CHITRAL Landscape Photography

Cliff, sky scraper It is not a skyscraper building, it is cliff near Kuju Payeen. This view fascinate me always. I took this picture some years ago. This naked rock had protected the village from intruders in past. In past people had defended their villages by building some defence packets at safe points over the village. This rock was more suitable to build a packet for defence. 

Posted by Javed Younus on  Sunday, December 20, 2015

Although Pumkin is the vegitable grown in hot summer but it is  called the vegitable of winter because all over the world people  use it in winter. In Chitral, specially people love it. In Chitrali language it is called "Shreen Alook". According to wikipedia.com  alone in  US its production is about 1.5 billion pounds  (680,000,000 kilograms or 680,000 tonnes). In Chitral production data for Pumpkin is not availabel. But it is  very popular among the masses. In winter every household in some way arrange  minimum one or two rather buy it or beg it  from some one. Here people  use it  as main dish coocked with more spices. Some time use it as sauce made of it along side main dish. 

Wood Work, Chitral, Pakistan History of wood carving in Chitral is very old. One can find its evidence in almost every house. But not patronizing by the government, it has declined.  Some good artisans have transmitted it to new generation. Mr, Rasool Muhammad of Mori Bala is one of them. He has mastered  his son Rashid in wood carving. The father of Rasool Muhammad; Loot Ustad, was a great master in wood carving. He was very famous in his time. He had decorated so many houses and important government buildings. DC office is one of them. Wali ur Rehaman(late) house situated at Zargarandeh is also decorated by him. This  pic is made by Rasool Muhammad and is showing his aptness in his work. 

Narow deep water stream  Narow, deep, splendid view of stream in Koghuzi Gol. 

Pic(119) , a photo by binisic1 on Flickr Just looking in the picture it is easy, but if ever you have to go through this mountain passage, anybody from out side the hindu khush region will thunderstruck. The way width is hardly one feet. Steepness you can see on pic. It is more than 100 feet down. If some time any body stumble there is nothing to stop him to go down in to the streem. Most of his body parts will gets separated by reaching down. Also you can see the attention the boys are paying to their steps.

mountain passage chitral koghuzi pakistan This picture is clearly showing the hardness of the passage in the mountain over a steep,deep and  narrow stream. Trekking into the mountain other then hindukush region might not be so dangerous.

A Narrow mountain Passage, Mountain, Hindukush, Chitral, Paksitan, One can just imagine the difficulties of the way in mountains if did not experienced it earlier. I was with these guys in this trip. It is my routine since adulthood, to explore neighbouring mountains with friends. Usually we go in mid summer, some time in early spring and some time in late summer. Good time to adventure into mountain is May to Oct. I think this  picture is self explanatory. It is above 300 feet high directly from the stream flowing down . The steep rock has been carved for some years now. Some year earlier not so late, people were travelling over this rock with out the pavements  .

Pic(106) , a photo by binisic1 on Flickr. By looking on picture it looks prety easy to jump into the stream and cross it. but it flowing at high speed and is very cold. Before one decide to cross it has to think twice. First you have to select easy point to cross. It depends upon the area some where you will walk more than a mile to find easy point. Than keep your feet carefully in water because moss will be collected on stone with in water. If you fell into the water of such amount, it will easily drag you and can hit you with stone.   

Paper Birch Tree, Chitral, Pakistan, Our group is crossing through Paper Birch trees in Koghuzi Gol, Chitral. Koghuzi Gol is is famous for transhumance. Too many herders take their goats to Koghuzi Gol  in summer. Koghzi Gol is rich in grazing areas.

Paper Birch Tree Chitral Paksitan A small forest of Paper Birch Tree is showing in Koghuzi Gol. 

Marble Stone Mable Stone mountain which runs from Koghuzi to Gahirat. Koghuzi Goal is very rich in Pure white Mable. But access road to the mining area is difficult. If government build a road to access, miner will rush to the area. Javed Muhammad's silhouette is matching with the background.

Paper Birch Chitral Pakistan Paper Birch tree is one of the oldest native trees of Chitral (Boliak o Kan in local language). Industrially its wood is used in the production of paper. Local goatkeepers use it to preserve Cheese in it. The goatkeepers peel off sheets according to their requirment and wrape it arround the Cheese. It bark is as thin as paper. It is to be said that in old times it was used for writing purpuse directly. In Koghuzi Gol only number of countable on finger tips have reamind. 

Fallen tree, Dudar, Landscape, Photgraphy, Chitral, Paksitan In high mountains it is rare that you could find any such dense forest. But down from koghuzi, some valleys have such forests. Some years ago Koghuzi Gol was rich in Dudar forest but after Chitral state merged into Pakistan people brutally cut the forest. Koghuzi Goal has small Dudar forest. Thsi fallen tree is one of them. During our trip I take this short while we were passing through the forest. 

chitral , a photo by binisic1 on Flickr. A group of high mountain lovers with the goatkeeper above 8000 feet. Mr. Zaheer uddin sitting . In the row standing from the left, Javed Muhammad, Hashim Khan, Mr, Ummet Khan, turned to goatkeeping newly. Mr. Shamsu Rehman has started goatkeeping newly after compleating his matriculation. Mr. Sami uddin. and jammar

Pic(72) , a photo by binisic1 on Flickr. chitral

Pic(67) , a photo by binisic1 on Flickr. A unique place to store Cheese and milk is made near snow melted cold water or near springs. This pic shows the antiquity of goatkeeping in Chitral and  the capacity to increase the profession with Government or others support. By giving training to herders govt can increase this business tremendously.

Pic(68) , a photo by binisic1 on Flickr. In mid summer almost all mountain tops take off the cloak off snow. Under the long prevailed snow some long waited vegitation start to grow. The snow melt water also fllowing down to arrigate the lower country.

Pic(65) , a photo by binisic1 on Flickr. A beautiful view of Koghuzi Gol Chitral. A small remaining forest of Dudar is showing in the background. Herders make fence with stones to protect their goats from predators in night. Some broken twigs of dudar and Juniper trees are also showing in the pic. Mr. Zaheer uddin is looking tired after more than 6 hour walk.

Pic(64) , a photo by binisic1 on Flickr Goatkeeping is one of the  most indiginous occupations in Chtral valley. With the small patches of  cultivate able land on the brink of water streams fllowing from high mountain tops, Chitral valley is very suitable for goatkeeping business. As its is gainging popularity allaround the world. With the growth in human population and shortage of food resouse is the main reason behind it. High mountains with alot of grazing space is suitable for goatkeepig. Transhumance took place in early May and return in late Nov. Most herders keeps goat only for making Cheese. They also sell deos and bucks for extra income. Cheese is very popular among people in the central Chitral area.