Shinkiari - Kund bangla
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 12.26 mi
- Elevation gain
- 3,606 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Moderate
- Elevation loss
- 384 ft
- Max elevation
- 7,828 ft
- TrailRank
- 59
- Min elevation
- 7,828 ft
- Trail type
- One Way
- Moving time
- 4 hours 43 minutes
- Time
- 7 hours 44 minutes
- Coordinates
- 3401
- Uploaded
- June 6, 2022
- Recorded
- June 2022
near Khan Dheri, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan)
Viewed 1281 times, downloaded 5 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
Infact it was, as the building was demolished and it's scrape was auctioned.
At it's location grey structure of new building is partially built with foundation and walls have been raised so far.
I was bit disappointed to see no building but the location was simply breath taking. It offers great views of Kaghan and Kashmir's mountains on one side. Siran valley is no visible at the top but on trek you can view Siran upto Mansehra plain.
Trek is almost 20 KM long, starting from Forest Officers Academy.
At every KM you will see a sign describing the distance remaining.
Distance is infact of "Munro Trail - Facilitation Center", which is 2 KM before the Kund Bangla.
You can camp at Kund Bangla but there is no water available there and wind is sometimes too strong, or you can stay at facilitation center where there are camps, water and washroom facility available.
There is also a small shop .
Camping village and the shop is managed by very kind caretaker "Mr. Gulam Rabbani" and his 5 sons.
Here is Ghulam Rabbani's Number 0345-9549384
Here is the Mr Saboor's number, who works at Facilitation Center 0302-5099376
Waypoints
Intersection
5,023 ft
Go Left - A short cut
Left route offers a short cut. We got confused by directions given by a local lady. If you go right, you will follow the correct jeep path.
Panorama
5,377 ft
Panorama view of the Mansehra and Shinkiari
You can see the whole Expressway and GT road...
Panorama
5,820 ft
Saddle No. 1 - 14 Kilometer remaining
Saddle is a low point on a ridge between mountains from where you can see across the both sides of the valley
Waypoint
5,840 ft
Refreshment Point 1 - 13 Kilometer remaining
It was marked as refreshment point but there was no shop or even water. May be just a camping or stay point but nothing works without water.
Ruins
6,430 ft
Danna Tami Village - 10 Kilometers remaining
Danna Tami was a scenic village with mud houses of nomads who move up on the hills in summer to escape the burning summer heat. They stay here from June till September... We only found one family there and asked for water. They did ask for money which we happily gave in exchange of water.
Flora
6,581 ft
Ecotone - Chir Pine (Lower and Temperate zone)
Ecotone, a transitional area of vegetation between two different plant communities, such as forest and grassland. We were transitioning between Lower Elevation zone of Chir Pine to Temperate Elevation zone. You will witness a change in flora of the area.
Waterfall
Panorama
6,588 ft
Saddle No. 3 - 8 Kilometer remaining
Saddle is a low point on a ridge between mountains from where you can see across the both sides of the valley. This is the place where Muhammad Saleem Khan Swati was martyred, consequently it is named as "Shaheed Gali".
Panorama
6,572 ft
Saddle No. 4 - 7 Kilometer remaining
Saddle is a low point on a ridge between mountains from where you can see across the both sides of the valley. Clouds had suddenly covered whole sky and now we wanted to move quickly.
Panorama
6,414 ft
Saddle No. 5 - Pure Path of Oak
Saddle is a low point on a ridge between mountains from where you can see across the both sides of the valley. It starts an area which was covered with oak trees.
Flora
7,014 ft
Moist Temperate Zone
Occurs in the temperate zone of the Himalayas between 1500 and 3300 metres. Cover the entire length of this mountain range in Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Darjeeling and Sikkim. Pakistan has Himalayan moist temperate forests that fall in the category of Western Himalayan broadleaf forests. Himalayan Moist Temperate Forests: These are evergreen coniferous forests. They have broad-leaved trees and oak species. They have a combination of both deciduous and evergreen species. Location of Temperate Deciduous and Mixed Forest Biome of Pakistan: The locations include Tribal Areas, Shangla, Azad Jammu Kashmir, Swat, Kaghan, Abbottabad, Murree, Mansehra, and Dir Upper. Climate of Temperate Deciduous and Mixed Forest Biome of Pakistan: These forests are present in the Western Himalayas between 1500 to 3000-meter elevations with rainfall less than 1000mm. The recorded precipitation is 57 inches. During winters the precipitation is in the form of snow and hail storms. Summers are short. Northwest disturbances cause rainfall in winters and the forests receive precipitation from the southwest monsoon. BIODIVERSITY OF TEMPERATE DECIDUOUS AND MIXED FOREST BIOME OF PAKISTAN The flora consists of dominant coniferous trees, broadleaved species, ferns, shrubs, and climbers. The fauna of temperate deciduous and mixed forest consists of mammals, birds, and other species of animals.
Campsite
Car park
Information point
Mountain hut
Door
Summit
8,048 ft
Kund Bangla
Kund bangla is a forest department's rest house. Infact it was, as the building was demolished and it's scrape was auctioned. At it's location grey structure of new building is partially built with foundation and walls have been raised so far. I was bit disappointed to see no building but the location was simply breath taking. It offers great views of Kaghan and Kashmir's mountains on one side. Siran valley is no visible at the top but on trek you can view Siran upto Mansehra plain. Camping village and the shop is managed by very kind caretaker "Mr. Gulam Rabbani" and his 5 sons. Here is Ghulam Rabbani's Number 0345-9549384 Here is the Mr Saboor's number, who works at Facilitation Center 0302-5099376
Comments (12)
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Looks like a good trek! You have done an amazing job scouting the area and captured it well
Thank you.
Its an awesome trek with plenty of sign boards as a part of development of “Munro Trail”
However no water on the trek at all (except for and if you request anyone at the settlements).
Additionally bikes and jeeps go to Kund Bangla. bikes go even a lot far away.
Oh, that's a problem. Are there shops on the way where one could buy Nestle water bottle
Not at all… it’s totally ridge and couple of temporary settlements.
First time we found water was the courtesy of a shepherd who guided us to a spring which was 10 minutes hike downwards (my friend went there). Second time I asked it from the only family in the first settlement. They did give us water but they were not pleasant people. It started raining afterwards and we were not thirsty anymore. We did pass a final settlement with many families.
2 km before Kund Bangla (thats 17 km in hike) there is Munro Trail facilitation center. There a solid tents, washrooms and water available there.
They charged is 1,000 per person for stay only.
Kund Bangla is on the top and it too has no drop of water.
On return next morning we opted the Balakot rout that too is jeep navigable but its a little shorter (14 km till munro facilitation center )and has water and well inhabited.
Thank you for informing me! Have you marked the Bakalot route?
Yes I have a trail of that too but my Wikiloc shows it to be 144 km whereas its only 14 km . And its a very clear jeep road.
From Shinkiari side
Trek starts from forest department college( we took a taxi to that point).
Does it go back to the starting point, the 114km one (14km)?
Is there any place to park the car?
You can park it at Shinkiari after discussing with any hotel owner. You can’t park it at the trek starting point as it’s basically forest. We went local as the hiace dropped us Shinkiari.
It helped us traverse too.
If you know Mr. Nayyar Shahzad, he is from Shinkiari and well known hiker (very kind and gentle person).
Can you please share your number?
I have your number, I will text you.