Kaghan valley attracts tourists in droves

Saiful Malook Lake pulls crowd during three-day Eid holidays

BALAKOT:

The resorts and lakes of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, especially Saiful Malook, attracted thousands of tourists, who enjoyed mesmerising natural and mountainous beauty with great fun and excitement, making the most of their five-day Eidul Fitr holidays.

According to Kaghan Development Authority (KDA) officials, about 6,000 vehicles entered Kaghan Valley in three days and in order to facilitate tourists both sides of Sogran Road were opened. The officials of the National Highway Authority said that the restoration work is ongoing at Shahra-e-Kaghan.

Arrived in a van with hands clapping on the national song ‘Dil Dil Pakistan’ at Saiful Malook and Anso Lake in Upper Kaghan Valley in Manshera district on Sunday, the family of Professor Ehtisham Khan of Peshawar was over the moon after visiting the famous lakes.

Impressed by the crystal greenish-blue water of the oval-shaped Saiful Malook Lake, the tourists with big smiles on their faces went around the natural wonder after enjoying lunch at ‘Dastarkhwan’ under an open sky amid cold breeze and pleasant weather.

“We have first explored the historic Saiful Malook Lake through boats that doubled my family’s joy,” said Khan, who came along with her sisters and mother. Saiful Malook’s gripping natural beauty with its crystal clean-water emanating from the lofty glaciers of Malaka Perbath on its northeast was amazing and beyond one's imagination, he added.

Khan said that he had visited many lakes in Pakistan and abroad but the fairytales of Prince Saiful Malook and princes Badri Jamala associated with the Saiful Malook Lake were unique and impressive.

“The Malook-Jamala fairytale leaves mesmerising effects on the minds of tourists and forces them to come again and again here.” Terming Saiful Malook Lake as his ideal tourist place due to its better road connectivity than other lakes of KP, he said that it was his third trip to the lake and first with his family that doubled their joys of Eid.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2023.