Mariam Farooq

This was a short, almost impulsive addition to a longer Azad Kashmir trip — we were already in Kel and decided on the morning to walk up to Arang Kel rather than continuing straight on toward Ratti Gali as originally planned. The climb from the river crossing is short but genuinely steep, and I was glad we weren't carrying much. Within an hour we were on the shelf above, and the change in scenery was immediate — wooden houses on open grass, with the whole valley visible below. We stayed the night in one of the small guesthouses rather than treating it as a same-day walk, which meant we got the village in evening light and again at first thing the next morning, both of which felt different from the midday version most day visitors see. What struck me most was how much quieter it was than Kel itself, despite being an hour's walk from a fairly busy village. Evening in Arang Kel was genuinely still — no vehicle noise, just the occasional sound of someone's livestock somewhere nearby. We changed our onward plans and skipped Ratti Gali entirely this trip, which felt like the right call in hindsight. Arang Kel deserved the unhurried version rather than being squeezed in as a stop on the way somewhere else.