MANSEHRA: The picturesque Lulusar Lake is an unexplored tourist attraction in Mansehra district by and large.

Unaffected by pollution and located over 11,000 feet above the sea level on Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad Road amid Bassal and Babusar tops, the lake doesn’t attract large crowds of tourists due to distant location and closure of the road to it for most part of the year due to heavy snowfall.

However, those who manage to reach there are in awe of the place’s beauty.

Accompanied by family, tourist Marriam from New York said she had travelled across the world but had no words to state the beauty of Lulusar Lake.

“It’s unique. It has soothing environment. The lake’s splendor is unaffected by pollution unlike Saiful Muluk, which has lost picturesqueness due to littering by visitors,” she said.

Another visitor, Nowisa, said she had come to the place with family and had a really memorable time.

“The nature is everywhere. Only fewer human beings are here and therefore, the place is so serene, so peaceful in the midst of high mountains and greenish meadows,” she said.

The tourist demanded that the government preserve the lake and other such tourist attractions in the district.

The local residents said the heavy snowfall in upper parts of Hazara division, especially in Mansehra district, caused the suspension of vehicular traffic between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan via Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad Road for six to eight months with the Lulusar Lake remaining buried beneath a mass of snow.

“We have set up a restaurant in Bassal area, which provides food and other refreshments to tourists and those traveling between GB and KP. Earlier, there existed no such place,” said Hussain Deen, the owner of a restaurant.

He said tourists and users of the MNJ Road had complained of unavailability of food items.

“I invite tourists from across the country and abroad to enjoy the beauty of this area,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2017