Kumrat is a newly explored valley in Upper Dir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), which became a popular tourist destination after the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader, Imran Khan, showed up there to boost tourism in the province. While a group of friends and I were chalking out a plan to explore the northern areas of the country this summer, we too decided to visit Kumrat in light of its growing popularity. Our journey started from Mansehra, and we travelled through Battagram and Shangla to reach Swat. Given our arduous itinerary due to the time spent in Mansehra, Malam Jabba and Kalam, we were only left with a day to explore the serenity of Kumrat if we were to follow our travel plan on schedule. However, we were all in agreement that, even if for a few hours, Kumrat was a destination that had to be explored.
To avail as much daylight as we could, we left for Kumrat early in the morning, and the drive to the valley ended up being as serene and beautiful as we expected Kumrat to be! After leaving Kalam, we passed through Utror, experiencing its alluring views and crossing a mammoth mountain to reach the summit called the Bargoi Top.
Despite the scenic route presenting breath-taking landscapes throughout our journey, the road was a dangerous one, especially to an acrophobe like myself. As we travelled on an adventurously steep road, my growing fear compelled me to remember the line from the poem Endymion by the nature-loving poet, John Keats, where he says,
A thing of beauty is a joy forever
After stopping for some tea at the Bargoi summit to freshen up, we whisked through the Bargoi pass, which lies at an altitude of more than 11,000 feet and offers a magnificent view of Lamooti.After the hectic drive of the day, we stopped at a small hotel to call it a day. With the sun about to set and the dangers of the route, we decided to not take any chances and pick up the next day, in order to make the most of the diversity of nature the view had to offer. As we rested, I wasted no time in lying down in the river – my attempt at romancing with nature. If only the temperature of the water had been higher than and not as glacial as it was, I would have stayed in that river like it was my last swim. Luckily, the river wasn’t deep and I could walk in it easily and enjoy its exquisiteness without the fear of being carried away.
