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Skardu: Back in business
With the spectre of terrorism no longer casting a shadow over Gilgit Baltistan, focus returns on what to improve for tourists and how to improve it
Tour operator Hamid from Skardu was living a nightmare last year. He had decided to shut shop in his native town and move to Islamabad in search of employment. Business had been reduced to a trickle, first after the 2012 attack on a passenger bus in Chilas and then after the murder of nine foreign tourists and their guide at the Nanga Parbat basecamp in 2013. Tourists had simply stopped coming to Skardu, and as a result, anyone involved in tour operations, even high altitude porters, found it very difficult to make ends meet. Hamid was no different.
Those days are now a thing of distant memory: Hamid and his company are reconsidering their earlier decision as 2015 has seen considerable swelling in the number of tourists visiting Gilgit Baltistan. The tourists are back, and so is Skardu.
“A record number of tourists arrived in Gilgit Baltistan this year, and enough reservations were made by international tourists and trekkers with various tour operators. About 450 foreign visitors visited Skardu this year, and as per our information, about 300 foreigners arrived in Gilgit District as well. The signs are all encouraging,” says a buoyant Hamid.
It’s the season to fall in love all over again. As domestic tourists head to Gilgit Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to discover Pakistan’s best kept secrets, most run into the age-old problem of little information and infrastructure
According to official figures provided by the chief minister of Gilgit Baltistan to the prime minister during his visit in the third week of September, about 600,000 tourists visited Gilgit Baltistan in the first nine months. Apart from domestic tourists, the number of foreigners also increased. Officials expect that the number of trekkers and mountaineers shall increase further this winter.
Between January and October, the magnificent Deosai Plateau in Skardu Division was the tourists’ most popular destination. The valleys of Shigar, Khaploo, Deosai, Shagrilla, Kachoora and Ashkkooli in Skardu division, as well as Gizer, Hunza, Attabad Lake, and Khunjerab of Gilgit Division were the other hubs of tourist activity.
Indeed, as the chilly winters set in, more and more tourists and trekkers have started arriving in destinations across Gilgit Baltistan. “This is a healthy sign for tourism,” says Arif Aslam, chairman of the Shangrila Resort, “it shall open more business opportunities for the people of this area.”
Critics and tourists have another grouse with the tourism department: despite having an army of employees across Gilgit Baltistan, the tourism department has been unable to provide even basic information to any prospective tourists ... The drawback of not having any tour guides is that many wonders of Skardu are often left unexplored.
As a town whose economy is intrinsically connected with tourism, this rise in tourist activity has breathed new life in economic activity (and inflation) in and around Skardu city. With more tourists pouring in, local businesses have made hay by jacking up prices of goods and services offered.
The price rates of edibles, for example, have skyrocketed. Although the district management has attempted enforcing price controls, tourists have still complained of food shortage.
Then there is the grievance of increased hotel rents. On the complaints of consumers, the district management raided many hotels and also slapped fines and penalties, but the exercise to rein in hotels has largely been futile.
A large reason for this is that lodging facilities are limited in number. A shortage of accommodation in turn means that rents were increased for available lodging, with the highest bidders winning their bed under a roof. With hotels charging a premium for boarding and lodging, many tourists in Skardu as well as in Gilgit Division chose instead to stay inside mobile camps and tents.
Due to the rush of tourists, private vehicle owners have also minted money. Although fares for local 4×4 jeeps and other vehicles increased manifold as the number of tourists swelled, but despite the costs, renting a vehicle was an uphill task. Most vehicle owners already had paying clients, often foreigners, who had booked their rides in advance.
“We have arranged various cultural and other informative programmes for the promotion of tourism in Gilgit Baltistan and we are hopeful that tourism shall be returning to this area in the coming days,” argues Syed Mohammad Hadi, the incumbent tourism secretary.
But critics and tourists have another grouse with the tourism department: despite having an army of employees across Gilgit Baltistan, the tourism department has been unable to provide even basic information to any prospective tourists or indeed even to those who have already reached Skardu.
At the Skardu airport, for example, no information kiosk exists that can offer a booklet or two on what to do or what to expect in Skardu. Nor has any information booth been set up at bus stands.
“There need to be free information handbooks or guidelines at the airport or at bus stands so that one can plan accordingly,” complains Sara Khan, a regular tourist to Skardu. She says some material is available in various PTDC motels but these are restricted to those tourists who opt to live or dine in these motels.
The drawback of not having any tour guides is that many wonders of Skardu are often left unexplored.
Take Skardu’s cold desert, for example. Said to be the world’s highest cold desert, these sand dunes are located around the River Indus. This desert stretches from the famous Khaplu Valley to Nubra Ladakh and Shigar Skardu Valley to Zanskar, India.
These dunes are locally known as Biana Naqpo and Katpana Biana. While dozens of such sand dunes can be seen on both sides of the Skardu airport runway, the largest desert area is found after crossing the Skardu city bridge over the River Indus and Shigar Valley. Katpana Desert is located near Skardu Airport while Shigar desert is located on the way to Shigar valley.
“I have been trotting the globe since my youth but I have never encountered such a unique area,” remarks tourist Adman Smith from Holland. “Were these destinations to be advertised for the general public, and proper information about them provided, believe me the ratio of international and domestic tourists will increase manifold.”
The one place in Gilgit Baltistan for which information exists, however meagre that might be, is Deosai National Park. The staff is courteous and vigilant in equal measure, facilitating tourists with basic information about the brown bear and other wildlife in the protected park. Employees claim they offer this service without any fee; tourists narrate they also offer a cup of local green tea free of cost.
“Visitors cover thousands of miles to reach here, and we feel proud to provide them with hospitality, whatever meagre we can do per our resources,” says the staff in-charge at the park.
Meanwhile, when PM Nawaz Sharif on his September visit to Gilgit was apprised of Skardu’s upturn in fortunes, he directed the authorities concerned to undertake special incentives to help the tourism industry takeoff. Among the measures discussed were the upgrading of Skardu airport as well as widening the roads between Skardu-Gilgit and the maintenance of the Skardu-Astore road.
Indeed, the facilities at Skardu airport need greater attention as the infrastructure and limited facilities cannot cater to more passengers. With Skardu having only recently received the status of a commissionerate, the national flag carrier has increased the number of A320 Airbus flights from Islamabad to four per week.
Because of these A320 flights to Skardu, the number of cancelled flights from Islamabad has dropped to its lowest level as compared to the recent past. Official Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) figures reveal that as many as 30,000 passengers travelled between Islamabad and Skardu by air from January to August, 2015. Similarly, about 24,000 passengers travelled between Islamabad and Gilgit by air since January.
With hotels charging a premium for boarding and lodging, many tourists in Skardu chose to stay inside mobile camps and tents instead.
“PIA can operate the A320 to Skardu from Islamabad on a daily basis, but the airport building in Skardu and the ground operational facilities do not allow it,” says a senior PIA official, before adding that the national flag carrier may attempt increasing the number of A320 flights later this year.
One smaller twin-engine ATR operates the rest of the week for Skardu, while two ATRs operate on alternate days from Islamabad to Gilgit. Due to technical and operational reasons, the Airbus cannot be operated on the Islamabad-Gilgit route.
On the other hand, well-placed sources claim that PIA is planning to restart ATR journeys between Skardu and Gilgit to facilitate passengers who want to travel to both Gilgit and Skardu by air. This route was operational till a few years ago, but due to low passenger load, it was shut down.
Private airlines too are also reportedly willing to start operations from Islamabad to Skardu and Gilgit. One private airline sent its operational staff to Skardu and Gilgit a few days ago to compile a feasibility report. Sources claim that the team has recommended to their superiors that Skardu is a more viable destination for the airline to operate.
“Our airline may operate the Islamabad-Skardu route next summer,” says a official of the airline, requesting anonymity.
When it comes to the road network, the Skardu-Gilgit and the Astore-Deosai roads are in disrepair and need urgent attention. Most tourists reach Gilgit Baltistan through the Karakoram Highway, but soon after the opening of the Babusar Pass, tourists preferred to reach Gilgit Baltistan through the Kaghan-Babusar Top road. Those arriving to the Deosai Plateau come through Astore Valley, and their numbers are not insignificant either.
“Although there is no hotel or motel to spend a night in Deosai, tourist groups prefer spending their nights in mobile camps at various places near Burra Pani point,” explains Zahid Hussain, a tour guide. “The road is not in good shape and needs to be carpeted soon. But due to peace and a good security protection system, even women bikers have been travelling through this valley without any fear.”
Gilgit Baltistan Tourism Secretary Syed Mohammad Hadi argues that after the extension and repair of Skardu-Gilgit and Deosai through Astore roads are completed, tourism should increase even further.
“We are also planning more facilities and attractions for tourists, and we hope that these measures will encourage more tourists to head to Skardu in the coming seasons,” he says.
All at sea
Domestic tourists have risen but how easy is it to gather information online and plan a trip to tourist destinations?
Romana Ahmed is an ardent skier who has travelled to France, Italy, Scotland, Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Montreal and Vermont in search of the perfect snowy slope to slide on. In January this year, she went to Swat’s Malam Jabba ski resort in pursuit of her passion. Unlike her travels abroad, always planned and calculated, she was forced to fly by the seat of her pants for this particular journey.
“There was minimal information available on websites. Social media was helpful but the information was conflicting since even the more frequent travellers to the northern areas tended not to have been to the ski areas,” says Romana.
“But 70 per cent of the posters online showed that Malam Jabba was open (correct). Unlike Rattu and Nalter, we wouldn’t need NoCs (also correct). Last but not least, it says that the chairlifts were operational (not correct),” she says. “I can tell you we went pale in the face when, once there, we realised we’d be climbing up the slopes ourselves!”
In the past couple of years, tourist activity in the northern areas and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has received a welcome shot in the arm: there has been a sharp increase in domestic tourists, many of whom consider domestic vacations a more affordable expense than a vacation abroad.
This trend has been matched by airlines offering newer flights to somewhat remote destinations, once considered the domain of only the most ardent mountaineers, mostly foreigners.
But domestic tourists have now filled the vacuum, as many believe it is expensive travelling abroad and with the visa restrictions and security checks that come with having a green passport, it involves a lot of hassle as well.
“Things have really picked up this year,” describes Shafqat, the owner and head chef of Café de Hunza, the only café offering decent coffee and free WiFi in the Karimabad Valley in the Northern Areas. His establishment went from a modest bookstore to a full-fledged café roughly around a year prior to 9/11.
“Tourism took a serious hit after that,” he explains. “People just stopped coming. There was a time when the road outside would be full of foreigners and after that, there was nothing. It’s only this year that we’ve gone back to receiving the same number of tourists as we did prior to 9/11.”
After a span of 14 years, the number of visitors has certainly swelled considerably. But those planning to reach these tourist destinations are largely at bay in terms of what to expect and how to prepare.
Online searches don’t return enough information regarding where to stay, when to go, what to do, what activities to participate in, what options are available for on-ground transportation or how to budget your trip.
Every once in a while, a new group on Facebook tends to pop up, offering tours and adventures at surprisingly affordable rates. The only catch is that you’ll be sharing your journey with anywhere between 50 to a 100 new ‘friends’.
For Romana, the lack of information resulted in a whole bunch of pleasant surprises and interesting comparisons. “We soon discovered that the red stains on the snow were paan spits, not blood,” she says.
“I first went up north in the summer of 2014 with a group of friends and my brother,” says Naveed Khan, founder of the travel group Hunza on Foot, and also the man who took Brandon Stanton from Humans of New York around the northern areas for his series on Pakistan.
“It had been on my to-do list for a while but it wasn’t easy to put the trip together because there was either no reliable source of information or the information available was contradictory,” he continues. “I then reached out to a colleague from Hunza who helped me with contacts and logistical help.”
The same was the case with Romana. She too organised their accommodations through acquaintances, but when they reached there, they discovered the facilities present were not entirely adequate.
“The staff at these guest houses went an extra mile for us, but the one major problem we had was the heating, which comprised kerosene burners,” she says. “I’ve never been so cold in my life! And I’ve travelled in minus 30 temperatures in Finland. The contrast was that in Finland, you come back to warm saunas. Here, you stay indoors and play Taboo while bundled up in a million layers to keep warm.”
For Romana, the lack of information resulted in a whole bunch of pleasant surprises and interesting comparisons. “We soon discovered that the red stains on the snow were paan spits, not blood,” she says. “We got gur ilaichi chai instead of hot chocolate. No chairlift, so we hiked up in snow boots to ski down. There are strong, sure-footed gallant locals who carry your skis up for you and have stories to tell. You get untouched powder snow to ski on which is hard to get in Europe now. Shalwar kameez and sweaters for ski gear.”
That wasn’t the only interesting part.
“Kids (and then you!) whizzing down slopes in black tyres next to us skiers!” she laughs, “We even saw one ingenious kid using a flattened soft drink bottle. Just like so much else in Pakistan, it’s a mix of achingly beautiful and fun coupled with fly-by-seat-of-pants haphazardness. Shoddy arrangements by the Powers-That-Be mixed with the most incredible resourcefulness, hospitality and chivalry from the locals.
“Just like everything else in the country, this place has so much potential.”
Not all local tourists are as welcome as Romana though. Most restaurant owners and guides at heritage sites in Hunza argue they are somewhat wary of them.
“Not all domestic tourists are … unpleasant,” says Shafqat, “but there are some, mostly of the kind that arrive in large rowdy groups in buses and vans, are not the kind we like here.”
He explained that without a centralised municipal authority, the locals took it upon themselves to keep their areas clean. “Every single morning, every shopkeeper sweeps the floor outside their establishments, you can see how clean everything else. The same goes for the streets in front of our homes,” he explains.
As fate (and irony) would have it, a bus full of tourists stops in front of the café. From among the boisterous visitors, a couple throw juice boxes and wrappers on the street. Shafqat did not appear happy.
“That’s why we don’t like them,” he says, pointing to the shameless littering, “They have no respect for the place. We drink spring water; they’ll go and defecate by the spring itself!”
“Locals need your business, but that does not mean they have to tolerate your insults, loud noise or obnoxious behaviour,” agrees Naveed. “This isn’t to generalise all tourists, but only the ones that give us a bad name.”
Naveed starts his tour with a briefing on respecting the local community and clean, sustainable tourism. “I’ve been lucky so far because everyone I took has been conscious of clean tourism and responsible enough to clean after themselves,” he relates.
“But I have also seen families stopping at Babusar Pass and throwing wrappers and plastic bottles out of their car windows and driving off. I’ve gotten into arguments with some of these people and forced them to pick up their trash.” Sometimes they get embarrassed and pick their litter; at other times, they become confrontational,” he narrates.
“I’d never want such people to come to my home,” he says, “Hunza is a very tight-knit community and they don’t want outsiders to trash their home either.”
So what do they think can be done to improve the tourism infrastructure in the country? Especially considering the areas they’ve been to and the experiences they’ve had.
“Security is, of course, a long-term and complex issue that affects all aspects of Pakistani tourism,” says Romana, “But in the more manageable short term: operational chairlifts. Please. Apart from that I wouldn’t like to see it more developed than how it already is.
“The non-cookie clutter differences — and, of course, that untouched powder snow — to other resorts is what made it one of the most novel and adventurous ski trips I’ve ever taken.”
“The region needs tourism for income,” says Naveed thoughtfully, “Once this income comes, the community needs to improve their infrastructure with good insulation, plumbing, roads and intelligent service providers. There are tons of ideas in my head and I hope I’ll have enough business one day to help improve one hotel, one souvenir shop, one café or even a patch of road to help show the locals how a little improvement can make a big difference.”
No guides in heaven
Despite the sunshine of Karimabad, most tourists are groping in the dark when it comes to identifying where to go. Without a comprehensive handbook of travel destinations, trekking and hiking spots are masked
I saw a photograph of Fairy Meadows at the base of Nanga Parbat, and the image so intrigued me that my wife and I planned a trip to Gilgit-Baltistan for our summer vacation last August.
I was born within sight of mountains in south-western US, and I have lived in and around mountains almost my whole life, so it seemed natural that if I came to Pakistan I would head to the north.
The mountains there, which include five of the 14 highest on earth, are like nothing I have ever seen or experienced. I have never felt closer to the incredible earth forces that build and form mountains than I did in Northern Pakistan, partly because those forces are still readily on display. The Indian subcontinent and the Eurasian Plate continue to grind against each other, and the mountains creep ever-upward, casting boulders and debris down their flanks as they shed their skins into the narrow valleys below.
There are some maps and smaller guides available, and Lonely Planet produced a guide but it hasn’t been updated since 2002 ... It would be nice to have a compendium so that groups of people of mixed abilities could plan an itinerary to suit their needs.
The villages in the valleys are perched atop this debris that has slid and washed down the mountainsides, and the green from crops and trees provide brilliant contrast to the browns, tans and grays of the mountains themselves.
The travel advisory on the US State Department website says “reconsider your need to travel” to Pakistan. The Canadian and Australian Departments of State deliver similar messages, basically urging their citizens to avoid the entire country.
I was worried about security and safety for my trip to Pakistan, as were my family and friends, but I also thought to myself, “How is it possible to paint with just one brush a country of 200 million people?”
As a foreigner especially, I think that security is foremost on your mind, but speaking for myself, I never felt unsafe or in danger. Foreigners travelling in northern Pakistan are required to register at regular security checkpoints along the Karakoram Highway and in fact, at the majority of these we were welcomed with a handshake and an offer of chai.
In fact, this kind of courtesy and generosity was a hallmark of the people I met in Gilgit-Baltistan. They were helpful, kind, and curious. It was nice to see how people’s face would light up when they found out I was an American.
The internet has made just about every aspect of travel easier, so searching for and buying plane tickets from my home in Italy to Pakistan was no problem. However, when I tried to search for tickets from Karachi to Islamabad using my trusty Kayak app, the results were shocking: not only were there very few flights, but the prices were more than I had paid for my trip to Pakistan!
Luckily, one of my wife’s friends in Karachi was able to sort things out from there, and we got our tickets without too much trouble. This sort of became a theme of my time in Pakistan: the more time I spent there, the more I felt that, while I could probably figure things out on my own, it is better to have a local to help you do it.
In some ways, this led to some ancillary benefits; in America or Europe, it’s very common to rent a car and drive yourself anywhere you want to go. While this may have been possible, I got the distinct impression, especially when we passed through security checkpoints, that having a local driver helped things along.
Our driver Sayeen from Hidden Paradise Tours in Karimabad was terrific. Having someone from the area, who could tell us about local history, translate songs, and generally just be the nicest and most helpful person possible was an absolute boon.
Something that I feel would be great for a traveller to have would be a comprehensive guide to all of the hiking and trekking in the area. There are some maps and smaller guides available, and Lonely Planet produced a guide but it hasn’t been updated since 2002.
I won’t claim to have done an exhaustive search, but there are so many opportunities to walk in the mountains, for so many different skill levels, that it would be nice to have a compendium so that groups of people of mixed abilities could plan an itinerary to suit their needs. wi-fi is available throughout the area, from Gilgit north to Attabad Lake.
The area from Passu to Khunjerab was wi-fi free, although there was cell service for people using local providers. I myself found the lack of wifi liberating, as it allowed me to devote my full attention to the landscape.
In the end, I missed out on Fairy Meadows. We had some time constraints so we elected to stick to the area around Hunza and the Karakoram highway. It’s okay, it’s something for next time.
I returned home with many wonderful memories and stories. People asked me if I felt safe there: more than that, I felt welcome. I can’t wait to go back.
Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, November 8th, 2015
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