Informal magazine July 2018 09 Informal Magazine JULY 18 | Page 8

TRAVEL
By: Bilal Ahmed
NEELUM VALLEY:
The Paradise on Earth
The whole valley gives fascinating and beautiful scenery.
There is also a mountain “SARWALI” (6326 meters) which is
one of the highest mountains in Azad Kashmir.
N
eelum valley is one of the beautiful
places of Azad Kashmir and it’s
named after the river which has
curves like snake and has blue color.
It is also called as the “PARASIDE OF
KASHMIR”. There is a contradiction that this valley
was named after a precious stone called Neelum.
Neelum Valley is located in the Kashmir Region
and to the North & the North East of
Muzaffarabad and running parallel to the Kaghan
Valley. It is different from it by snowstorm
covered mountains which are 4000 meters higher
than the ocean level. It contains about 370 large
and small villages. It mostly contains hills and
mountains with great valleys. The valley has thick
forest, streams and rivers. This valley is dipped in
most amazing beauty and attracts lots of tourists
from within the country and other foreign
countries as well. The valley can be approached
from two different points. One from Kaghan
Valley and the other is Noori Top. Besides these
two it has many minor passes as well.
This land also has many local fruits which are of
great taste including Apples, Apricots, Walnuts
and Plums which are famous. A large number of
tourists visit it in summers. The whole valley gives
fascinating and beautiful scenery. There is also a
mountain “SARWALI” (6326 meters) which is one
of the highest mountains in Azad Kashmir. The
valley include lush green forests and high altitude
lakes makes the surrounding heavenly and it is
like a dream come true for the people who visit it.
The snow capped mountains and the fast flowing
Neelum River all make us believe that we are in
some part of Switzerland. Many of the tourists
who are interested in mountain tourism also
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come and enjoy here.
Some of its famous places like Shounter Pass,
Chita Khata, Ratti Gali, Baboon, Noori Top, Sharda,
Kel, Surgon and many more are mentioned by
famous tourists like Mustansar Hussain Tararr
etc. The three rivers present in this area are
Jhelum, Neelum and Poonch. People of this valley
make good handicrafts as well which include
Carpet, Namda, Gubba. They are also famous for
their Silk Woolen Clothing. People also make
Woolen shawls.