In about 24hrs. I'll be in Lahore en route to Peshawar. From there, I'd like to follow your instructions to visit the village of Honzagool (on your honzamap.htm page). I have some questions, however:

(1) Is this even possible? I've heard the Lowari Pass is closed until May. This information may be out of date, and it is not on your page (to my knowledge). Can one get to Honzagool's village from Peshawar during winter without crossing illegally into Afghanistan?

Subquestion: If I DO cross illegally into Afghanistan, how do I keep from getting caught/in trouble? I speak a little Urdu, no Pashto or Khowar.

(2) Will the trip be possible if I fly into Chitral from Peshawar? If I can muster the money I will try this option, if it's worth bothering. I'm perfectly willing to hike long distances or take whatever means of transportation, but crossing through tribal areas will be impossible for me, given my language difficulties and general unfamiliarity with the area.

Is it possible to get to Mirkhani, Dir, or Drosh in this season, starting from either Peshawar or Chitral?

Please let me know what the best course of action is, considering that I will need to make this trip in the next two weeks. Thanks in advance for your help, and of course if there is any message you would like me to convey (or not to convey) to the villagers or to Honzagool via the villagers, please let me know.

Best,

You can cross it by foot by taking a bus to Dir and then a jeep to the snowline and then get out and walking. It is an eight hour walk from Village Gujur, the last village in Dir, to Ziyarat which is the first in Chitral.

The walk is dangerous because this is the avalanche time of the year. The snow is melting now and avalanches can come at any time. Every year a few people are killed this way. When the snow melts their bodies come up.

If you do decide to walk, the best time is a moonlit night. It will be cold so the snow will not be melting and the moon will show you the way.

http://www.shamema.com/lowari.htm

It sounds as if the safest bet will be to fly into Chitral, then take jeep/bus to Drosh and walk from there. From your honzamap.htm page, I gather that the distance from Drosh to Honzagool's home is only a few miles, i.e., a couple hours' walk at most.

Kindly correct me if what I've written above is incorrect or unwise due to avalanche danger.

> You can fly by PIA to Chitral. The flight is very cheap. However, at this time of the year the flights are full because nobody wants to walk.

Last I looked, the flight cost Rs2500, which I can afford. I'm told that there are reserved seats for tourists, so perhaps I can snag one of these.

Again, thanks for the suggestions, advice, and information.

regards,

The avalanches occur on Lowari Top. You will be safe in Drosh.

Be sure to call me Ismail there. They do not know me as Sam.

I think 2500 Rs is the tourist price. when I was last there the price was only 100 Rs, which was then $10.

Ismail Sloan