Lake Saif-ul-Muluk

Only 10 kms from Naran, this lake is 3200 metres (11,000 ft) high, providing an awe-inspiring view of Malika Parbat (Queen of the Mountains) 5,260 metres high (17,500ft). You can go boating on the lake and hear the local legend about Prince Saif-ul-Muluk who fell in love with fairy. The lake and its surroundings have a touch of unreal about them and are breathtakingly lovely. There is a charming legend about a prince called Saiful Muluk who fell in love with a fairy of the lake. The lake is named after the prince. The best way to reach the lake is to walk but you may also take a pony or a jeep.

There is a lake high up in the mountains of NWFP which is named after a legendary prince by the name of Saiful Malook. Located at an altitude of over 3000 meters above sea level, it is surrounded by snow-capped mountains on all sides. The only way to reach the lake is by following the Naran Kata Stream which originates from the lake and falls into the Kunar River. Other routes are simply too dangerous to follow.
Saiful Malook was a fond hunter and his expeditions usually would bring him towards a lake in the wilderness that was surrounded by tall snow-capped peaks. One day, the young prince saw a fascinating spectacle. A beautiful fairy was walking on the surface of the lake. Curiosity brought him closer to her and they fell in love; thus they started meeting every other day. The longing for each other kept increasing with the passage of time and it was not long that stories about their meeting spread like wild fire.
One day, Saiful Malook went up to the lake only to find that nobody was there. After waiting all day, he would come back in the evening. This went on for some days until he started to worry for the safety of the fairy. But he had no other way of finding about her whereabouts besides coming to the lake. One day he was waiting by the lake when he spotted a group of fairies having a bath in the waters at the other side of the lake. He went to the other side and begged them to let him know about Badri Jamala's whereabouts but the fairies laugh at his abysmal state. But a
kind hearted fairy came forward and told the prince that Badri Jamala's movements had been confined to the close vicinity of the Koh-e-Kaaf; a mystical range of mountains located in the Caucasus. The prince left for the Koh-e-Kaf in search of his love, braving all odds, and finally succeeded in his mission - getting married to the fairy Badri Jamala.

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