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09.05.2023 update

Shigar Valley in the Early Spring

Just after Nowruz (March 21), I visited the Shigar Valley. Nowruz is the Iranian New Year, but it is also celebrated in northern Pakistan. In Persian, “Now” means “new”, “Ruz” means “day”, and it falls on the vernal equinox. On this day, they start working in the fields and start new things.

On the domestic flight from Islamabad to Skardu, there were many elderly people heading to Skardu. They usually will spend the harsh winter in Islamabad and Karachi, where their sons and grandchildren live, and later return to their villages around Nowruz. The flight was full of villagers.

Shigar Village seen from the entrance of the valleyThe Shigar Valley is called the gateway to ‘Karakoram,’ and this ‘Shigar Road’ continues to the end of the motorway, Askole. Trekking and mountaineering start from Askole, walking on the Baltoro Glacier to K2, Broad Peak and Gasherbrum base camp. This is the path most people who aim for K2 take. The Shigar River is fed by the Braldu River, which flows from the Baltoro and Biafo Glaciers.

Apricot blossoms

The time I visited was when the apricot flowers were in full bloom. It can only be in “full bloom” for 1-2 days. Even so, there are differences in how the apricot blossoms bloom depending on the altitude, the amount of sunlight, and the amount of water, so I was able to see many stages of the apricot blossoms.

Shigar Village is the largest village in Shigar valley. Shigar Fort, managed by the Serena Hotel chain, is a lovely hotel that has been renovated from an old feudal lord’s castle. I walked around the hotel, and they are the village’s children.

Shigar Village
Shigar village

Compared to the past, Shigar Village has developed more than the image of the rustic village, and in the center, there are more cars now. But just taking a stroll around the village, you can enjoy the scenery and have some memorable encounters with the villagers.

Recently, more and more people are going to the Hashupi Fruit Garden, which is located further inside Shigar Village. The views of the valley and villages from Shigar Village to Hashupi Village are very beautiful. The scenery of the village also continues to be rustic.

Time spent with the children of the village
Photoshoot of the apricot blossoms

In the early morning, head to the Sarfranga cold dessert.

The Sarfranga Cold Desert lies on the bank of the Indus River, at the entrance to the Shigar Valley. It is a superb view point where you can see the sand dunes with the snowy mountains in the background.

Hussainbad Village seen from the Sarfranga sand dunes
The snowy mountains of Karakorum seen from the sand dunes

And after the morning shoot, I had a picnic breakfast, and the chai was the best!

 

Photo & text : Mariko SAWADA

Visit : March 2023, Shigar Valley, Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan

Category : ◆ Gilgit-Baltistan > - Skardu Valley > - Shigar Valley
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29.03.2023 update

In Serch of Punjab Urial – Kalabagh Private Game Reserve

In January, we went on a search of the Punjab Urial, an endemic species of Pakistan, at the Kalabagh Private Game Reserve in the Java Mountains of the Punjab Plain.

The Kalabagh Private Game Reserve is a wildlife sanctuary for hunting, but in order to increase the number of animals for trophy hunting quota, the population needs to be allowed to grow. The rangers patrol with guns around the area to stop poachers, so the sanctuary is brimming with wild animals.

The Urial is an artiodactyl mammal of the family Bovidae. It is wild species of sheep, so they have large, arching horns and long beards on their necks. They live in the mountainous areas from South Asia to Central Asia. The Urial inhabiting the Punjab region of Pakistan were given the same protections as the Ladakh Urial in India, but in a 2016 publication in “Bovids of the World,” they listed it as the Punjab Urial, making it a separate species of Urial.

We got down from the vehicle, and slowly approached the Urial on foot to get closer. We paid close attention to the wind direction as we approached.

When we got too close to them, they quickly put some distance between you and themselves. We were able to see more than 30 of them, including some males with large horns, while we were watching them for about 2 hours.

And…the long awaited lunch time. At the Hunting Lodge, the setting and the service was very pleasant.

They served loads of locally produced ingredients for lunch. And it was orange season!!!

The interior of the Hunting Lodge. It was heavily decorated with many “Trophies” everywhere. The price at the Punjab Urial hunting auction is expensive at US$15,000 to US$16,000 per animal. About 15 are hunted from the Punjab plains each year.

Around the lodge, there were some young Urial kids that had lost their fear of people. They kept their distance from us visitors, but they could go up close to the people who worked at the lodge.

Our guide Abul with a Punjab Urial kid.

I will introduce to you the the wildlife of the Kalabagh Private Game Reserve.

This is the Salt Range Chinkara. It used to be a subspecies of the India Chinkara, but it became independent as a species according to the picture book published in 2016. It is distributed from the salt mountains of Pakistan to near Delhi, the capital of India.

An Indian Hare

The Greater Coucal, found in the plains and rural areas of India and Pakistan.

A young Eurasian Griffon. The wings will turn white once they mature.

A Grey Francolin, found in the plains of India and Pakistan.

They are very cute birds, that are skittish and run away quickly into the bushes to hide.

Wild Boar

This is a beautiful male Black Francolin.

After 2 hours of wildlife watching in the morning, taking a break for lunch, and then making 2 more hours of observations, we headed back to Islamabad. Probably, we would have seen even more, had we been there in the morning and dusk hours.

Finally, the majestic figure of the Game Reserve Ranger who guided our group. I was surprised at first to learn that they are protecting these wildlife so they can be hunted, but by all means, please protect them properly!

 

Photo & Text : Mariko SAWADA

Observation : Jan 2023, Kalabagh Private Game Reserve, Punjab

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Category : ◆ Punjab > - Urial > ◇ Birds of Pakistan > ◇ Wildlife of Pakistan
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15.03.2023 update

So Picturesque! Tour of Balochistan Vlog

In the winter of 2022-23, we were able to guide more people on tours to Balochistan, than ever before! Since 2018, the region has been facing many challenges while developing its tourism areas. The places where foreigners can enter are limited, but the moment you turn off of the main road, you will see an amazingly spectacular view.

This Vlog tour summarizes the drone footage from Kamitani Teppei, the tour leader of a tour in Jan 2023. It truly captures the amazing scenery of Pakistan.

 

Videography by Teppei Kamitani

Visit :Jan 2023, Makran Coast, Balochistan

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Category : = Video clip Balochistan > - Mud Volcano > ◆ Video Breathtaking Views of Pakistan > - Hingol National Park > - Kund Malir > ◆ Balochistan > - Makran Coast
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02.03.2023 update

Who Visited The Ibex Carcass?

In the winter, in the mountains of the Upper Hunza, a carcass of a Himalayan ibex was found in the snow. A snow leopard had hunted it and it had been there for several days. This is a summary of the wild animals of the Karakoram that were captured by camera traps for 5 days there.

Who came on Carcass of Ibex?

Wildlife that was spotted: Snow Leopard, Yellow-billed Chough, Red-billed Chough (not shown in the video), Red Fox, Raven and Bearded Vulture

The ibex was said to have been hunted a few days before (maybe a week earlier), and there was still a little meat left on the ibex’s carcass. It seemed that it had fallen into the river while being hunted, and then pulled out of the water, so the carcass was frozen solid (the temperature is minus 20 degrees). In the video, there is a snow leopard that checks around the ibex but not eating it. It is possible that this might be a different snow leopard than the one which caught it.

Luckily, the camera trap was set up at just the right angle to be able to capture the entire body of the snow leopard, including its long tail. The time is 6:08 pm and it showed up shortly after dark.

There were some red foxes that came in the night and also during the day. According to the difference in their fur, it seemed like two different foxes had come to eat some of the leftovers.

We were also very excited to see a bearded vulture which was caught on camera as well! It was seen alongside with a common raven, and immediately flew away.

Even though it is just a single ibex, it becomes an important food source for a lot of different animals. Nature is really amazing.

 

Image & text: Mariko SAWADA
Observation: Jan 2023, Gojar, Gilgit-Baltistan

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Category : - Snow Leopard > = Video Clip Gilgit-Baltistan > ◆ Video Breathtaking Views of Pakistan > ◆ Gilgit-Baltistan > - Gojar > ◇ Birds of Pakistan > ◇ Wildlife of Pakistan
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07.02.2023 update

The Creatures Depicted on the Indus Seal, Mohenjodaro

I’m sure there are many people who like this design of the Indus Seal. In fact, this is one of the sources of inspiration we used to make the Indus Caravan logo.

Often, a representative motif is this Zebu. It is often called the “Indus cow” and it is drawn with reverence as a god.

There are traces of ink on the seal, evidence that the seal was used as a stamp like a Japanese Hanko would be used. Seals have been found excavated in Mesopotamia and the Arabian Peninsula, with the motifs and lettering of Indus Seals. This proves that trade between Mesopotamia, the cities of the Gulf Coast, and the Indus Civilization which is of great interest to archeologists around the world.

Well, I love animals. So, I collected “creatures depicted on Indus Seals” that I found from the exhibits of the Mohenjodaro Museum.

There are animals depicted that do not really exist. The unicorn seems to have been a popular motif. Perhaps that is an incense burner in front of the unicorn?

The seals often have 2 to 5 characters, which are still mysterious characters that have still not been deciphered yet.

This creature has multiple heads, of either a unicorn, cow, gazelle or ibex. It is exciting, isn’t it?

This creature with the armored body is a rhinoceros. Even though there are no rhinos in Pakistan today (extinct), it seems they used to live there long ago.
Today, in the entire Indian subcontinent, Rhinoceros (Indian Rhinoceros) live only in Kaziranga National Park, in northeast India and Chitwan National Park, in Nepal’s Tarai Lowlands. It has gone extinct in the neighboring countries of Bhutan and Bangladesh as well.

Indian Rhinoceros seal.

This seal depicts an engraving of an Elephant. The Asian elephant has become extinct in Pakistan, but it is said that they used to be distributed all the way to Western Asia.

This image is probably a tiger. The Bengal Tiger also is no longer found in modern Pakistan, but once lived along the Indus Valley.

This too, must be a tiger image. 

Besides the seals, I also found an ibex drawn on the pottery. It seems to depict a Sindh Ibex adorned with beautiful horns.
At the Mohenjodaro Muesum, I was fascinated by their exhibit on the Indus Seals.

Photos & text: Mariko SAWADA

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Category : - Indus Civilization > - Mohenjodaro > - Monument / Heritage of Sindh > ◆ Sindh > ◇ Heritage of Pakistan > ◇ Museum of Pakistan
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21.01.2023 update

Mohenjodaro (2)

These are the Mohenjodaro ruins after flood damage in the summer of 2022. At its peak, it is estimated that up to 40,000 people lived here between 2500 BC and 1800 BC, but for some reason it declined. There are various theories as to why, such as that the flow of the Indus River changed, or an invasion by a different region, but the flood of 2022 left the city damaged again.

Photography by Yuka Fujimot, Oct 2022Restoration work was underway in the areas damaged by the flood.

A donkey cart carrying bricks for repair. By 2000 BC, cities in the Indus civilization had already started using standardized baked bricks. Baked bricks were introduced earlier in the cities of the Indus civilization, compared to the Mesopotamian and Yellow River civilizations. Even today, you can see the work of making baked bricks in the farming villages around Mohenjodaro. They still use the same brick construction as used in the Indus Civilization era, to this day.

Thick brick walls that form the streets between houses (DK Area).

In the DK area, which is said to have been an urban area, there is a building that is thought to have been an “aristocrats’ house.” It is thought that this chimney-like “well” was able to draw water from the second floor of the house.

This is the sewage system of the SD area, also called the Citadel District.

It seems they even had stones to cover the sewage system.

This is a scene of the SD area that represents Mohenjodaro. What is thought to have been a “bathing pool” and the drainage system from it. It is a very gorgeous site that inspires the imagination with a Gandharan Pagoda at the peak of this city.

It is said that Bitumen (asphalt) was used to help waterproof the walls of pools in this bathing area. It is on display at the Mohenjodaro Museum.

By the way, my recent passion is seeing the sunset at Mohenjodaro.

The city ruins in the light of the setting sun. Due to the flood damage this year, the waterlogged fields could be seen shining beyond the grounds.

 

Photos & text: Mariko Sawada

Visit: Nov 2022, Mohenjodaro, Sindh

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Category : - Mohenjodaro > - Monument / Heritage of Sindh > ◆ Sindh
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14.01.2023 update

Indus Highway, trip to Interior Sindh

First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt sympathy to those who have been affected by the flood disaster caused by the torrential rain from June to August 2022. Restoration work is progressing in some areas, and travel arrangements to Sindh and Balochistan regions were made, though we could see different sights than before, such as flooded fields.

The National Highway 55 (N-55), commonly known as Indus Highway, which goes north from Hyderabad, is a lifeline of West Sindh running through the west bank of the Indus River. During the fall harvest season, many trucks travel the road loaded with grain and chaff.

This year, due to the summer disaster, both sides of the road were still flooded, and there were many places waiting for the water to recede, unable to harvest the fields.

In some places, the fields were so water-logged they looked like lakes. I was sad to see so many people who had lost their homes and living in camps.

While some fields were water-logged, there were others that were being harvested. November is the season for harvesting rice.

I was really grateful to see this beautiful sight, which in any other time, would have been totally normal.

They were working on transferring the roadside piled up rice husks onto the trucks. Using wooden sticks to support it, they used sticks to create giant balloon-like cargo structures on the tops of the trucks.

A camel carrying firewood came our way. It is brought from the villages to the collection areas along the Indus Highway.

This firewood is an important fuel in the villages.

A handmade bell was decorated with cowry shells. A very traditional decoration, this is a camel very cherished by the owner. 

I was having lunch at a restaurant along the Indus Highway when I was invited to a wedding in the hall next door. “Wedding Gifts” decorated with bank notes were hung around the groom’s neck one after another.

Travelling on the Indus Highway with a different scenery than usual, we will soon enter the east road and reach Mohenjodaro. There were many submerged fields on the way to Mohenjodaro. I pray that the water will recede soon.

Photo & text: Mariko SAWADA
Visit: Nov 2022, Indus Highway, Sindh
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Category : - National & Indus Highway > ◆ Sindh
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23.12.2022 update

Lammergeier, Bearded Vulture of Khunjerab National Park

This is the Bearded Vulture in Khunjerab National Park. Just as its name suggests, it looks like a vulture with a beard.

The Gypaetus barbatus is also known as the lammergeier, which are a large bird of prey that makes up the only one in its’ genus Gypaetus and is most closely related to the Egyptian vulture（Neophron percnopterus）, and with the Palm-nut vulture（Gypohierax angolensis） they form a subphyla of the vulture subfamily. The tail is a rare diamond-shaped one, uncommon among raptors.

These bearded vultures feed on carrion, mainly bone and marrow. Small bones are swallowed whole, and digested by strong gastric juices. Larger bones that have lots of marrow are dropped from the sky, to break them apart and make them easier to consume.

This time, I saw a bearded vulture dropping a bone at Khunjerab Pass (around 4,600m). It may be hard to see because it’s quite far away, but I got a video of its behavior.

The Lammergeier dropping a bone from high above: Bone crasher!

The bearded vulture is a large bird with a total length of 115 cm and a wingspan of nearly 3 meters. Sometimes I am so overwhelmed by its size when it flies right overhead.

The bearded vulture as it descends along the cliffs of the Khunjerab River.

The Lammergeier found a carcass of an ibex on the banks of the river and perched on a rock nearby. It must have been frustrated that it couldn’t get into the narrow riverbed, since its wings might not fit into the space.

 

Photo & text : Mariko SAWADA

Observation ：Spring 2022, Khunjerab National Park

For observation, photography of wildlife, birds of Pakistan, please contact us, Indus Caravan.

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Category : = Video Clip Gilgit-Baltistan > - the Karakoram Highway > ◆ Gilgit-Baltistan > ◇ Birds of Pakistan > - Khunjerab National Park
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05.12.2022 update

CONCORDIA 360 DEGREE

We stayed at Concordia on a truly cloudless, crystal clear morning in mid-June. The video was rattled by manual paaning, but I made a 360-degree mountain view video from Concordia.

CONCORDIA 360 DEGREE

 

Image by Mariko SAWADA

A big thank you to the the whole Baltoro Glacier trekking team for working with us!

 

Related article

Youtube : Our baltoro Trek in 1 Min !

K2 ＆ Baltoro Glacier Trekking 2022 (Part 1) Skardu to Paiju

K2 ＆ Baltoro Glacier Trekking 2022 (Part 2) Paiju to Khoburtse

K2 ＆ Baltoro Glacier Trekking 2022 (Part 3) Khoburtse to Urdukas

K2 ＆ Baltoro Trekking 2022 (Part 4) Urdukas to GoreⅡ

K2 ＆ Baltoro Trekking 2022 (Part 5) GoreⅡ to Concordia

Staying in Concordia, surrounded by the high Peaks of the Karakorum: K2, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum Mountain Range

★★★★★

*Contact us, Indus Caravan for more information or to make arrangements for your Baltoro Glacier trek.

Category : - Baltoro Glacier & Concordia > = Video Clip Gilgit-Baltistan > ◆ Video Breathtaking Views of Pakistan > - Baltoro Glacier & Concordia > ◆ Gilgit-Baltistan > ◇ Mountain of Pakistan > - Karakorum Range
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20.11.2022 update

Our Baltoro Trek in 1 min

Here’s a staff-centric video clip of our first post-pandemic Bartolo Glacier trek in June 2022! Well done to all the guides, kitchen staff, sardars, and porters who made the round trip to Concordia multiple times this season!

Our Baltoro Trek in 1 min

Image by  Mariko SAWADA

A big thank you to the the whole Baltoro Glacier trekking team for working with us!

 

Related article

Youtube : CONCORDIA 360 DEGREE

K2 ＆ Baltoro Glacier Trekking 2022 (Part 1) Skardu to Paiju

K2 ＆ Baltoro Glacier Trekking 2022 (Part 2) Paiju to Khoburtse

K2 ＆ Baltoro Glacier Trekking 2022 (Part 3) Khoburtse to Urdukas

K2 ＆ Baltoro Trekking 2022 (Part 4) Urdukas to GoreⅡ

K2 ＆ Baltoro Trekking 2022 (Part 5) GoreⅡ to Concordia

Staying in Concordia, surrounded by the high Peaks of the Karakorum: K2, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum Mountain Range

★★★★★

*Contact us, Indus Caravan for more information or to make arrangements for your Baltoro Glacier trek.

Category : - Baltoro Glacier & Concordia > = Video Clip Gilgit-Baltistan > - Baltoro Glacier & Concordia > ◆ Video Breathtaking Views of Pakistan > ◆ Gilgit-Baltistan > ◇ Mountain of Pakistan
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