World's highest Polo - Shandur Pass

  Shandur Pass, Pakistan
Tuesday, July 8, 2008

A grou

landsilde on the way to Shandur Pass

p of us who had all met along different points of out trips had all organized to meet at the famous Shandur Pass which is at an altitude of 3810meters and big enough to have a couple of lakes Its home to the highest Polo ground in the world where the best players from the surrounding valleys trek up their for a yearly competition and festivities!
We were so nearly disappointed as there was alot of rumors that the festival had been cancelled, being so close to the Afghanistan border the Taliban had threatened to make an attack due to the high amount of Westerners and

on the way to Shandur Pass

Pakistan diplomats attending the game, luckily its wasn't, they just got half the Pakistan army to create check points and set up machine guns everywhere with about 200miles of the Pass instead.
We managed to hire a 4WD jeep which we all crammed into for the long journey up to the Pass, as always in northern Pakistan, the scenery was breathtaking and the journey was eventful, we crossed around 20 check army points, 3 old landslide and saw a new landslide which we only just got through having to help push a bus out of the way. When we finally arrived at the Pass we set up camp away from the road where every vehicle seemed to be creating its own sandstorm as it arrived.

Shandur Pass

The Pass itself was beautiful, a grass plateau with a blue alpine lake along its length, surrounded by some snowcapped and some saw-toothed jagged mountains. Between Chitral, in the Hindu Kush and Gilgit in the Karakoram mountan ranges.
Although the festival didn't begin until tomorrow, this usually desolate, cold and lonely place was already gathering up and beginning to resemble a small town, there was around 10,000 -15,000 more people expected to show.
I set up my tent, using rocks inside to hold it down as I was told the wind

Lunch time prayer

could be fierce at this altitude as it swept thought e valley and up over the pass and a plastic sheet as waterproofing while watching about 20 old bearded men pray on their makeshift rug facing West, led buy one guy with a bright orange beard dyed using henna.
In th

Dance off

e evening we followed the sound of music and beating drums which took us to the Gilgit side to what can only be described as a huge 'Dance off' going on. It was great to watch as the tempo of the drums changed, the dancers got more exciting by the cheering crowds. People were just jumping in from all over the place performing their best moves until they were outdone by someone else randomly jumping in (I inevitably ended up in the middle, they were loving the Rickey Gervais dance!) Most off the other guys I was with got taken into the VIP section as they were spotted as Westerners, but Julien and I both wearing our Shallwa Kameez'z, with dark hair and beard

Me in the crowd

s seemed to blend in and got left in the rowdy crowd, with people trying to speak Pashtun to me, which was much more fun : )
I finally retired about 3am so I could get up for the first match tomorrow and headed back to my tent, and as soon as I left the crowd I was hit by this bitter cold at this altitude and knew its was going to be a cold night, I finally fell asleep about 4am with he drumming continuing long into the night.

Shandur Pass

When I awoke in the morning, thousands of new tents had arrived through the night and more were still coming, we headed down to the first match. I really enjoyed the match and it was much better than Id expected (and much more violent, with people and horses getting hit with the stick as much, or more than the ball!) On my way back up from the match I took a different route to avoid the crowd and walked up what must have been butchers ally as there were goats skins everywhere and what looked like a huge Yaks head in a near by stream turned red by blood. There was then trail of fleshy white innards and stomach lining leading to a pole with meat hanging on it like a washing line of flesh. The second match in the afternoon was just a s good and I was really starting to appreciate how the horses could perform at this altitude, when we were getting out of breath just walking up the hill to our

Shandur Pass - Polo match

tent. I was told by a proud local in the crowd that most of the Chitral horses were from and trained with heavy loads on the high mountainous border crossings to Afghanistan.
On the second day I arrived a bit later to cue for the match but one of the security spotted me in the cue and immediately took me to the front and into the VIP area from where I watched the match. As a foreigner its seemed you could go anywhere you wanted and get away with anything. The seats on the other side of the pitch were just mounds made of from glacier debris, the worst and furthest away being the small women's bench,

Polo match

containing only about 30 women amongst 15,000men and who were only allowed out the tents for matches. Today was the 'B' teams playing and to my surprise there was a noticeable difference, the match was equally as violent but much more coordinated with less horses crashing into each other chasing the same ball like excited school boys playing football as yesterday was.
The big match - 
We arrived early to get good seat and on the way in we were searched before having then to walk through a temporary metal detector the army had set up. 

Polo match

The whole pitch was heavily patrolled and surrounded by what looked like riot police with an attitude, all armed with old Kalshnikoff's, some even set up in 'eagles nests' which were advantage points all around where machine guns had been placed and then surrounded by rocks.

50-Shandur Pass

The match was due to start at 11am but did not finally get going to way gone 12, initially we were waiting for a helicopter to arrive. When it finally did, it sucked up so much dust in its wake we all got covered. A car then sped over to its landing point, indicating that it was clearly a VIP or maybe even a VVIP and there was a section for this to! In all the excitement and noise from the helicopter, the already distressed horses (from waiting so long in the sun, which at this altitude is intense) got scared and bolted along the pitch, they continued to flee whilst a number of supporters and anyone else near by tied to catch them. When the guy finally arrived he then decided to make an hour long and tedious speech (also reciting some of the Koran) with not a word of English, the only word we recognized was Taliban!

Polo match

The match finally kicked off to and exciting start, the crowd already standing and the drums and clapping tempo getting faster as the match got more exciting. A British guy I met in the crowd and I made a small bet to make it all the more exciting, I choose Gilgit who in the first 20mins got 5 up, then by half time Chitral had managed to get 3 back closing the gap!! The atmosphere was really killed at half time by another monotonous speech by the same guy! The horses and now the riders, Chitral in Scarlet and Gilgit in blue and whiter were clearly getting agitated and wanted to restart. Protection for the player seemed optional, with few of the players taking the option which

dust from helicopter

seemed crazy as the game really heated up in the second half, sticks were flying all over the place and hard balls were traveling at dangerous speed (at head height). I didn't even feel safe in the crowd at some points as the horse would run at the barrier at full speed, me hanging over the edge until the last minute trying to take a good picture or cheering encouragement to the team I now had money on until the jockey, then I would realize that that horse was never going to stop in time and ended up jumping leg directly into the crowd as we all dived out the way at the last minute. As much as the horse seemed to be enjoying themselves in the game I often felt sorry for them as when I stormed the pitch with the supporters on previous matches you could see there legs being re-strapped

The final

because of all the blood pouring out the old saturated bandages.
In Free style polo the players seemed as fair game as the ball to hit, deliberate obstructions also seemed to be a tactic with the horse or the mallet which then get snapped and is followed by the stable boys rushing into the fray, merely avoiding getting trampled by horses and near death to retrieve the old mallet and replace it.
In the second half, unfortunately for me, the Chitral powerful Afghan horses seemed to have more stamina outrunning the Gilgit horses, scoring and bringing the match to a nail biting end at 7 - 7, then at one confusing point (especially with no referee, apart from the crowd who shouted loudest and the army) there were two balls on the pitch, with half of the horses following each, Gilgit managed to score! This was then the cause of a massive

The final

argument and shouting, none of which I could understand although it wasn't hard to work out, everyone seemed to have their own opinion and was trying to climb down on to the pitch to voice it! The goal was eventually disqualified, by whom Im not sure which resulted in extra time and myself and the rest of the crown signing at the top of our voice's what must have translated to "the referee's a w*nk#*" Extra time was very tense with every player using his most violent moves to see who would take the trophy between these geographically rivalrous valleys! After a furious build up Chitral take the lead going 8 -7 up and then immediately scoring again from the 'Tapokh' which is by far my favorite part of the match to watch. It is where the goal scorer races up the pitch (as they change ends after every goal) at full gallop, holding both the ball and

The final

apricot wood mallet in one hand and makes his best attempt to hit the ball and then continuing at full gallop to chase after it! This time he made full contact with the ball which he and a number of other horses chased after at tremendous speed, none of which could catch him before he continued to hit it for the second time between the stick making it 9 -7 to Chitral and with not long left, sending the fair weather supporters home! The match ended 9 -7 with once again the pitch being stormed by all the supporters who were performing all sorts of dances, one of which I by no choice of my own got dragged into, sending them even more crazy with a few of my break dancing moves :)
After the band playing and a few awards being given out (player of the match...ect) the crowd carried the players and the trophy down the road on their shoulders. Everyone then raced for there cars to try and get out first, this

on the way back from Shandur Pass

erupted the whole place into a ball of dust and the mayhem began! People were jumping on everything from 4x4, to horse to bus roofs to join the dusty rally out of the pass, the journey back to Gilgit was long, make even longer by the fact I lost my bet over a disqualified goal...we were robbed!! : )