Shaitan Gwat Lake Trek Guide

Hike Overview

• Hike Difficulty: Difficult
• Trail Length: 23.2 km (14.4 mi)
• Net Elevation Gain: 2,057 m
• Typical Hike Duration (One-way): 15 Hours
• Trail Head: Barkedam (a.k.a Bhail)
• Shaitan Gwat Lake Height: 4,071 m (13,356 ft)
• Hike Season: Mid July to September
• Campsite: Sarbanda
• Guide: Available from Barkedam
• Porters: Available from Barkedeam
• Car Parking: Available at Kedam

Note: Preserving nature is the responsibility of every tourist / hiker. Please DO NOT LITTER, DO NOT DRAW GRAFFITI, DO NOT CUT TREES.

Shaitan Gwat Lake Map

Trip Overview & Itinerary

Day	Time	Journey	Duration
Day 1	07:00am to 01:30pm	Islamabad to Kedam	6.5 hours
	04:00pm to 05:15pm	Kedam to Barkedam	75 mins
Day 2	06:30am to 06:30pm	Barkedam to Sar Banda	12 hours
Day 3	09:15am to 12:30pm	Sar Banda to Shaitan Gwat	3 hours
	01:00pm to 03:00pm	Shaitan Gwat to Sar Banda	2 hours
Day 4	08:00am to 03:00pm	Sar Banda to Barkedam	7 hours
	05:00pm to 06:00pm	Barkedam to Kedam	1 hour
	07:30pm to 01:30am	Kedam to Islamabad	6 hours

Reaching Kedam

Shaitan Gwat Lake's location is in Bahrain Valley in Swat. The nearest town connected by road is Kedam, which is located just ahead of Bahrain.

We set off for Kedam from Islamabad on Saturday morning. The initial part of the journey is on the Motorway. At Chakdara, we got off the Motorway and the rest of the journey was on local roads. We were susceptible about the roads in Swat valley because the previous years' devastating floods had wiped away most of the infrastructure. Sure enough, the road condition from Bahrain onwards was very bad, not to mention the chilling sight of the destruction caused by the floods.

When we set-off for the journey, we had some idea of where we were supposed to go, but we weren't a 100% sure. Shaitan Gwat is a fairly less explored Lake and hence there wasn't a lot of information about it on the internet, and even the locals in Kedam weren't very well aware of how to get to the lake.

We knew that the route starts somewhere from Kedam. Upon reaching Kedam we pulled over by a few shops to ask them the route. One shopkeeper said that you just start climbing up the hill from here, and it takes about 6 hours. This did not add up with whatever information we had so we ignored him. We then pulled up at 'Khan Park and Restaurant' and asked the guys there about the route. Again, the people running this place weren't too sure. Eventually, we somehow we managed to figure out that we were supposed to reach a village called 'Bhail' or 'Barkedam' from where the trek starts, and that there was a jeep track to Barkedam near us.

Jeep to Barkedam

In order to get to Barkedam, we had to get a jeep. But Barkedam was by no means a tourist destination hence no jeeps on booking go up there. Only the 'public transport' jeeps go upto that village. These jeeps usually run between Barkedam and Bahrain, carrying the villagers and their goods up and down the mountain. Shah Alam, the guy running the restaurant, told us that jeeps normally go up to Barkedam in the evening, so there would be a jeep going in a few hours time. He got into contact with one of the jeep drivers and told him to pick up 2 'Mehmaan' from his restaurant on his way.

The jeep came and stopped by at 4pm. It was loaded with people and all sorts of goods which included peoples' shopping, bags of cement, giant plumbing pipes and what not. There wasn't really any space for us and our rucksacks, but somehow we managed.

Luckily the jeep ride wasn't too long, in roughly an hour or so we reached the village. The fare of the journey was some Rs. 200 per person.

Barkedam was clearly an agricultural village with lots of fields around, growing mostly 'Maro' at this time of year. It was clear that not a lot of outsiders visit this village since as soon as we reached we were surrounded by the children of the village who were looking at us and our equipment like they saw an alien.

Our next goal was to find a guide who would go with us and to show us the way. Soon enough a person by the alias Jahangira showed up. We discussed whether to set off straightaway, cover a little bit of distance in an hour or so, or stay the night in Barkedam and leave the next morning. We chose the latter. It turned out to be an excellent decision because at night time a thunderstorm struck.

Not surprisingly, there weren't any hotels in the village, but the villagers were very kind and they had us stay in what seemed to be a newly developed communal 'bethak'. They even brought us dinner consisting of a salan of local Maro and a meat dish. Eid-ul-Azha was a few days ago so the meat was inevitable. Both the dishes were delicious, but the Maro in particular was out of this world. This is coming from a guy who usually wouldn't even look at it twice.

We spent the rest of the night there in the bethak, all this time the local children were all around us, talking to us with curiosity, telling us about each other and showing us whatever they could show. Eventually it was time to go to bed. Our guide and almost all of the children slept in the same room with us.

Hike to Sar Banda Lake

The next morning we woke up and got ready to set off. We had brought along some noodles which we cooked on our portable stove. Just as we were leaving we realised that the local villagers were going to prepare breakfast for us. We wanted to get on with the day so we refused politely, which they weren't too happy about.

Near the end of the jeep track that led up to the village, there was a small trail on the right side going into the woods. The initial bit of the trek was fairly dodgy. The trail wasn't flat and the ground was soft because of the overnight rain. Within a few minutes of starting the trek, I took a tumble in a very risky area. Luckily I didn't fall too far down.

We hiked along a man-made water channel which supplied water to the village. Little up ahead there was a small waterfall where apparently our guide liked to shower. I'll mention it here that our guide 'Jahangira' whose real name was Zakir Hussain was quite the character. They called him Jahangir because of some movie actor or character. He was very talkative, fond of his chars, sometimes entertaining, and often times annoying. But we endured him since he knew the way.

At around the two hour mark we came across a chashma (spring), we would later realise that this spring would have the sweetest water in the entire trek.

At just under the 3 hour mark we came up to the first clearing. This place was called Khandar Banda. Despite its name, it was no Khandar, rather a very pretty place. From here we could see up the valley where we were headed

From here we were joined by a few cattle herders. We trekked past several more bandas namely, Ismastu Banda, Sony Banda, Kanat Banda, Tarkana Banda. As far as I could understand, a Banda is either a dwelling or a plain area. Most of these banda's came and went without us realising because they weren't very apparent. At one point we saw a wooden bridge which some locals were using to cross the stream. We, however, had to stay on the right side of the stream.

The trail started to get rockier as we proceeded. We crossed our first glacier which was backdropped by a nice waterfall on the other side of the mountain. Later we came across a patch of land covered with beautiful yellow flowers.

At around the 6 hour mark came our first 'lake'. This was a small pond located in a place called Jabba.

We rested at Jabba for a bit. It was past noon now. The energy we got from the breakfast noodles was long gone. A little while ahead we came across the residents of Jabba Banda who said something to our guide from a distance. We stopped for a while and before we knew it the people brought paratha and tea for us. They were very surprised to see us so they wanted to show their hospitality. We sat with them for a while. In the conversation one of them pulled out a gun and they started taking turns practicing shooting on a nearby rock. Having a gun thrown around like that made me a little nervous, so we decided to thank our hosts and get going again.

A little up ahead we came across the next checkpoint which was the Kala Chashma. This was a fresh water spring right next to the trail, but its water so not as sweet as the previous spring in the forest.

We then went through some big boulders and came to the edge of the water stream. Luckily for us, some locals were just finishing up building a couple of bridges to create a path across the water to the otherside where we were supposed to go.

These people were relatives of our guide, so he asked us to sit down and have another round of paratha, makhan and lassi. The makhan (which was basically goat cheese) in particular was really good.

We didn't know it at the time but this energy recharge turned out to be really important for us because the next part of the trek was the most demanding patch yet. It was a long and steep climb up to the plateau of Sar Banda. We had to cover this patch at a good pace too because there wasn't a lot of daylight left.

This last stretch of the day took a decent toll on our bodies. Our guide went much ahead of us so we didn't know the best route up. We ended up in a boulder field which was fairly tricky to navigate. Often times we had to take very big leaps to get from one boulder to another. When we finally got to the top, we were relieved to see the edge of the Sar Banda Lake.

Camping at Sar Banda

It was very nearly dark so we had to quickly set up our camp. Unfortunately, the tent that we had brought along was a bit different to what we usually use. We couldn't really figure out how to pitch it, the quickly fading daylight didn't make things any easier either. A little while earlier we had spotted our guide. He had taken shelter in a stone hut masjid. We decided the best course of action now was to join him in the masjid instead of trying our luck with the tent. We got to the masjid, absolutely shattered after trekking for 12 hours. We quickly prepared an exquisite dinner consisting of noodles, and afterwards got inside our sleeping bags.

The extent of tiredness we were feeling at this moment was such that we genuinely did not think that we would go to Shaitan Gwat the next day. From Sar Banda we had seen where we had to go to reach Shaitan Gwat Lake, and in that moment it did not look promising.

Available Facilities at Campsite

Facilities	Availability
Tents
Water
Food
Toilet
Phone Signals

Hike to Shaitan Gwat Lake

When we went to sleep we genuinely did not intend to go to Shaitan Gwat Lake the next day because of how incredibly tired we were. Also, Sar Banda was a really nice destination itself. We figured that we would just spend the day chilling at Sar Banda and go back in the evening or the next day.

With this in mind we slept till 8am the next day since we were in no rush to get up. Once we did get up, the weather looked quite gloomy with dark clouds in the direction of Shaitan Gwat. We had some oats, milk and nuts with us which got us a nutritious breakfast. By the time we were finished having breakfast, the sun had come out. We felt very well rested and energised and all of a sudden we resorted back to our original plan and started heading towards Shaitan Gwat Lake.

With the sun now out we got a much better look at Sar Banda Lake. It is quite large, quite blue and downright stunning. It is so pretty that it deserves to be a hiking destination in itself.

Across Sar Banda Lake was the mountain which we had to climb to get to Shaitan Gwat. The mountain was fairly high with a very steep slope. But more importantly, there was no trail going up. The mountain seemed to be all rocks. Sure enough when we got to its base, it was all giant boulders and no trail. But first we had to fend off a few sheepdogs which were trying to scare us away from their sheep herds. Our guide was so scared of the dogs he suggested that we should go back, but obviously we hadn't come all this way just to see some dogs.

We had dumped our rucksacks by some of the locals of Sar Banda, and now we were travelling light. Being light was essential because of all the boulder jumping we had to do. This part of the journey was very risky since a single slip of the foot would have you fall through the gaps between the boulders and you could get stuck there (ever seen the movie "127 hours"?). You could even hit your head if you fell which would have been just as bad, if not worse. At one point there was a water stream going through the boulders, making them wet and slipery. This part made me really nervous.

The route was really steep and we were nearly at 4,000m, which meant breathing was starting to become an issue. After about 3.5 hours we finally reached the top and set our sights on the Shaitan Gwat Lake.

Shetan Goot is a series of 3 separate Lake, one after another. With the three lakes combined it is considered to be the largest lake in Swat. We had reached the edge of the first lake. The route up to the first lake was so tricky that we did not want to risk going any further. We were finally at the forbidden and mysterious Shetan Goot Lake and we did not want to push our luck any further. The weather was also changing. If it started raining now, all the boulders we crossed would get wet and slippery and much more risky. Hence we took our pictures and headed back.

Going back was just as difficult, if not more. Though there was one good thing about it which was the constant sight of Sar Banda Lake down below.

Just as we reached back down and breathed a sigh of relief, the rain came. Luckily the locals who kept our rucksacks invited us into their hut and offered some tea and bread. We got back our rucksacks and headed back to the masjid to spend another night.

Next morning we departed for Barkedam and by luchtime we were back. Our guide invited us for lunch. Getting back down to Kedam to our car was the next order of business. From Barkedam, jeeps collect all the produce of the village from its many farmers and take it down to Bahrain. One of these jeeps was supposed to leave in the evening, and we managed to get a seat on it. The jeep stopped by every farm on the way, every farmer had 10kg packs of Maro packed and placed by the jeep track. The jeep driver would load it up and note it down and would later pay the farmer when it would be sold in the towns below. We also got ourselves a 10kg pack each, afterall it was the best Maro we had ever had.

We got down to Kedan by dusk, had a well deserved dinner and embarked on an overnight journey home.

Final Thoughts

Shaitan Gwat Lake is a surprisingly neglected Lake. It is at a fairly short distance from Islamabad, with no crowds. In our whole trip we did not see ANY other trekker on the trail. The locals are really hospitable and happy to see trekkers. Having said that, it is also not for everyone. The hike from Sar Banda onwards is particularly treacherous and not recommended at all. However, the real catch is Sar Banda Lake. Sar Banda should be the real destination of this hike. It is actually more beautiful than Shaitan Gwat, and just as remote and secluded. The trek to Sar Banda should be split into 2 days, with a stopover at Jabba perhaps.

Trail Video

Equipment

Having the right equipment and gear is essential for an enjoyable hiking experience. Check out the list of recommended hiking gear.