Desert Safari in one of the World's Highest Cold Desert

Whenever I hear the word "desert", Paulo Cohelo's Alchemist comes to my mind. Although I didn't particularly like that book, maybe because I was too young when I read it or because I'm not too keen on philosophy. All I can remember is a mad person and a never-ending desert. (No offense to Alchemist fans, I plan to read it again now that I'm more mature and hopefully will figure out why it's a best-seller.)

Speaking of deserts, for over two decades I've lived very close to Cholistan desert, and yet, the first and only desert that I ever visited was last year in June 2023 -Sarfranga desert in Skardu.

Which brings me back to my travel saga. In my last travel post, I mentioned exploring Skardu (the coldest city in Pakistan).

After having lunch at the famous Shangrila resort, we went to explore waterfalls - the city is famous for those. We were looking for Manthokha waterfall but instead, we found another one - Hussainabad waterfall. It was small and in a somewhat secluded place. I had no issue because there were fewer tourists so we got to walk around with more freedom.

I've lost most of the trip pictures but you can check out from other sources to get an idea of how the place looked.

The temperatures were lower in the area because the place was surrounded by giant rocks. There was hardly any sunlight coming through. Not to mention the cold water.

The water tasted so good. We filled up our bottles since we were headed to the desert next. Because of course, desert means no water. 🤔

We arrived at Sarfranga dessert at around 4 in the afternoon. It is a cold dessert but since it was June, the temperatures were moderate(pleasant).

(Read in Sheldon's voice)
👇
Fun Fact: Sarfranga desert is one of the world's highest cold deserts, at an elevation of 7500 feet.

I was shocked to see the number of tourists in the desert. The horrendous route to Skardu made me think otherwise. Anyways, I turned out to be as wrong as I could. The desert seemed like another city.

There were a couple of activities to do - jeep rally, ATV (all-terrain vehicle)ride, and paragliding.

At first, the desert seemed a bit of a disappointment because it was nothing like I imagined plus the crowd.

^{Excuse the quality. Lost the original copy of the picture.}

We got tickets for an ATV ride. It was fun rough-riding it in dirt sand. But then I've already ridden it in plain regions and it was nothing different because the area was plain despite being among the mountains.

Then there was the Jeep Rally. I wasn't so sure about it but when the jeep-guy told us that he would take us deeper into the desert then he got our attention. We all got in. It was a normal ride at first. And then we saw dunes... Finally, it felt like we were in a desert.

The whole landscape started becoming so beautiful. Before we knew it, the driver shifted the gear into 4WD and raced the jeep up on a dune. It was so sudden, that my friend who was standing and enjoying the view from the sunroof, fell on me. It was hilarious but I shouldn't be laughing because she almost killed me with her weight. 🤭

Before we could come back to our senses after the sudden 90° (okay it sure was around 80°) upward drive, the jeep went down-dune down-hill in the same 83°. I was sure we were going to roll out of the vehicle since there were big gaps in place of windows.

It was one wild ride because after that he went on two more dunes at least.

^{Both my boys had fun picking up sand}

The jeep-guy dropped us in the center of the desert and let us enjoy the view. It was my first time in the desert, but it felt like I was standing in the Sahara desert- thanks to my Alchemist imagination. 🤣

I marveled at the precision and sharpness of the edges of the sand dunes. I haven't seen anything like that before. It felt like they freshly came out of moulds.

The sand was practically sparkling under the sun which looked so close.

There were mountains around, so the desert didn't seem isolated or barren. Bigger and hotter deserts must be depressing.

Since there was nothing to do, except viewing the landscape, we had one more wild jeep ride back to the parking spot.

I wish we had more time so we could camp out there for the night. Word is, the sky looks so mesmerizing there - full of stars.

One more thing that I missed was paragliding. It seemed so fun, flying over the whole desert and mountains. But we were getting late for a dinner that we promised to have with some people who helped us a lot during the whole trip -making reservations for us where we went.

We were still late for dinner. We didn't have time to change or clean up. I think it was the first time, I went to a dinner with my hair and clothes full of sand. I hope it never happens again.😅

I also dozed off during the dinner. It was also a first but in my defense, it was a looong tiring day.

There was a lot more to explore in Skardu but it was our last night of the trip because we had to go back home the next day.

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^{All pictures are mine unless otherwise stated.}

^{Part 1- The Best Views Come After the Hardest Climbs
Part 2- All Mountain Landscapes Hold Stories
Part 3- Take Me Back
Part 4- I Found My Shangri-la}