Skardu is surrounded by jagged mountains on all sides. When we visited in August the snow had all melted and it looked more like a mountainous desert landscape in Oman. We’d already hiked up to Marsun Rock which I shared about in a previous post but this is what we got up to on our other days around town.

Feeling a little wiped out from our long hike and early flight we spent one day doing a short stroll through town, admiring the beautiful mosque and continuing down towards the river where there was a fun trail along some cliffs above the milky brown river. The route offered great views of the surrounding area and it was relatively flat which my legs were grateful for. We met lots of friendly locals too that wanted to invite us for tea. Two men from a tribal area in western Pakistan offered us lunch and we politely declined, we’ve accepted a few chai offers so far in Pakistan but don’t want to take advantage of their kindness.

Another day we planned to go to Kachura Lakes, supposedly accessed by a van for just 50 rupee but when we got to the roundabout where they leave none of the vans seemed to be heading that way. A guy seemed to know where the van was so he walked us down the road to the van which was literally inside a mechanics waiting to be worked on so it clearly wasn’t leaving for a while and we needed a plan B. We asked a few drivers how much for the ride and the prices were crazy and up to 8000 rupees which is £22. We ended up walking all the way through the traffic clogged town, passing trucks with giant cages on the back to transport live chickens and the smell was horrendous. Our walk did lead us past some very cool trucks covered in beautiful art though and the owner said I could sit on the front for a photo, we’ve even seen trucks being driven with two people sat on the bumper area, as if it’s just a normal seat. One van did pick us up but said he was only going a short way so he dropped us by the bus terminal which just had high priced taxis again. We decided to walk back to the road and try our luck at hitchhiking and within 30 seconds a postal van pulled up. A young worker offered us a free ride up to the airport road and as soon as we hopped out and stuck our thumb out again a truck came rumbling to a halt. Suddenly we realised it was in fact the foul smelling truck transporting chickens that we’d walked past earlier. As they pulled over the smell hit me again like a brick wall but we headed to the door with big smiles. The driver said he was heading our way so he could drop us at the junction which was perfect. The other guy in the car kindly crawled up into some space behind the seats and sat there for the 20km journey so there was space for us which was very kind. The good news is with the speed we were driving the smell was wafting behind us so it was a pleasant journey.

From the junction we had a couple kilometers to walk to the Lower Lake which is home to the fancy Shangri-La hotel. We just wanted to find a nice cheap spot to enjoy a chai by the lake so we headed to a more budget hotel and got tea with a view. The lake was in a beautiful setting with mountains all around which reflected in the calm water.

Now we had to walk a few more kilometers to the Upper Lake and thankfully a car stopped and asked if we wanted a ride which was a relief as the heat was really zapping us. The Upper Lake was even more beautiful because the mountains were cloudless here and we could appreciate all the jagged peaks. This lake had boating activities available, it all looked rather dangerous to be honest with the captains doing doughnuts too close to land so we just took a seat in the shade so we could enjoy a cold drink. Before we could buy one a jolly chap who was from Pakistan but now lives in England came and said hello. We had a nice chat about Pakistan and he wanted to know how we liked it, when we said we loved it but it was very hot for us and we were just about to get a drink he insisted on buying them for us so now we had two cold colas to sip on.

We walked the next section to the road junction for Sok Valley which was a really rough dirt road. Eventually a car stopped for us but the road became very steep and a river spilt over the rocks causing them to be very slippery. We offered to get out but he insisted we stayed in and continued trying to get traction. I don’t know what happened, if maybe a rock flew from the tyre and hit someone or something but there was some commotion between our driver and some people standing by the road but we didn’t understand what they were saying. It was only a few more kilometers to the main area of the Sok Valley where there were popular riverside eateries. The views were fabulous and they even had chairs set in the river so you could cool off. It was a beautiful location to spend the afternoon, the water was ice cold and the cloud really lifted so the mountains looked fabulous.

When it was time to leave a 4×4 with a group of lawyers from Islamabad offered us a ride to the road junction and for the final leg back to Skardu an Italian tourist in a private car with guide stopped for us! What a successful day meeting lots of friendly people.

For our final day in Skardu we caught a taxi to Katpanah Lake. Our host warned us that it was a ‘dead lake’ with almost no water but just enough for reflections of the mountains. It was also backed by sand dunes so we thought it would be interesting to see the desert landscapes of Skardu. The lake was most definitely dry but a shallow ring of turquoise water was around the circumference while the rest was covered in grass and grazed by animals. I managed to get some reflection photos and then we attempted to conquer the sand dunes. It was much tougher than we expected because the sand was unbearably hot. We were wearing our sandals and the sand was getting stuck between our shoe and foot and we had to keep stopping to frantically shake the sand out before we suffered from burns. The views of the mountains with the dunes were impressive from the top but there was quite a lot of private land with fences built around the dunes which ruined the beauty a bit.

There’s plenty more sights to see around Skardu but it helps to have a car. Overall we had a lovely time and it was a good introduction to mountain life in Pakistan.