"Horse Holiday" in Pakistan Photo Gallery by Noor Khan at pbase.com

"Horse Holiday" in Pakistan

In 1982 I traveled by horse from Passu, Gojal, Upper Hunza to Gilgit (you can see some photos in my Hunza gallery). I was planning to ride on to Peshawar with my brother, but there were horse problems and the journey never got any further than Gilgit, but I did learn a bit about equestrian travel in the mountains. In 1988, in Peshawar, we began planning the KARAKORAM EQUESTRIAN EXPEDITION. In 1989 we traveled by horse from Peshawar to Chitral, Kalash, Gilgit (via Mastuj and the Shandur Pass), Kaghan Valley(via Chilas and the Babu Sar Pass), Azad Kashmir, Islamabad, and back to Peshawar (crossing over the Gungor Hills and Tarbella Dam). Approximately 1000 mile (1600 km) journey that touched upon (and went through) the Hindu Kush, the Hindu Raj, the Karakoram, and the Himalaya Mountians. A journalist in Peshawar called it a 'horse holiday' before we left (hence the sardonic title of this gallery). There were four of us and four heavy breed Percheran horses we had purchased from the Pakistani Army at Sarghoda's Remount Depot. One horse died in Kalash, and one of us went back to his village near Peshawar from Gilgit. Three horses and three riders did ride back into Peshawar, more than five months after leaving on our little 'horse holiday'!
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Some of the pictures in this gallery were taken by my brother Mirza. It is hard to remember exactly which ones as I was sitting next to him when many were taken, and some were taken by his wife Ayesha.
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THIS HORSE TRIP IS COVERED IN MY NOVEL 'SOME TIME ON THE FRONTIER-A PAKISTAN JOURNAL'. THERE ARE SOME SAMPLE CHAPTERS AT https://pbase.com/noorkhan/novel

Loading horses	Loading the horses	Hay there!	3 down, 1 to go!	Almost to Peshawar
Horse gear	Training days	Training at the Faji stadium	Training at the Faji stadium	The Stable
Cows plow	One horse	Horses running free	Horses walking free	'The Boys From Sarghoda'
Part of group of 4	On Hercules	Herc and NMK	Herc and NMK again	Corn stalks
Inspector Akbar Ali	A dry dinner	Malakand Pass	Panjkora River	Panjkora River near Talash
Noor Habib Khan Hotel	Talash-Nanbai	District Commissioner's Guest House-Timagura	Warai	Ammo shop
Dir	Faces	Dir	Dir - truck	Dir - backside
Panakot-Dir	Ice on the Lowari Pass	Bus and snow	Horse camp	Lowari Top
Road to Kalash	Rock tunnel	Dead Horse	Upper and lower irrigation ditches	Taking It Easy
Kalashi houses	With haystacks in Kalash	Cigarette store	Fields	Bumboret-Frontier Hotel front porch
Fields	Suspension bridge	Path to Aziz's village	Pathway to Turi Khuz	A wet pathway
The plain before Turi Khuz	Aziz's yard	Part of Aziz's village	Brep	Chitral Valley
Chitral Shahi Mosque	The Assistant Commissioner	Chitral Fort	Chitral Shahi Mosque	In front of Chitral Fort
On your marks... dazoo. dazoo!	Ride by at Chitral Mosque	North of Chitral	Fun on the road in the rain	Road north of Chitral
Morai	Chitral River gorge	Habibullah before Mastuj	Yarkhun River	Fording a stream
The road	On the road-clowning with Habibullah	Near Buni	Zirarat Remains	Buni
Near Mastuj	Near Mastuj	Bridge before Mastuj	Like Ants on the Landscape	On the road to Sor Laspur
Below the Shandur	Shandur Pass	Mountains higher than the clouds	Rainbow on Shandur Top	Shandur Top clearing
Shandur Top camp	Shandur Top-A restaurant	Baby Ghizer	After Shandur Top	Habibullah washing Hercules
Burbolango Shal	Little Shaitan	Another pretty spot	Teru	Dinner at Teru
Teru	Photo Op	Ghizir River at Phandar	Near Phandar	Rocks over Habibullah
Arriving in Pingal	Pingal	Pingal and Guns	On the porch	More guns
Pingal guest house	Leaving Pingal	Having a smoke near Pingal	The Ghizar River	Ghizar River after Pingal
Habibullah and Kodack crossing bridge	Lake before Gupis (Khalti Lake)	Lake before Gupis - raining	The D.C.	The Gun Man
"Hey!"	Buying grass in Gupis	Mountains behind Gupis	Hercules Dreaming of PIA and Sarghoda	Gupis - buying grass
Outside Gupis	Roadblock	Bridge from rocks to rocks	Road to Gilgit	Beyachee
Main street Gilgit	Got hamam?	G. M. Baig	A few hours out of Gilgit	Gilgit and Indus River confluence
Indus River south of Gilgit	Rain at Pari Bungalo	Karakoram bridge	On the road	Grass on a ledge
The road near Jugalot	A Pukhtoon Pose	Talachi guest house (frontyard)	Kids	Nanga Parabat
Karakoram slide area near Julipur	Julipur, Kohistan	Diamir Desert	A Horse and His Boy	Babu Sar Top (13,690 ft.)
Babu Sar Top	Hercules on Babu Sar	On the Babu Sar	Highest spot on the Babu Sar	Giti Das
Lulusar Lake	Alongside Lulusar Lake	Lulusar Lake	Besal	Heading to Burawai
Burawai	Burawai-Koochies	Upper Kaghan Valley	With Koochies near Naran	Naran with Koochies
Brothers on the road	Roadside teastop between Naran and Kaghan	Between Kaghan and Pahris	Muslim Flying Coach	Taj Mahal Hotel - Balakot
Loaded bus-loaded horse	On the road with Gujurs	Horseshoes and bells	Landa Baba Shrine	Landa Baba Shrine - entrance
Memorial to The Guides	Memorial to The Guides - detail	Memorial to The Guides - detail	Kabul River	Home at last!
Horse riding	Babark	Hercules gigantic shoes	With Akbar Ali	Horse gear
Trip map	KKH Expedition Logo

comment |

Guest		18-Oct-2019 10:23
What a wonderful experience and grand adventure you had. Thanks for recording and sharing it with these wonderful pictures. You did what I have always dreamed of doing - riding my way through the land, wherever that may be.

sin Jan		25-May-2018 21:24
Thank you for posting these photos. I enjoyed looking at them all and remembering my own journeys. I took many photos during my similar trip and gave most of the films [transparencies] to a friend, a photographer from New York who had been with us in Gilgit, and was returning home, to get them developed for me over there. Unfortunately she died in a road accident going from Peshawar to Pindi to catch her plane. she was in the front seat of a tourist wagon. Tragic. so your photos mean all the more to me.

Ikram Beg		27-Aug-2017 17:38
Thanks adding my late fathers picture (G.M. Baig picture at our old books store in Gilgit.

Ikram Beg		27-Aug-2017 17:35
Great memories nice pictures I have seen my ( late) fathers picture ( GM Baig) at our old book store in Gilgit. Thanks for adding.

Faizul Bari quraishi		19-Dec-2015 20:31
Pakistan is Paradise on Earth such as gilgit velley, Naran, Kashmir

Gohar Hayat		09-Sep-2015 10:33
I enjoy very much to see the Gallary of "Horse Holidays"

Guest		04-Jun-2014 09:09
Thx for the picks of your trip. It has been my dream to do that for years :))

Nasir Hussain		20-Nov-2013 02:57
lovely gallery and nice photos reminding old days all around and specially Hunza

adil		22-Nov-2011 05:53
U r Great darvaish let u first clear darvaish meaning u r creative mind i will have to think about u i wish m also born on that era :)

shakir		22-May-2011 19:24
i simply loved it....

Noor Khan		21-May-2011 14:03
Insh'Allah... good luck with your trip Omar! Many of the roads are becoming metaled, but the views and people are still there!

Omar Khan		20-May-2011 14:00
Loved your pics Noor. I have been planning such a trip for quite some time but always felt short in the planning phase. This year I might be doing it on a bike :)

Asghar Aly		13-Jan-2011 08:36
Great Work and inspiration for me. Love the way you done.

Azam Noon		20-Sep-2010 04:16
Dear Noor Sahib, I stumbled on to your site and am very impressed with your adventure. I have been riding since childhood and have done a lot of things on horses, polo, boar hunting, jumping and tentpegging, but have not fulfilled my dream of traveling on horseback. i was thinking about it for the last few days and i think your travels have given me the courage to go on a small trip, maybe 4 or 5 days. thanks Azam Noon

Ayasha		19-Jul-2010 20:58
It looks like a wonderful book you have written. Many of the places I'm familiar with simply by talking to people. You had the luck to do both. Go to Pakistan as well as meeting and talking to people. All the best, Ayasha

Noor Khan		10-Aug-2009 23:14
Ananda, yes, who would think to get on a horse and ride into the sunset (or sunrise)? What a time it was!

Arte' Fino Window Graphix		09-Aug-2009 02:55
Greetings Noor, I met you somewhere out on the road in those good old days, you may recall. I have been taking lots of inspiration from your pages and hope to one day have a site as impressive as yours to display my life and travels, as well as my work; but having come a long way, I still have far to go. You may not not know it, but our meeting in that sunlit cafe' in a Kabuli back alley (when Afghanistan was still a free and happy place) has stayed with me, and our encounter has woven itself into my life as a very important event - yes, even to this day. What an adventurer you are, and who would think to get on a horse in those wilds and ride off into the sunset? Well, I hope to meet again, perhaps on the Punjabi plain, or the ghats of Benares, but wherever it is, I know you'll be into something good........

vasan Ramadoss		23-Apr-2009 07:12
Hi Noor, Some how i came to your site. Thanks for the wonderfull work

Rizwan		11-Mar-2009 11:54
Hi Noor hopfully find I found your site Url from another site. Really a good work especially your writing(travelague), wish you best of luck rizi

Guest		06-Nov-2008 19:08
Hi Noor, It's your friend Harriet from Peshawar days. How I wish I had come on this trip! The photos are excellent and as you say an unique experience as you really became like an Afghan and got to see places and meet people that few would have the opportunity to do. Good Luck with it. H

Guest		06-Apr-2008 22:52
What a journey, very interesting. Such an adventure. . . Thanks for sharing.

Hodero		01-Apr-2008 19:55
To experience all of this my good friend must have made you a lucky man.Such marvelous memories,of a trip we all dream of.Experiences we can only dream of I'm afraid.I thought I'd seen everything,but now I know I have seen nothing yet...

Jean-Luc Elias		26-Mar-2008 15:55
Fantastic story! Very intersting , a joy to look at!

Timetrax		12-Feb-2008 11:20
Excellent qurban wow janan zaberdasth very nice and Great work man its brings back the old timessss man big voot

Guest		12-Feb-2008 02:41
Excellent pictures Noor Khan!!

geonni banner		05-Jan-2008 02:52
Informative and enjoyable. V

Gervan		01-Jan-2008 15:39
What an amazing report of this interesting trip. v.

Guest		21-Oct-2007 07:07
great pic do you any pic of hunza and gojal Rahman

Guest		21-Sep-2007 05:07
Mr noor you are done GREEEEAT JOB,I am crazy for capturing HORSES IN ACTION ...you are really do nice job.keep it up

Gharib Hanif		16-Sep-2007 12:12
Fabolous gallery Noor. Oh I wished I came along with you on his once in a lifetime trip.

Jean-Luc Rollier		05-Sep-2007 08:07
Really interesting and beautiful gallery§ JL Vote

geonni banner		03-Sep-2007 19:14
Wow. What a wonderful account of a fabulous journey. Well done.

Guest		31-Aug-2007 20:05
so interesting and great work, compliments Noor.

Noor Khan		27-Aug-2007 16:29
Salaam Sajjid, Thanks for your compliments. For this gallery I've just used photos taken on this expedition by myself and the other 3 members. Unfortunately I don't have anything better with Tirch Mir (?) than this photo taken from my back porch on a semi-idle day in Chitral.http://upload.pbase.com/image/78518759 At other times either the weather did not permit, or attention to horses did not permit. This photo is a nice 'idle' shot of Chitral Valley, but diffinately does not do Tirch Mir justice. NK

Sajjad Ahmed		27-Aug-2007 09:46
THIS A TREMENDOUS COLLECTION OF PICs.. I WOULD RECOMMEND THAT ONE CLOSE UP PIC OF TRICHMIS MOUNTAIN SHOULD ALSO BE ADDED .. Thanks

matt_in_sha		11-Aug-2007 09:16
What an amazing gallery!! Thanks for sharing

Jean-Marc MICHEL		08-Aug-2007 14:20
Wow, amazing gallery... You must writte a book with this trip if you have the talent to do it. Best regards.

Didier Vanderperre		21-Jul-2007 02:38
Wow ! what a trip ! I wonder how long this loop took you ?

Bill Taylor		19-Jul-2007 15:19
A very nice collection of scenes of a place many of us will never see.

Guest		24-Jun-2007 09:32
Beautiful scenes from amazing place...great work! V.

Shakeel		20-Jun-2007 16:16
This is an amazing collection of pictures, really different lifestyle, so much adventure, really really appreciate that. keep it up. great work

Eldar Kadymov		07-Jun-2007 12:54
This collections looks like true Odyssey, simply mezmerizing adventure in the part of the world of which we know so little . Thank you for great virtual tour ! V

Tom Briggs		23-May-2007 13:11
Noor ... this photo essay is fantastic. I've enjoyed it immensely and will re-visit to get an even better feel for your trek. You state it was five months in length but you don't say how many miles were covered. Great, great gallery and story ... voted

Waqas Usman		16-May-2007 01:25
Thank you Noor Bhai for your nice comments on my Lahore gallery, it brought me to your amazing trip gallery!! This must have been a wonderful trip for you! That's my dream trip to travel through the Northern Areas in one go! Will wait for more pictures, keep them coming! Have you been to the same areas in later years? Do you find the level of natural beauty deteriorating or not?

silvia marmori		15-May-2007 16:23
such an adventure!.. impressive gallery.. wonderful horses.. my compliments

�Lux		12-May-2007 08:41
Excellent Gallery! Interesting & Adventurous "Horse Holiday"!

Guest		03-May-2007 16:58
great gallery..i enjoyed every picture..v

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