 3 days travel. We arrange a 4X4 Jeep—the only dependable source of transport in the mountains of the Hindukush—upto the end of the Brep village where the bridge that connects the upper Yarkhun valley is broken and hence we have to carry the entire luggage through the narrow and rickety pedestrian bridge to the other side, where we bargain with Mr Dawood, the driver, who will charge us Rs 8000 for Kishmanja (3300m), the beginning of Broghil. Our travel is interrupted once as we stop for lunch at Pawer, the house of Mr Hakim Jan, the renowned personality of the area. He is also a first-class sitar expert and plays some of the oldest piece of music to the cheer and appreciation of the guests. This place is the best camping site but we don’t have it in our schedule to stay here. Rather we continue for Yarkhunlasht (3048) after lunch.

After traveling half an hour from Pawer, we reach at another unsteady jeep-able bridge connecting the village of Sholcoach (2700m) to that of Zhopo to the right side of the Yarkhun River. We choose to get down for our safety and let the jeep pass unloaded. The road from here onward leads us through a narrow valley with big boulders slowing down the vehicle’s speed. We reach at Darband, a place where a war was fought between Chitralies and some people coming from across the Wakhan Corridor in the olden times. The bunkers and other signs of war installations are still here. We reach Yarkhun by the evening and manage to stay with Mr Mehboob, a social activist and a hospitable gentleman. We pitch our tents in his vast orchard and the cook prepares dinner of chicken and rice. We go to sleep earlier with eagerness to start another challenging travel the next morning.
It takes us 2 hours to reach Kishmanja. You don’t have vehicle beyond this point. If traveling by foot, either from or to Broghil, then you have to compulsorily stay at Kishmaja whether or not you like the idea. Here we meet Mr Momin Khan, who speaks Dari Persian and Wakhi language and is proud of his Central Asian ancestors. He is dressed in the self-made raw leather coat and shoes called ‘Kon’. Here the cook prepares our lunch whilst we send for horses at Pechuztch or ‘the hot spring’ around which the village has developed. We arrive at Chikar for night stay and camp outside in the open meadow. By the night we listen to dogs barking, donkeys braying and horses neighing. We feel rather abandoned in a high and dry place under the bold shine of stars in the pitch-dark.
We awake to the yellow sunrays on the glacier of Chikar (3570m) to the south and in the adjacent pastureland. The nomads here just gather around and look at us in disbelief and some of them really shy away. Young girls play flute as they tend livestock further up the pasture. Smoke from the makeshift nomadic shelters makes a wavy column against the sky whilst children and elderly people sit lazily in the morning sun. As the sun in the nearby Chikar glacier presents an incredible view, we take a good deal of snaps.
We ride the sure-hoofed mountain ponies for Skarwarz (3510), the venue of the Yak Polo festival. It takes 5 hours before we reach this place, which is a big pastureland shared by the entire Wakhi communities. Yaks, horses, donkeys, sheep and goats are being grazed here. The landscape is beautiful with a range of wild flowers such as edelweiss, the sight of which brings a broad smile in the face of our Swiss group member who elaborates that edelweiss is Switzerland’s national flower. Golden marmot is also found in abundant here. They make underground tunnel and live in a family system. Broghil, the eastern Pamir region, is a wetland, appropriate for a variety of flora and fauna. It is one of the biggest peat bogs in the country and the locals dig out and get them sun-dried for fuel to be used in the harshest of 6 months long winter every year.
The three-day festival is truly a moment of pleasure. Some of the foreign friends just go for playing yak polo. It is an uphill task to mount the unruly creature and score a goal or two. On the final day of the yak polo festival, we arrange barbecue party to a big bonfire. The foreign guests and locals join together to have a big feast that everyone relishes.
The next day early in the morning, we start for Darkhot pass (4650m). The glacier is lengthy, steep and uneven and thus much tiring. One has to be much careful about the crevices filled with blue water many hundred feet deep. We clear the hurdles skillfully and ultimately reach the meadow of Darkhot in about 12 hours. For night stay we reach Darkhot village.
The next morning we awake to witness the long poplar trees and the nearby Darkhot glacier. The weather is quite chilly here even in midsummer. We take turn to the south and walk through the villages of Terset, Sandi and finally on to Taus, headquarter of the Yasin valley, where we avail public transport to Gupis and further on to the Gilgit city.
Thus one of our adventurous treks comes to an end.