It was in reading a book by O.M. Burke entitled "Among the Dervishes" that I first encountered any mention of the Kalash people. In this travelogue written by Burke, an British seeker of Sufi communities in the 1960s that I learned of his difficult and unfruitful trip into the area then known as Kafiristan or "and of the infidels," a very remote people living high up in the mountains in a region only reachable by several weeks journey through the mountains on foot and donkey.

As it turns out Burke does not find anything remotely akin to Sufis among the Kalasha, we can only guess that other people's common ignorance about what Sufis are and do and what Kalasha are and do led to this misinformation. But he did find a unique culture that I enjoyed reading about and hungered to see for myself. A people who still worship the nature and fertility gods they have for the last 2000 plus years, a people whose women still wear elaborate cultural dress full of beadwork and colors, a people alone in a sea of Muslim belief streching from the border of India all the way to Istambul and Morocco.

It is speculated by some that the Kalasha are descended from the troops of Alexander the great who passed this way en route to battles farther south in 326 BC.

I knew that the Kafiristan mentioned in Burke's book was in Pakistan but for the longest time was confused thinking that he was actually referring to the people of Hunza Valley (many of whom also look like Northern Europeans). Later when actually in Pakistan and talking to other travellers I learned that my goal was actually the Kalash of Chitral District in the NWFP. Also, regarding the previous point it is interesting to note that many of the people of Northern Pakistan look very Northen European, are caucasian, and have among their numbers many who are even very blond haired and blue-eyed. It is hard not to imagine that it is this seeming familiarity (or attraction) that is part of many traveller's interest in the people of this area.

Read my journal entries about Bomboret and the Kalash Trek to see what real day to day cultural contact with "The Kalash" was like for me.

Reaching The Kalash

Climbing in Bomboret Valley

My Trek Through The Hidden Kalash Vallies


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Outside Kalasha Links

Two Great Amateur Photographers Visit The Kalash
Super Comparison of English, Kalasha and Chitrali Words
Some Kind of History of the Kalash