I dithered over this trip for quite some time, having received an invitation to visit Chitral from the assistant guide for my day in Peshawar last year. We seemed to ‘click’ in a brief (20 minute) conversation in Peshawar, when he asked about my family and I explained that I was single and childfree – he said he was the same. Unusual for a 50-year-old Pakistani man. I’d let him have my WhatsApp number and facebook info, and then he made this invitation, said that I should visit for the Kalash festival and that he’d be delighted to host me. Finally I decided that I would go, and I booked my flights in and out of Pakistan.
Once it was all confirmed, the tone of his messages changed. He told me that he loved me, that I was only the third person he’d loved in his life, that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me… My flights were non-refundable, and as this guy is (i) a very religious Muslim, (ii) employed from time-to-time by the most well-known guide in the country who is a facebook friend of mine, and (iii) a friend of, and campaigner for, Imran Khan and thus with a police profile, I felt I would be safe with him, albeit that things might get a little awkward. So I responded to his messages by explaining how happily single I am and that I was coming only as a friend – and went ahead with the trip. I’d also told him that my outbound flight was from Multan, and he said he’d probably accompany me to Multan but that would be at my expense as recompense for his hospitality in Chitral. Seemed fair!
I was grateful when I arrived to find that another tourist – a very nice Japanese guy – would be travelling up to Chitral with me, and that we’d be attending the festival together. As he was paying, he got the front seat in the car, but it put the trip on a footing I felt more comfortable with.
The drive up from Islamabad was loooonnng … but very scenic (even from the back seat), half of it along unsurfaced roads in very poor condition (we even had to drive through rivers in two spots), into the beautiful, stark, snow-capped mountains of the north. Then there was time to look around the town of Chitral (fort, mosque, museum, etc) and take in the views from up the mountainside above, before the festival started.
The Kalash people, now thought to number less than 5,000 and found only in three valleys of NW Pakistan, follow a polytheist religion based on the worship of ancestors plus another twelve gods and goddesses.
According to their beliefs, the relationship between the human soul and the universe requires music and dance, which also pleases their gods and goddesses. Mostly they still wear their traditional dress. They celebrate four major festivals each year, the most well-known of which is Chilam Joshi (the spring festival, the one I attended), which seeks the blessing of their gods and goddesses for the safety of their herds and crops. There isn’t really that much that happens, but you get to see so many of the people gathered together so can really take a good look at the clothes (those headdresses!) whilst the women dance to the rhythm of the drums.
If I'd been born there I'd much rather be a man than a woman - much more fun to play the drums than to parade round in circles with fancy clothes on...
After the festival we visited a couple of other valleys in the region to see more of the spectacular scenery and search for Himalayan ibex (Pakistan’s national animal – we saw four, at some distance), then drove back to Islamabad to drop off the Japanese guy for his flight home, before moving on to the second part of my trip. There had been some awkward moments with my host (he had never had any sexual contact with a female, and felt that this was his time), espcially as we were sharing rooms for some nights, but as I'd anticipated, nothing forced.
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