TRAVEL: THE BLIND MAN’S GARDEN
Slowly, the jeep driver reverses to the very edge of the gorge — as if he deliberately wanted to create a sense of the adventure for his passengers. A lurch of shifting gears, the grating front-wheel drive, and there is a near skirmish with the jutting rocks, in sync with the swaying of human bodies packed like sardines in the jeep. There is an abundance of rental jeeps in Kaghan Valley but the standard procedure is to ride jam-packed. The logic behind this is that the more human bodies per square inch of jeep capacity, the lesser the jerks and jolts are felt.
Onwards to Sharan, the mountain gorges and the raging Kunhar River recede behind the thick jungle. The track, though no less menacing, meanders lazily between towering trees, clumps of wild flowers and berry bushes. How far down below into the canyons the trees are rooted is anybody’s guess, but the credit for the dense forest cover goes to some extent to the massive forestation activity of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government. The jeep driver claims a leopard was seen there last winter, a pack of wolves were driven out by locals and a sleuth of bears had been seen clambering up a slope in the near distance after the first snowfall.
The 90-minute jeep ride to Sharan across the River Kunhar from Paras, off the Naran road, leaves you craving for sunlight. It’s no wonder that, as the last bend of the road suddenly opens into a cupola of green terraces guarded by sky-hugging peaks, one is reminded of the metaphorical title of Nadeem Aslam’s book The Blind Man’s Garden. Sharan is indeed a blind man’s garden — its ambience can be savoured by all senses and not just one’s sight. It is a garden to be felt.
The magnificent wilderness of Sharan in district Mansehra brings all your senses alive
Two hours from Abbottabad to Balakot and another hour to Paras, driving on a smooth road gives no indication of the adventure ahead. For on this stretch of road, the raging river running alongside is at a safe distance. The mountains, though craggy, are well-netted by anti-landslide measures. Small-time hotels abound, offering comfort and paid-parking facilities. But it’s tough to choose a jeep for the journey to Sharan. Tourist-savvy advice: go for the most talkative driver, because half the fun of the adventure lies in the conversation which is bound to centre on the joys of this hideout in the mountains, untouched by trash and tourists.