The mesmerising beauty of the lake is marred by the carelessness of visitors and local people.
ISLAMABAD: A few days ago I visited Lake Saiful Mulook in Kaghan. The mesmerising beauty of the lake was, however, marred by the carelessness of visitors and local people.
I could see dozens of shopping bags floating in the lake’s now-not-so-pristine waters. Even tourists using boats were seen throwing all kinds of waste and garbage into the water. Given the number of tourists at the site, there clearly weren’t enough trash bins. There was an area where some shops sell food and when I went there I didn’t think I was on a mountain more than 3,000 metres high but in perhaps Gawalmandi. There were also some makeshift ‘hotels’, if one can call them that, and most of them were using coal as fuel. This also added to the pollution of the surrounding air. People don’t visit such places of scenic beauty to experience a fish-market atmosphere.
Furthermore, if you go in a jeep, the driver, more often than not, will pressure you to hurry back, or he will charge you double fare to make up for the customers he claims he is losing out on because of the alleged delay. Perhaps, this is why tourism doesn’t flourish in our country: because everyone is out to fleece tourists, and because the tourists themselves often do not appreciate what the country has to offer.
Iftikhar Shaheen Mirza
Published in The Express Tribune, July 17th, 2011.
