By: Rahat Shinwari
Khyber Tribal District
It is sold PKR 10 per cup in rural areas and PKR 100 per KG in cities
Gorgoray lasts from May to end of June and is a source of income for the people living in hill stations of Khyber Pass.
Though Khyber tribal district is lacking tangible industries and opportunities zones like rest of Pakistan for local people to earn bread for the children and family members but naturally this region is very rich and having a lot of resources in shape of Jungles, Wild fruits, torkham border, wildlife, seasonal fruits and rich man power.
The black and tasty Gorgray is one of the very known wild fruit of Khyber Pass which is grown and found in large quantity at Laka mountain, toro mountain, shalman muntains , Khyber zakha Khel mountains , Haidari kandao , zakha khel mountains and other parts of Landikotal in May and June every year.
Gorgoray is a wild fruit and this can only exist in hills not at ground. The main positive thing is that Gorgoray is a joint property of whole tribes living in Khyber Pass and no one can stop anyone from taking Gorgoray from any particular hill station.The other positivity of Gorgoray is that it attracts hundreds of tourists and visitors from cities to hill stations of Khyber Pass. Another positive of Gorgoray is that this fruit is used in poetry as well by very known poets like Khatir Afridi but the main attractive thing about Gorgoray is that it became the source of bread earning from thousands of poor women, children and families.
This is common practice in Khyber Pass that in May and June women and children used to get early in the morning, go to hill stations to pick Gorgoray and came back by the day starts and then sell them in markets and on roads.
Mr. Shakeel says that he used to pick Gorgoray and sell them in local market since long and thus earn handsome amount in the season. The current rate of the wild fruit is PKR 10 per cup and people buy fresh Gorgoray every day. He says that this affordable rate is only in Khyber Pass while some people also enhanced this enterprenurship and taking Gorgoray to Karkhano Market, Saddar Market and other trade places in Peshawar city where they sell them as PKR 100 per KG.
Majority of people are jobless here and they don’t have any other source of income in the region thus they collect Gorgoray from the mountains and sell in markets but the season lasts only for two months, Shakeel concluded
The little kids on roadside of Pak-Afghan Highway at Khyber Pass said that we have two kinds of Gorgoray , in some mountains Gorgoray can be fund very large in size and black in color which is very famous and tasty and also attract the customers while in some places Gorgoray are minor in size and red in color which is less attractive .
