Picturesque Chitral town sits in Pakistan's northwest district, walled in by the Hindu Kush range. During winter the only way in is by air (weather permitting) as the two passes, the 3118-meter Lowari from Dir and the 3810-meter Shandur from the upper Gilgit Valley, are closed. The Fokker Friendships drone for 50 minutes and burst through clouds on descent to reveal white-capped mountains and red tin-roofed houses. On the small airfield, the cold wind makes you shiver. The remoteness of the district has left it undeveloped in spite of grand natural beauty, hospitable people and a long history, so the town is a base camp for tourists, adventurers and researchers from across the world. And, people seem to be living there in peace.
Chitral boasts lively bazaar - a miniature Peshawar full of Mediterranean-looking faces under Chitrali caps and foreigners. Geoffrey Moorhouse in his book To the Frontier describes the town as sleepy. Now the modest bazaar is lined up with well-stocked provision shops, eating joints and souvenir shops selling many things from traditional caps to Lajvard (Armenian stone) and Zamurrad (emeralds), for the tourists mostly. The American sleeping bags and rucksacks, Bulgarian ankle boots and Korean jackets that used to be on sale in bazaar during Soviet occupation in Afghanistan are no more sold there.
At the south end of town is one of Pakistan's best polo grounds, where practice matches are held every few days from mid-March to early November and full-blown matches on weekends. The town has weeklong tournament in September to October. There are roaring crowds and drum and horn bands that play the signature tune of each player who scores a goal.
Article comments
1 - mahvish
chitral valley of great , peace loving and beautiful people is a paradise! your word are praise worthy... chitral PARADISE