Islamabad to Chanjah drive

The hike started from Chanjah village. There is a general store there and people are cooperative. You can park the vehicle there and go on the hike.

Chanjah is a village on the same road that goes to Umbrella Waterfall. It's 20 minutes drive from Jabri bridge on Haro River. We had done a track there from Jabri village, so this time we wanted to explore the area ahead of our previous excursion.


We scouted the peaks and ridges from the vehicle and found one after discussion with locals. On the road, there is a Dispensary and a General store. Friendly locals suggest us the path and advised to park the vehicle there.


Hike was straight initially, and then steep hike for 30 minutes after which we reached old jeep road. As we started walking on the roads, we realized there was a labyrinth of roads there. We deduced that there might be plan of a housing society development, I also assumed that might be for 2005 earth quake effectees but later the people told us that contractors quarry there to get raw material for cement production. Following the roads we reached the village of “Balkhu”.

Balkhu was on the top of the mountains with small fields, mosque and outskirts of stoned walls. The views were brilliant especially those of Santora village and it’s green forests which were in contrast to dry mountains we were on.

We started our descend towards Santora to see the forests but the jeep road ended very soon and we could not locate any path towards Santora so we went back to the same path we came from.

We were informed by the locals that all the old paths have been lost as no one goes up on the mountains anymore.

Overall it was an easy to moderate hike with very rewarding views and very pleasant breeze. Although it was winter but we hiked in T-shirts and enjoyed the pleasant weather.