iExplorePakistan.com

Entrance to Pakistan via Pak Afghan Border - Chaman, Balochistan.

I have been receiving mails regarding queries of the safety conditions of traveling in Pakistan. So instead of replying to all those mail i thought to draft out following points that can help you to travel inside Pakistan.

1. No country is safe or unsafe

One thing i would want you to understand regarding traveling is that No country is safe / unsafe. It all depends on you how rough you can travel. If you are comparing traveling in Europe with Pakistan then it is for sure you’ll  face some hurdles. However if you are an avid traveler and understand the circumstances that a country can bring to you (that is obvious part of traveling) then you need not to think if its unsafe or safe to travel.

1. Do Not Read the News Paper

Trust me, its useless to read the newspaper before traveling. I tell you why. You will read all about what negative is going on around the country. However, there will be lots of positive things going on which will not be mentioned and the negative news will take over your traveling. Its good to know whats happening in the country but not everything. There are things that you should not know as well.

2. Do Not watch the News

This goes similar with the news paper. Same things. It will never let you travel, or even not let you leave your house. Am i right?

3. Know about the place

When i say know about the place, that does not again refer to news but you should ask the people who have recently been there. Get their insights and reviews. They might have had good or bad experience, but your intention is just to get more information about the place where you have decided to go.

3. Think Less

This is one of the useful tool for me to travel. I think less about the place before traveling. I just take little information on safety precautions and then just leave without thinking more and it has always been helpful. The more i think about the place the more worry i get.

4. Hurdles are a part of traveling

Like every other traveler, be brave to face hurdles. Again i say that the hurdles are a part of traveling no matter of which country you are traveling too. But i always enjoy the hurdles and take them as a part of my journey.

When you are brave enough with a positive attitude, things that are not in your favor will not take over over and ruin your traveling.

5. How to avoid Terrorism?

Its funny but you have to believe, we are also suffering from it but we are leading a normal life. I find it really easy at the moment to travel across borders between different provinces of Pakistan. One thing that you need to make sure is not to travel to the troubled regions. When i say troubled regions, it means some specific places.  For example, I am not talking about whole balochistan but some regions where its not safe. That does not mean you avoid the whole beautiy of Balochistan etc.

6. Fight with your inner self

I must say this is one of the most difficult part. I always face difficulties fighting with my innerself to make the innitiative to travel. Whatever you plan for whichever place, when the time starts getting near to move, your innerself tells you not to move, stay at home and enjoy the tv. But there comes a time you need to fight with your innerself and take an innitiative to move. Trust me, once you innitiate to travel, everything around you molds a form in your favor.

Yet there are lots of other things you can do / avoid doing in order to travel. But you have to travel and explore your country. Just don’t find excuses not to see the beauty of your country. Pakistan really is a beautiful country full of hospitable people.

If you have any such tip you would want to share, or have a question regarding safety in Pakistan, just post it as a comment .

Happy traveling across Pakistan

I am speaking at TEDxNUST tonight at 21:00 in Islamabad NUST Campus. I will be talking about my travel adventures across Pakistan and showing it through my lens. If anyone of you are close by and can attend, please do so Or the least you can do is watch it online at www.TEDxNUST.com.

Do post in your comments about the talk if you have watched it  :)

My Fellow trekkers returning back from unfinished Wakhan Corridor Trek

It is difficult to return from the trek of your dreams. I along with my other fellow trekkers did  return after covering nearly more then half of our journey in Wakhan Corridor, Northern Pakistan.

You come back with mixed feelings. When i say mixed, it means that when you go back, you are happy to be back to civilization, getting a good warm water shower, have eggs in the breakfast, meeting your family and friends. In simple words, back to normal life. But at the same time you are sad too. Sad because you are leaving the wild, the adventure and the closest to the nature. You are sad because you had an objective to accomplish but you couldn’t because of unfavorable weather (snow and rain). You are sad. More then you are happy. You had put a lot of efforts to get there.

But then there is lots of hopes you are bringing back with. Hopes to go back and accomplish whatever you couldn’t.

I call my travels Mixed feelings. Its not sad always, but not always happy too. But its always with full of hopes.

That keeps me alive. What keeps you alive?

Wakhan Corridor Trek

Life is unexpected. I always find inspiration in my traveling. But there are times when I don’t travel at all and then there comes a time I don’t get to see home for a long period of time, always traveling. I count it as a blessing. Its been almost 3 months i have been traveling. Inside Pakistan and outside. Exploring breathtaking places and living my moments.

Sometimes i really get confused what to share and what not to. Pakistan is more then beautiful. Beyond our imaginations. Sometimes i feel life is to short to explore this motherland.

My recent trek was Wakhan Corridor. I remember my friend Marco from Germany once told me if things don’t go in your favor while traveling, it gives you a good reason come back, explore more, experience more and live more. I realized that on my trek as it went unsuccessful. I am not going to call it a failure, but I can call it a new learning experience, have explored some new places, met new people and now i have a reason to go back there, once again. I feel lucky.

The trek was not completed because of unfavorable and unexpected weather conditions. unexpected rain and snowfall. We had to come back, keeping it unfinished, bringing lots of hopes back home to go next year. Its difficult to fight with the nature and its easy to go in a flow with the nature.

While I was stuck and lost in the mountains, I was more close to the nature that gave me the opportunity to go deeper inside and live some moments.

I am still traveling and that is why i have not yet been able to jot down all my experiences and share with you. But i am sure i’ll be sharing them all soon

Hey Hey Hey. Its been a long time since my last update. I was initially on a trek to Wakhan Corridor, got stuck due to some extreme weather conditions, came back to the city and had to leave the country for a while the next day.

I am really sorry for not updating the blog but i am writing some great stories with photographs to tell and you should hold your horses till i start uploading.

Have a nice day!

Wazir Khan Masjid, Lahore - Pakistan

I’ve just started traveling again on this eid, currently spending the first few days in Quetta, Balochistan and then again ultimate hikes in Mountains. I will be away for few days due to no internet connection and living in extreme conditions.

Just wanted to say “Eid Mubarak” to you all. May this Eid brings all the joys to your life. How are you celebrating this Eid?

Have you ever been to a place where you completely fall in love with? And you would want to come back some day again? Or again and again? Every traveler at some point in time feels the same for some place. Being a nature lover, I actually fall in love with everyplace that offers me nature in its real form. Chitral was one of it and going back there felt like I will be reading best stories of my life visually with new additions.

Aerial view of Rawal Lake, Islamabad

It was an early morning flight from Islamabad to Chitral.  I already knew it would be a small flight but after listening to the announcement of the pilot, 45 minutes sounded too less since nowhere in Pakistan you fly for less than an hour at least.

Weather in Islamabad was cloudy, and flying in PIA ATR meant It was going to be a bumpy ride.

Just like my other journeys, I had my camera all ready to shoot. The uncle sitting next to me was wondering what I was so excited about. I told him this could be a routine for him but I am coming here for the second time to enjoy this picturesque view, to fly over Hindukush Mountains. I took this flight with an objective to have new photographic ideas and I wanted to live in the moment to the fullest. I hope he understood my feelings.

The start of Hindukush Mountain range

It was one of its kinds and different flight for me, I flew over the green Margalla hills initially which took me an aerial view ride of the Rawal Lake covered with dark clouds with a new perspective. The Margalla hills felt like a magical place covered in clouds. All of a sudden I saw a far away mountain having snow shine on its top. Looked Like a huge vanilla flavored ice cream cone from a distance. Uncle on my right said: here starts your Hindukush. Snow means Hindukush.

Hindukush range from the window of PIA ATR

This made me forget the meal and tea I was having and I started taking pictures. The snow caped peak came nearer and nearer and the green mountains of Margalla vanished into dry Rocky Mountains of Hindukush with snow spreaded all over. The window on my left had the view of only white snowy dry mountains with green patches far and wide. This continued till the pilot announced we are about to land in Chitral. We came down the snow capped mountains and now all I could see was the green fields of Chitral all over. A valley covered between giant mountains.

Aerial view of Chitral Valley and the shadow of the plane before landing

This was not the only journey that I enjoyed, but I enjoy each and every journey with the same excitement. Be it a flight from Islamabad to Gilgit, a road trip to Quetta from Karachi, a train trip in Southern Punjab or a jeep ride to Naran Valley, because this is all Pakistan and each and every place of this country is worth appreciating. Not just the landscapes but the culture and hospitable people.

(This story was origionally published the August 2011 edition of Blah-Magazine for youth, Pakistan)

The shot was taken right after sunset at the Clifton Beach, Karachi - Pakistan

Inspiration. Normally our life revolve around things we are inspired with. Everything we do and tend to do is a result of getting inspiration from our surroundings. I started Photography and Traveling similarly. Inspiration to travel came from my Father who is always on the go while photography came from appreciation of nature. But that is not the end, i get inspired everyday from my daily life. From my dreams, from my travelings, from the sunset, from the sunrise, a horse ride at the beach, a trek up to the mountain, reading a nice book, a pigeon flying next to my window, a child on other side of road with a smile full of hope etc etc.

How do you get inspired? Where do you get your inspiration from? Is there anything that you look forward to get inspired? Mentors? Nature? Books? Movies? Do Share!

-Danial

I am uploading a wallpaper from my Pakistan series after quite a long time. Previously i intended to upload monthly wallpapers but then didn’t see any charm in that and then i descided to upload wallpapers randomly with no specific time duration involved.

This picture is one of my recent experiment of a long exposure shot taken at one of the water stream flowing in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan.

Download your wallpaper by right clicking  on the picture above and  click ”Save Target as / Save link as” .

Enjoy

-Danial

Hindukush Mountains in Kuragh near Chitral, Pakistan

I made it my habit everyday during my stay around Hindukush Mountains to observe the Sun setting behind and experiencing last beam of light hitting the closest mountain. The feeling of belonging and closeness to the nature is beyond explaining.

Have you ever done anything like that in your life? Please Share