Leepa is a small village about 60 kilometers from Naily and 38 kilometers from Reshian, at an altitude of 1921 meters. Its lush green rice fields in summer and typical wooden Kashmiri Houses present a wonderful view to the people visiting the area. Walnut, Apple, Cherry and honey of Leepa are very popular and in great demand.
The border village about 49 kilometers ahead of Kel is a fascinating but unexplored sight. The area from Kel to Taobat is called the Halmat. Janawai, Sardari and Halmat are the most beautiful places of this area. A tourist rest house has been constructed at Halmat to provide accommodation facilities to the visitors. The drive itself is slow as the road is a dirt track, crossing streams and waterfalls. It almost takes 4 hours to reach this place from Kel. You can also start seeing some glaciers melting into the Neelum River. This is the last hamlet before you reach the LOC.
19 kilometers journey from Sharda upstream takes one to Kel. It is a small valley at a height of 3000 meters. The Shounter Nallah joins river Neelum at this place and track from here leads to Astore and Deossai plains. There are some very beautiful high alpine lakes accessible from Kel, which involves 4x4 off-roading and hiking – maybe even renting mules. Buses provide daily on this route in good weather. There are several local banks, schools, army hospital, and bazaar in Kel. AJK also has accommodation available here.Army have their headquarter here and theire medical corp is mainly treating the locals.
