Daily Times

A group of foreign tourists has found a unique way of incorporating rickshaws into an adventure as on Saturday it departed on a mission to cover around 745 kilometre distance from Islamabad to Khunjerab Pass on the three-wheelers. “Our eight-member outfit include four adventurists from UK and one each from Italy, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands,” the team leader Carnall Julian Rohann told media here at Media Center of Pakistan Sports Board (PSB).

“We’ll complete our mission in a week. We know we’ll have to tackle a huge distance. The journey is quite tough but this is what the adventure is all about,” he added. He said that the trip was aimed at promoting mountain sports and tourism in Pakistan. He said after the venture, the team would release vlogs, stories and pictures of the mountain tourism of Pakistan, especially of Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa.

“The majestic scenes of Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa are second to none. The snow-laden peaks and sun-kissed valleys along with winding roads at highly dizzying altitudes make the region a perfect tourist destination. We want the world should know about it,” he said. “Reaching there in the rickshaws is quite challenging. But we’ve years of experience as we have already been taking part in such voyages in India, Nepal, Thailand and Sri Lanka. We’ve also practiced here in Pakistan and are confident to complete the mission,” he added.

The adventurists will initially stay at Balakot where tourist police will be welcoming them. Their next stopover will be at Batakundi. On the third day, they will cross the Babusar Top and reach Chilas where they will be received by Chilas District Administration. After spending the night there, they will proceed to Gilgit and move to Hunza valley.

Finally, they will reach Khunjerab Pass, which is located at a spectacular height of almost 5,000 metres. The Government of Gilgit-Baltistan and the Special Communication Organization would hold a reception for the team. Shahid Islam, Deputy Director General PSB, who was also present during the media briefing, appreciated the efforts of Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) and other key stakeholders for the promotion of mountain sports and tourism. Abu Zafar Sadiq, President of ACP highlighted the importance of mountain sports and tourism. He stressed the need to project this potential with strategic market to allure mountain sports and tourism in Pakistan.

He thanked Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination, Ehsan-ur-RehmanMazari and DG PSB Col. (retd), Muhammad Asif Zaman, for facilitating and promoting sports tourism in Pakistan. KarrarHaidri, Secretary ACP spoke about the importance of summer tourism and the role of tour operators in the development of sports tourism and peace.