Waterfalls of Hazara Division
Pakistan encompasses a rich diversity of landscapes starting from Waterfalls to mountain ranges and further to an old civilization. A day before we visited the three beautiful waterfalls of Hazara division which named as
- Noori Waterfall
- Umbrella Waterfall
- Sajjikot Waterfall
It was a day tour so, we started from as well as ended our tour in Haripur.
Important Distances to waterfalls
Islamabad to Haripur: 95km
Haripur to Lora chowk: 12km on N35
Lora Chowk to Jabri Village: 24km on Jabri –Lora Road
Jabbri Village turn to Tial: 4.5 km on a semi off road track
Tial to Noori waterfall: 1km
Return back to Jabbri Village
Jabbri to Berri: 25km on Kalabagh Nathiagali Road
Parking to Umbrella Waterfall: 1~2km
Berri to Sajjikot water fall:4km
Sajjikot to Haripur: 50km
How to get there
The best and convenient way is to go by your own vehicle. However, you can rent a car from Haripur too. If you plan a part of this tour then you can get local transport from the nearest village. You can follow the map above to visit these waterfalls.
How we made our plan
At 21:30 I received a call from my friend and he told me to pack my bag within next half an hour as we were going to Haripur for a couple of waterfalls.
Me: What? Only half an hour?
My Friend: Sorry but bla, bla, bla….
Me: I have a couple of official assignments for next day, so, plz…..
My Friend: Bla, bla, bla…….be ready in 30 minutes plz…
Me: Bla, bla, bla…
My Friend: Bla, bla, bla…..
Me: you have wasted my 5 minutes out of 30, so shut your phone off so that I can pack my bag.
So, after half an hour, we were going to Haripur. It is advisable to reach Haripur (or Abbottabad, Mansehra) a night before your trek, so, you can take proper rest and start your next day visit as early as to get the maximum benefit of daylight. If you haven’t a direct contact for booking your stay then Booking.com or Tripmate App will be your options. Even Tripmate App is more beneficial as it provides additional information to travelers. Due to the time frame, we started about midnight and reached Haripur right the next morning. We had a two-hour morning sleep in a basic hotel. After freshened up we had our breakfast and then we were on the road to visit the day’s exploration.
Noori Waterfall
Haripur is about 95km from the capital Islamabad and one can reach there within one and half hours at moderate speed. From Haripur, we traveled about 12km on N-35 towards Abbottabad. We took a right turn at Lora Chowk and then traveled on Jabbri-Lora road for the next 24km. After reaching Jabbri village we followed a right side narrow track towards Tial Village (Also known as Kayal Syedan). Remember this partly off-road track comes at the start of the Jabbari village council-board. It is about 4.5km.
Although any car can go to this track, however, it needs a careful drive. If you feel a reluctance to take your car to the Tial village then you can leave your car at Jabbri and search for a hired local transport from there. This portion will take about half an hour. Along the way, views are beautiful and eye-catching. You can found many similarities of Kumrat jungle with this place. Finally, we reached Tial and parked our car at a designated place there. Remember, if you have any doubt of the exact route, then you can hire a guide from Jabri or Tial too. You can find a café beside the parking and shop for a soft drink or tea there.
Trek to Waterfall
From here, we started our first trek of the day which is about 1~1.5km and it took all the way down to the waterfall in 20minutes. After descending half the distance we followed the Haro river at our left with magnificent views. After a few turns, we reached a point where a water nulla was joining the Haro River. This Nulla was coming from the waterfall side. We followed the nulla and reached the waterfall premises.
The best part of the trek was our last 100m which we have to trek into the waist height water against the incoming water which formed a gorged lake there. The water of the lake was crystal clear. We spent an hour there while making our postcard shots and flying our drones there. Tea was FANTASTIC there as we can’t describe the taste of tea which we made at the spot. Finally, we packed our luggage and picked all of our trash up from there, and went back to our parking spot. On our return, we found that how long we trekked down to the lake.
Umbrella waterfalls
We came back to Jabbri village with a careful drive again. After reaching the road we followed the Nathiagali/Kalabagh road, the same previous Jabri/Lora road. We traveled for another 25 km and reached Berri Village, a base point for Umbrella waterfall. There was another trek that starts from Poona Village. From Poona, the trek is a bit long but also less steep. You can park your car at a designated parking side too.
Trek to umbrella waterfalls
Here we had trekked down to the waterfall. Again the trek length was 1~2km but we had to trek down about 500m. Although it took about 20~25 minutes while descending but the time was doubled on our return leg as we had to ascend all the way to Berri.
In the last part of our descending, we opt for the way which includes the rock climbing portion. We used the fixed rope and descended it down to the waterfall area. The best part of the area can be visited while we reached the entrance and crossed the violent nulla.
We definitely say it is a unique and beautiful waterfall of Pakistan that offers a fairytale look and atmosphere to the visitors. If you like to experience this fairytale activity then remember you have to play your part by avoiding any type of littering there.
Sajjikot waterfall
Sajjikot waterfall is about 4km from Berri and we reached there within 10minutes. It is the most visited place and famous point in the area. We already visited this place a couple of times before. So we spent only a few minutes there and viewed the waterfall from the main road. Remember that the pond of the waterfall has a variable depth and it becomes extremely dangerous to underestimate the pond. Unfortunately, many incidents had occurred there which make this waterfall a dangerous point for swimming. So, be a responsible tourist and perform your part in ethical and sustainable tourism.
From Sajjikot we travelled for 50km to reach Haripur on Sajjikot/Havellian road.
A few more words to Hazara waterfalls
Out of these three waterfalls, Noori and Umbrella are recent explorations and tourists who wish to go to new places are ready to visit them. People of these villages are very cooperative and helping the tourists but on the other hand, these places are going to be a litter point when we ignore the ethical values to protect these places from littering and trash. No one can protect these places except the tourist that comes to see the beauty of these places. So, keep your trash with you or dispose of it at any designated place so that our next generations can get the benefit of these landscaping beauties too.
Rabia Munawar
Your content is very interesting as well as informative. I really enjoyed going through it.
Keep it up bro!!!
Norman
Exactly, on the nose!! “No one can protect these places except the tourist that comes to see the beauty of these places”.
Thank you Rashid bhai for this enlightening post about Hazara ????