Darwaish
I posted about Princess of Hope in my last ATP Quiz and I was pleasantly surprised to see that many readers guessed it easily. I thought this time I should ask readers to make a guess on this beautiful river of Pakistan. I took this picture back in 2003 and have visited this place 3 times since then. Each time I have visited this place and river, I have found it more and more polluted and growing deforestation in surrounding areas.
More on pollution and deforestation in Pakistan later. First let’s see if you can guess which river is it and where. Happy Guessing :).
Thank you Darwaish, for a very good post. It reminded my all of my friends and the good days we have spent together.
Imran: You are right about the cable car. It was just below the main road. I forgot to mention it in my comment. Actually this picture was also taken while we were crossing river in that cable.
And about boating, they were not exactly boats but like char pai’s made up of baan and that other material I can’t recall its name. It was fun :)
I last visited this place some 7 to 8 years ago at that time that place was getting popular as a picnic point along the swat river and if one wants to go in the river he can have a try in cold water as well. There use to be a Cable car at that time (local made).People of the other side of the river use to cross the river on that. We had a ride of that in RS 5.And then went in to the village and found a nice person how offered us some apricots from the tree in his home those were really nice and I still remember the taste of them. I can’t remember any boating at that time.
I was not sure about the guess. But some I still remember that scene.
Looks like many readers guessed it correctly. It is indeed River Swat near ‘Saido Sharif’ just about 20-25 minutes drive form famous White Palace. Its a nice picnic spot and you can enjoy boating(char-pai wali boat), fishing, camping and many other activities. Camping and Bonfire at the bank of river is just wonderful.
There are plenty of fish in the river. You can get a permit to catch 5 or 10 fish in just under 100 Rs. But if you try fishing after 11 or 12 AM then your chances are very slim. I tried for 3 hours and failed miserably. A local guy then explained that river water starts getting muddy and fish can’t see anything and usually don’t come near the surface of water but early in the morning is a good time when water is clean. The next day I tried my luck at 8 in the morning and caught 2 big ones in just 30 minutes :).
Swat. As a former hydrologist I find the post and comments interesting. However my guess has nothing to do with any ‘technical’ background :)