Educational Camp Quetta And Ziyarat – Day 2

Day 2 Monday 19th September ((16th Shaban ul Kareem))
As scheduled daily, the students woke up at around 5:00 am and prayed Fajr Namaz. Then Quran e Majeed Daur was held at 6:30 am and then after a short morning walk and jogging, breakfast was served. Before leaving for the day’s excursions Tilawat ud Dua was recited.

The 19th of September was a busy day so early in the morning all were up and about getting ready. After Tilawat ud Dua at 9:00 am we started off for our planned excursions. We left for Jabal e Noor. The place is unique in its kind as here Quran e Majeed and other Islamic books, which are no longer in use are collected from all over Pakistan and preserved with dignity. The organizers have dug a network of tunnels as long as 150 meters in the mountains and stack Quran and other Islamic scripts in sacks. They started this work since 1992 and today there are 1 million sacks stacked in Jabal e Noor. Along with preserving and stacking Quran they also have a binding section where they bind Quran in good condition and distribute them back in Masajids. Till now they have distributed alone 3 lacs Quran all over Pakistan.

Quetta is an earthquake zone. It is situated on Chiltan fault. The major earthquake of 1935 was worst in the history of Quetta. Our next stop was the Seismic Center, which is situated right on the Chiltan fault. Here students were briefed by an earthquake expert, the methods and instruments used to record earthquakes and their epicenter. The students saw seismographs and some charts which had recorded major earthquakes including Tsunami of 26th Dec 2003.

From Seismic Centre we moved to Merry Brevery Gorge, Karsagaz. We were short of time so were unable to go inside. Here students observed different types of rock formations which dated back to Jurassic age. All these rock formations were basically the result of depositions in the sea bed millions of years ago. Then we proceeded to Spin Karez. Karez are very old system of water channeling found in this region. The cold and fresh water streams flowing from the top of the mountains are channeled so that it flows towards the city and water is supplied to houses. Water flows underground because the region has a very hot and dry climate. The water channels are covered to minimize loss of water through evaporation.

Baluchistan is rich in minerals and resources. The area of Spin Karez is surrounded by coalfields. The Geological Survey of Pakistan is responsible for digging and discovering these resources by means of drilling. It was our good fortune that Sir Asif Nazir Rana, a geologist and museum curator for GSP Museum was with us as our guide. A drilling operation for coal was currently going on in Spin Karez. With Asif Sir we were lucky to observe the huge machines drilling hundreds of feet in the earth. Sir Asif showed the students the coal oar drilled out two days ago from a depth of about 600 feet.

It was now 2:00 pm. Every one was feeling hungry so we moved towards Urak Valley. It is a beautiful valley surrounded by fruit orchards. The road to Urak Valley is lined with orchards of apples, apricots, peaches and plums. At the end of the valley is an exhilarating and chilly waterfall. After freshening up and praying namaz we all sat for lunch. Suddenly a swarm of honeybees gathered around us. They were attracted by the smell of the food. We had a unique experience of having lunch with the honeybees.

After lunch we hiked for half an hour and reached the Wali Tangi Dam. Cold and chilly water from the mountains was gushing out and flowing in a form of stream. The water was so inviting that we removed our shoes and socks and dipped our legs. After having some fun we returned back to our vans and moved towards

Hanna Lake. Hanna Lake is a beautiful, scenic lake. It is one of the main picnic spots for the residents of Quetta. Its emerald green water surrounded by rugged mountains gives it a picturesque look. Unfortunately when we reached there it was Maghrib time, we prayed Namaz and soon it became dark. So we were not able to enjoy the scenic beauty. But while we were walking around the lake we spotted hundreds of frogs of different sizes. We had fun catching them and observing them jump from one place to another.