By A chronological narration of our Baroghil Valley and the Karomber Lake trek is scripted with recommendations for its environmental sustenance.
Visiting the remote Baroghil Valley was on my bucket list since long and a chance encounter with a young man who had trekked up to the Koramber Lake earlier this summer made me decide to venture before it gets very cold out there. Its planning started and I had a willing trekking partner in Asad Aleem, Asian Development Bank.
There were some delays and snags and we finally left Islamabad on 25 August for an overnight stay in the Hindukush Heights in Chitral and onwards to Mastuj the next morning. We also added a visit to Astor District of Gilgit Baltistan and a trek to a Nanga Parbat base (along the Rupal face). The focus of this writeup is on the Baroghil and Karomber Lake trek, being more challenging of the two.
We opted to self-plan it. Not much information was accessible on Yarhkun and Baroghil valleys baring some travel accounts and itineraries posted by tour operators. However, the Chitral Scouts and the Agha Khan Development Network (AKDN) furnished us with definitive planning inputs. We are grateful for their support. Dry food items, tents and camping gear were purchased from Islamabad. A friend from Mastuj helped in hiring an excellent cook cum guide, Zorawar Khan (03465228530), who had earlier been to the Koramber Lake. We hired a local jeep with a skillful driver, Essa Khan (03469259604). Our team was complete, and we were all set to go.
The elongated Yarkhun and Baroghil valleys straddle a river and a narrow and largely ill-kept land route with the Wakhan strip of Afghanistan to its north and Ghizer district of Gilgit-Baltistan towards the south. Numerous passes serve to connect the Wakhan region with the local people in Baroghil who are mostly of Wakhi origin. Cross border cultural links with the adjoining Tajikistan survive with AKDN serving the local communities across the divide. Glaciers abound along the Ghizer watershed to feed water channels on either side.
The Yarkhun Valley
Yarkhun Valley produces the staple fruits of the region to include walnut, apricots, apples, and almonds. There is much room for improved yields to better serve the local livelihoods. Wheat was being harvested.
The Baroghil valley is at a higher altitude with barley as the staple in a short cropping season. It is dotted with lakes and has lesser trees and rare fruit orchards amid cooler temperature. Its valleys are expansive, and they are traversed by numerous water channels. Known as maidans, they rise gradually eastward. Yaks are bred and sold for winter subsistence.
Barley fields in Upper Baroghil
We left Mastuj on 26 August afternoon and were confronted with a heavy rain spell at the outset. On local advice we drove through the adjoining villages to bypass the mountain side route to avoid slides. Our driver showed presence of mind to detour around a black mud-cum-slime slide, resembling an oil slick, in village Brep. He made it back to the route with a great cross-country run along a nullah bed. Kudos. Brep has the last petrol facility on the route to Baroghil.
The night stop was at village Paur or better known as Power as a hydroelectric plant is located opposite the Gul Mahal guest house. The next guest house is located at Yarkhun Lasht in upper Yarkhun Valley. Cellular network does not work beyond Paur. Village Kishmanja signals the start of the Baroghil valley and most of its routes are slide prone.
Chalibot glacier is prominently located on the Ghizer watershed. It has visibly receded from across the valley over the years to post a live climate change advisory. The Glacier figured in the Chitral itinerary of Prince Williams earlier in the year. We crossed a pass to enter Maidan where we stayed overnight. It is an eye-catching plateau served by the gushing Baroghil nullah set in a gorge like configuration. Maidan is a rich and picturesque summer pasture. It houses the last Chitral Scouts post in the Valley and serves as the venue of the annual Baroghil Festival.
A rise in the Baroghil river at Garhil, plus of Maidan, brought us in the trekking mode earlier than planned on 28 August. We hired ponies to carry the camping gear and the kitchen ware. We crossed Lashkar Goz at 11500 ASL after a two-hour trek. It is the last permanent village in
the upper Baroghil valley. After another three hours trek, we camped at Ishwar Sher, a summer pasture habitation at about 12000 feet ASL. We distributed medicines in the afternoon among the locals. Our tents withstood the extraordinarily strong wind that blew during the night. However, we gazed at an overcast sky with some apprehension next morning.
Accompanied by Asad and the local guide we left for the Karomber Lake early on 29 August. The trek traverses gradually rising ‘maidans’, interspersed with nullahs which one can wade or stone-hop across. The valley expands to lend the landscape with a certain infiniteness. One is overwhelmed by the utter silence with grazing herds perched on mountain slopes or marmots plunging into their holes. The surface varies from being stony to having wetland characteristics close to the water sources. We came across wild garlic short of the Lake as in one historical reference Chinese monks name Baroghil Pass as ‘garlic pass’. We reached the Karomber Lake in five hours.
Wild garlic next to the Lake
The majestic setting of the Lake posts an end-of-the-journey note as the mountains drop towards its farther end. It is the second highest lake in Pakistan at about 14016 feet ASL. The imposing Chianiar Glacier feeds the Lake, the adjoining wetlands and the Baroghil water
channels. Fresh snow glowed from the lower heights and snowflakes were floating around the Lake. It was a unique sight and cold. It was, however, painful to see discarded trash at a camp site next to the Lake and some along the route. We started our return journey.
The Majestic Koramber Lake
We reached back Ishwar Sher in four plus hours. The camp was shifted to Lashkargoz due to the approaching rain where we stayed the night in the guest house. We trekked till Garhil next morning and boarded the jeep as the weather prompted us to head back. We left
Maidan by mid-day on 30 August to once again overnight at Paur and reached Mastuj early next day. On a reflective thought, probably another day should have been spent amidst the grandeur of the upper Broghil Valley: a distinct land and its matching ways. We rarely savour defining moments as we go.
‘Maidan’ on the way back to Ishwar Sher
Some recommendations for sustainability of the Baroghil Valley as an adventure cum touristic destination: 1. The environmental and its fragile ecosystem’s sustainability should be developed within the paradigm of eco-tourism under appropriate governance arrangement; 2. To this end it is strongly recommended that hydrocarbons, to include four and two wheelers, should NOT be allowed beyond Lashkargoz in the upper Baroghil Valley. The Karomber Lake should be approached either by trekking or on horseback; 3. Plastics and non-biodegradable materials should not be allowed beyond Lashkargoz and all visitors must bring back their trash which should be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner; and finally; 4. An advisory committee under the District government, comprising the governmental and non-governmental stakeholders should inform and guide such efforts.
Summary:
| Access | Logistics | Trek | Safety | Cost | Aesthetics |
| Very difficult | Lodging, food, transport, porters required | Difficult / very difficult | Guide required to avoid disorientation | Approx Rs 55,000 per head to include food cost, hiring of guide, logistics staff / animals & the jeep | Unique in the wilderness of deep valleys |