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Take a Ride on the Flying Fox in the Mountains of Northern Pakistan
Kate Conradt
Senior Manager, Media & Communications
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The "flying fox" - a makeshift cable car strung across the massive Indus River in northern Pakistan. |
No one wants to be the chicken. But as we hike up to the launch point of the “flying fox”--a makeshift cable car strung across the massive Indus River in northern Pakistan--our band of seven trades uneasy jokes about OSHA regulations and insurance policies.
And the odds of plummeting into the water.
Still, this is the quickest route to where Save the Children is providing men of the camp with work and a little income. They are rebuilding an important path up the mountain on the other side of the river, fulfilling a request by the community and maintaining a link between inhabitants and markets nearby.
So we take our seats inside what is essentially a simple metal frame with two benches, wrapped in a canopy. This contraption—one of many functioning throughout the North West Frontier Province—is then suspended by a cable strung several stories above the Indus valley. Its flight is powered by a pickup truck engine. The operator looks barely old enough to drive.
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| Kate Conradt inside the "flying fox". |
The fox seats six smallish people, though we have just watched it pack with eight or nine men, including one hanging off the back, and wing its way from one side of the river to the other. The caveat for our trip: We’ll pay extra to minimize the passenger load.
Save the Children helped rebuild this critical—and ingenious—means of transport after the earthquake. And its ride is surprisingly smooth and quick.
We joke about clinging to the outside rail on the trip back, for the full experience. But when it is our turn, everyone ends up meekly clambering in. And hanging on.
