The Gabral Valley (from Kalami ''gha'' ) is a valley in the Swat Kohistan region of northern Pakistan. Administratively, it lies within the

Swat District Swat District (), also known as the Swat Valley, is a Districts of Pakistan, district in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Known for its stunning natural beauty, the district is a popular tourist destination. With a populati ...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...

province. It is located in the south slopes of the westernmost end of the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

. Its lower end is at the town of Gabral, about 20 km north (by road) from Kalam and 120 km north of

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

, at an altitude of 2290 m. The name is also spelled as Gabrāl. The area of the valley is about . The main part of the valley extends for about 38 km northwards of the town of Gabral. Its highest end is at , about 6 km east of the peak of the Kharakali (or Kakhari; 5871 m).Armin Beer, Erwin Lang and Helmut Hesse (1980):
A trip from Ushu to Chitral
. ''Himalayan Journal'', volume 36 The Gabral River, a tributary of the Utrar River, runs through most of the valley. Hundreds of houses are scattered through the southernmost 7 km of the valley, but some farms are seen for the next 7–8 km. A road runs parallel to the river for about 14 km, until 2 km below Lake Kharkhari.

Demographics

Major

The Gujjar is the main and major ethnic group in Gabral valley they spread throughout the valley. They speak Gujari,

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

and Kohistani languages and own lands in the region.

Minor

Other minor tribes/communities in the valley are Koshitanis and Ajars.

Flora and fauna

The natural resources of the region include several medicinal herbs that are collected for local use and export.

Kharkhari Lake

Kharkhari (also spelled Karkaray) is a small lake in Gabral Valley, about 400 m long and 250 m wide. It is traversed by the Gabral River.Gabrāl, Utrar, Kalam, Matiltan
. Google Maps at 35.5368 N 72.2285 E. Accessed on 2019-03-18.Muhammad Hamayun, Sumera Afzal, and Mir Ajab Khan (2006):
Ethnopharmacology, indigenous collection and preservation techniques of some frequently used medicinal plants of Utror and Gabral, district Swat, Pakistan
. ''African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines'', volume 3, issue 2, pages 57-73. It is located about 41 km by road from the town of Kalam, 16 km north of the town of Gabral and 9 km north of the Gul Bandaj bridge, at an altitude of 5160 meters (See note in "talk page" about this elevation?).

References

Tourist attractions in Swat Geography of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa {{Swat-geo-stub Swat District