Local gather for live Pashto with drums and Kakari Ghara love song.
This group of picnickers comes from the provincial capital of Quetta, and they are engrossed in the old Attan dance frenzy, which is regarded as an essential component of the community’s culture. On the Hanna Lake bank, they begin dancing slowly and sluggishly then pick up the pace over time.
Despite the freezing weather, hundreds of tourists visit the picnic area at Quetta’s Hanna Lake since the recent snowfall and rain turned the area into a winter wonderland.
During the ten-year drought that left most of Balochistan without even drinkable water, the famed man-made lake from the British era had not received a single drop of water.
However, the August 2016 downpour and flash floods were the first time in more than ten years that the depleted water reservoir was filled.
For the past several days, Quetta and the majority of northern Balochistan have been plagued by a weather system that has brought heavy snowfall and rain to the region.
Due to the lack of gas and electricity in the area, some people would rather stay indoors in the bitter cold, while others, particularly children, like snowfall and are making their way to Ziarat and other picnic areas with their friends and relatives.
A visitor from the Muslim Bagh neighborhood of the Killa Saifullah district, Muhammad Ajmal Kakar, told The Express Tribune,
“We are here to enjoy the cold and lovely weather on the bank of this magnificent lake.”
Tourists Reviews
Numerous tourists are also having a good time on the lake’s edge while the snow is falling outside. Kakar is among them.
They’ve built sizable bonfires and prepared food, all while being joined by musicians or sizable music players.
“I traveled from Karachi to experience the winter and the cold. For the past five years, this has essentially become a yearly routine, a young guy named Arsalan remarked.
He had paused by the lake but intended to continue on to Ziarat with his four pals.
Along with the clear, blue water of the reservoir, the mountains surrounding the lake appear strange due to their carpet of snow.
However, visitors criticized the location for lacking basic amenities.
In order to maintain Quetta’s water table, encourage tourism, refuel historic springs in the surrounding mountains, and advance local agriculture, the British government built Hanna Lake in 1894.
Thousands of migratory Siberian birds used to be drawn to it, but that is no longer the case.
