Arang Kel, Kashmir

Arang kel is a heavenly village 2kms away from the town of Kel. It’s 8379ft above sea level. Getting to Arang Kel is quite an adventurous mission.

Our journey started in Muzaffarabad, we drove for 110kms through Neelum valley alongside the fast flowing Neelum River and reached Sharda. Sharda is a popular base camp for a lot of tourist in the region and if you don’t plan your trip at least 45 days in advance, there is a chance that you won’t find a room to stay in Sharda.

We left Sharda early morning to get to kel, so we don’t have to wait for hours in the line for the chair lift. This chair lift by the way is no joke. It’s a handmade metal cuboid with two benches on either side, can only fit 6 people and looks like a toy hanging 200+ feet above ground and takes you from one end of the valley to the other. The chair lift saves you an hour on the hike, if you’re too scared of crossing the river in this shady thing, you have to cross the river and hike for an extra hour to get to the top.

Once you have crossed the river, the hike begins. The hike itself is not very long, it’s about 900-1000m but, if you are out of luck and it starts raining, which it did in our case, it is going to be the craziest hike of your life. The path gets very slippery when it rains, and there would be a number of local people renting out hiking sticks for your convenience, you might think you don’t need them but, I strongly suggest grabbing one right at the beginning.

After an hour, you’ll be welcomed with most beautiful view ever. Lush green fields with green mountains in the background. Small wooden huts scattered around the fields, no electricity poles, no television. Just a whole lot of peace.

But as soon as you interact with one of the local people, you realize that this piece of heaven on earth has also seen its dark days. Arang Kel, is right at the border of Pakistani and Indian administered Kashmir, and couple of years back this serene land was bomb shell graveyard. Instead of all these lush green fields, you saw bombs and missiles and bullets, but as soon as the situation deescalated these people, put all of that behind them and carried on with their peaceful life.

If you ever get to do this hike, you will truly understand how decisions made by a handful of people effect the lives of some really innocent people.

After the history lesson, you best believe you will be offered tea by one of the local families, and when that hot cup of tea arrives you just sit back and enjoy the picture-perfect view in front of your eyes.