Kalash Festival:   A festival of the corn harvest was held in the village of Karakal while I was there; and there was group dancing all night.  Left: Kalash children watching the dance.  [Close-up foto]    Right: Kalash girls dancing in threes as men talk.

Kalash Festival:   The festival began soon after dark and the dancing and chanting continued all night and into the morning.  Left: Two large circle dances, one for women, one for men.  Right: Kalash girls dancing round and round for hours and hours.  [Close-up foto]

Kalash Festival:   I sat against a wall watching all night; only in the morning was I able to take a few photos unobtrusively.  Left: Line and circle dancing.  [Close-up  of head-dress covered with cowery shells.]    Right: Another close photo of girls' head-dresses and emproidery. 

Kalash Festival:   The same people continued dancing and singing in a mesmerising rhythm all night long; spinning and shuffling their feet. The only music was their singing and two drums in the center.  Left: Line dancing.  Right: Line dancing and wonderfully ornate head-dresses and dresses.  [Close-up foto] 

Kalash Festival:   The costumes worn by the women clearly show a great deal of work, as well of the collection of goods such as cowery shells, coins, and beads.  Left: Side view of girls' braids and headgear.  [Close-up foto].    Right: Men are doing a dance with canes. 

Kalash Festival:   Reportedly the Kalash people make and drink alcohol, but did not bring any out in public.  Women used to tatoo their faces, but now only occasionally use ink.   Left:  Smaller groups of men and women dancing.  [Close-up of woman with painted face].    Right: Front view of two girls with lots of beads. 

Kalash Festival:   The women all have 5 quite long braids, the last one wound around their heads.  Left:  Girl and boy looking at a poloroid from another visitor.  Right: Groups of girls dancing and singing.  [Close-up of 3 girls].

Kalash Festival:   I have no idea how they managed to dance and sing all night long and into the morning; I had trouble staying awake, and slept much of the next day.  Left:  By mid-morning, things slowed down a little.  Right: Still dancing and singing. 

Kalash Valley:   Hiking down the road from Karakal a few miles, we neared the mountains that form the border with Afghanistan.  Left:  This village at the end of the road was off-limits; or was it the whole area?  Right: As the road ran out, we (Marcella and Peter here) followed a creek farther into the mountains. 

Kalash Valley:   We met a man carrying a small iron woodstove. After we carried it up to his isolated house, he invited us for tea.  Left: Waiting for tea in the shady yard (John, Peter, Marcella, Dirk)  Right: This is as far as we got, as the stream led more steeply up into the mountains, we stopped for a snack. Didn't really want to see Afghanistan, anyway. 

Back to Chitral some days later, some of us returned south to Dir and took a side-road via Timigara to the Swat Valley of Mingora and Saidu Sharif.  Left: One of several sites of historic battles won by Alexander the Great, south of Mingora.  Right: Marcella & John go native at the hill station of Miandan (or Miandam) in the beautiful Upper Swat Valley.  [Close-up].

Lahore:   Yes, you must go to Lahore at some time; it was the capital of the Punjab under the British Raj. Left: In front of the Lahore Museum, this is "Kim's Gun" -- the zamzama -- cast in 1760 and made famous in Rudyard Kipling's book Kim. Kipling's father was the curator of the Lahore Museum for 18 years.