The name ZOJILA pass itself brings severe and thrill to every travel enthusiasts mind. It's considered the steepest and the difficult and dangerous amongst all mountain passes across the Himalayas. ...it was long wished for ,to drive across. Earlier, I had the opportunity to drive across kardungla, changla passes in ladakh, Sela pass in Arunachal pradesh , Banihal in jammu region and Rotang pass in Himachal pradesh. ...but ZOJILA had been alway a craze for me. Just had the opportunity last month to travel upto kargil across ZOJILA pass.....I didn't wish to miss this chance and reached Srinagar on 16th June 2015. We were to drive off to kargil on 19th June. ...but it was continous bandh atmosphere across kashmir valley from 17th June onward. ...was very much worried for that...anyways, we hired an inova car as it's not adviceable to take zojila pass in smaller vehicles....
We left Srinagar very early ie 8am. ...We had prior info that the upward traffic on zojila was allowed from 1pm...so we had to cross Sonmarg and reach Baltal by 1pm.Baltal is the place from which Zojila pass starts...lucky that we cross Sonmarg by 12pm and soon we were on high mountains. ...traffic jam is very common on this way....We were hanged up at Baltal for almost 2 hrs approx . because of some landslide little before Baltal. ....I came out of my car , and what a view across....
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| At Baltal. Oh , the traffic started moving...and we were on the move...now Zojila though looked thrilling to drive but really every drivers nightmare. ....road hardly exists...snow melting had brought waters and mud all on the road...the road is so very narrow, looking down just brought shivers and as I kept filming my journey on my lens , I was awstruck by the treacherous beauty of the Zojila. ...after a short time others in our vehicle were all started feeling drowzy but I was not able to wink my eyes even.....its so so beautiful. ...looked like I am travelling in some other planet. ...just to the summit, ie Zero point it's had been a very very difficult drive....above that those dusts and the difficult twists and turns.....just crazy !!!!!!.....heart was beating very fast as it was really scary. ... Many tourist who plans for halts at Sonmarg, do plan for the Summit of Zojila pass ie Zero point but often those tourist vehicles fool the passenger's and shows places close to Baltal and tells that it's Zero point... By the time we reach Zero point it was around 3.30pm. ..we had a short stop over there , had tea and snacks in small temporary shops there and watched other people taking on skiing, snow sledging and motor biking on the snow....After the all refreshing break we then headed for Pandras, which is the end of the Zojila pass....after the Zero point , it's really picturesque. ....In my total journey across ,to kargil , I loved Pandras, Mushkoh valley, Suru valley and Drass much more attractive. ....kargil town is just hyped by name of the kargil war , but I realised that the war took place in Drass area in kargil district....... I tried to canvas my journey on my lens and the thrill is always to be experienced by one who takes on the drive. |
