BANJOSA LAKE
Banjosa Lake is an man made artificial lake and a tourist attraction 20 kilometers (12 mi) from the city of Rawalakot in District Poonch in Azad Kashmir. It is located at an altitude of 1,981 meters (6,499 ft). I saw a picture of Banjosa Lake in collection of a great travel photographer, Mr. Gulraiz Ghouri, and fall in love with this place at first sight. Since then I had visited this lake in both seasons & it always has a mesmerizing beauty. However, in snow, it becomes more romantic & beautiful. It’s a prefect place for honeymoon because of its beauty & many low budget stays are also available at lake. Some one can reach to lake simply by a car.
Some times having good contacts in northern areas with locals, gives you many well in time information about routs, weather & new developments. I had a good contact with a local there Mr. Maqsood, who very well guided me about all conditions of the lake whenever I called him. I was desperate to visit there since last 3 years but he suggested me to wait for a week or so as yet very little snow is on the lake. I was short of holidays this year, couldn’t wait any more & this made me disappointed.
On Jan 7th 2011.. it was heavy raining in Lahore when I heard about snow fall on mountains & in high valleys. The weather compelled me to call Mr. Maqssod & to get information about Banjosa Lake & this time my hopes were not disregarded as he told me that it has been snow falling since morning. Without wasting any time, called a meet up at Model Town, Lahore, Chinese Restaurant & on a table of soup, in a pleasant evening of winter, I presented my plan to group & every one became excited to visit the Banjosa lake. Due to shortage of holidays, it was decided to leave for lake tomorrow evening so that can reach at lake site early morning & to come back same day.
Next day few more members agreed to join as were excited to capture the scenes & to spend some pleasant, peaceful hours. I again called Maqsood to arrange our stay but he gave a bad news that though snow falling is stopped & lake is covered with snow but road are blocked. It was really a disappointing for me who was planning to go these since last 3 years & now when the day came, the weather became cruel. The picture of lake in my mind was making me crazy now & I convinced every one that even if road will be blocked, we’ll go there on foot & all courageous members agreed. Started journey around 8:30pm from Lahore & had dinner in way at Gujranwala. We reached RAWAT & at police check post we presented our all documents which were properly completed. Glimpse of snow started 7~8km before Rawalakot. We were so happy & excited that forget Maqsood’s information for a while that road are closed. It was a pin drop silence when we reached Rawalakot as snow had covered every thing & life was also seems frozen there. Our vehicle’s sound & our heat beats were the only proof or life there. Luckily road to lake was open as machines worked there in day hours to remove the snow which fell last night. It was early morning, though snow was on road sides but due to cold, moisture on road was again frozen & it was too much slippery. Some how we reached Khai Gali from where a road turns to Banjosa as a local told us. From here on wards we could use the car for 1km only but further road was so slippery that we decided to park the car on a side & started trekking. It was difficult to park the car even at a side. It was our excitement & courage that we started to move on foot in soft snow. By too much hard work we reached till lake by 9am.
As soon as our eyes captured 1st sight of lake we forgot all difficulties of travelling & we all were speechless to see the scenery. No one could explain this beauty in words, I can bet. I could read the face of every member surprised & mesmerized and I could listen the hear beat of every one saying, is this the heaven God promised for us?
Its was 11am & all were hungry. Around lake, there are good places to stay, so we stayed at a rest house & ordered for breakfast. Traditional & cheap breakfast of Egg & Paratha gave us energy. Weather was unpredictable so we decided to move back. Some members were not willing to go back on foot so we requested our local friend Mr. Maqssod to arrange a jeep on lower cost. From Khai Gali, we took our car & started our journey back. On way back to Lahore our very loving member Mr. Asad insisted us to have dinner with him. We had a great dinner & will remember same as we’ll remember Banjosa.
I’d suggest every one should go to this place in winter & summer with friends & family. Remember me in prayers.
BON VOYAGE
