MINGORA: Visitors have been thronging the snow-covered resorts across the Swat valley, particularly Gabina Jabba, which is located in Sakhra valley of Matta tehsil.

“This is my first trip to this amazing valley which offers fun to snow lovers. Its vast fields are covered with white sheet of snow, giving a marvelous view,” Yahya Khan Dawaltkhel, a local tourist, said.

Tourists admired the scenic Gabina Jabba and said it had a totally different landscape than the rest of the Swat valley.

“I can’t believe Matta tehsil has such a beautiful snow resort where one can enjoy high altitude valleys covered with a thick sheet of snow,” Sajjad Ahmad from Mingora said, adding the mesmerising beauty of the valley could only be found in photographs and paintings.

The valley is known for its dazzling beauty during the summer season too.

“I visited this beautiful valley during summer and was dazzled by its wide and green pastures. Now in winter it is a different story as everything is white and amazing. We played and enjoyed a lot in snow,” Azharuddin from Kanju area said.

“There was a time when tourists did not visit the valley during winter so we had no earning opportunities. However, after tourists started coming to the valley when it was covered with snow, locals started earning incomes by working as porters,” Gohar Ali, a resident of Gabina Jabba, said. He said tourists loved to feast on the trout fish of the valley. They said that some tourists also got themselves involved in hiking and trekking to reach the top of the valley, which was a tough job not every tourist could perform.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2017