“A cold wind was blowing from the north, and it made the
trees rustle like living things.” – George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
…and it did feel like we were part of a scene in Game of
Thrones written by the master dreamer, Martin!!
Forests so wild…so green…so quiet…so serene…so deep…so
dark…and so mysterious!! Where a twig snaps at a distance, and makes you jump
& look over your shoulder in a snap!!
Our one day trek & stay in Great Himalayan National
park was nothing short of a magical experience….truly magical experience!!
16th April:
Post our previous day’s super hectic trek (read here) in
the snowy stretch of Jalori to Serolsar lake, we were very tired & in need
of complete rest!! Also, it was our last day at Raju’s cottage (so so sad!!).
We just wanted to chill & relax on our last day at Raju’s & just wanted
to enjoy their lovely home & its slow moving life to the fullest!!
The day was full of completing our half read books, which
we had picked up from Raju’s library.
Watching pretty birds fly past us & loveliest
butterflies glide by…and some stolen moments!!
Whoa!! That was quite a sight!! The manner in which Vicky
was easily walking on the rocks on this gushing river, is how we walk on
plains!!
It was a lovely & bright afternoon!! Not too hot
& not too cold. After watching some fishin’, it was time to get our beer
& wine out in the river again and do some chillin’.
Someday someway
Together we will be baby
I will take and you will take your time
We'll wait for our fate
'cause' nobody owns us baby
We can shake we can shake the rock
Together we will be baby
I will take and you will take your time
We'll wait for our fate
'cause' nobody owns us baby
We can shake we can shake the rock
Yes…someday, someway…we will be back at Raju’s cottage
and be with Tirthan valley again!! The place left an indelible mark on us &
its feeling can never be replaced with anything!!
The rest of the day was spent eating, reading, lounging
around and just doing nothing!! (oh…the pleasure of doing nothing J)
17th April:
It was time to bid goodbye to Raju’s cottage & we did
so with a heavy heart. We never felt so attached to any homestay before, as we
did to this one!! But before going we did cajole Raju’s family for a “family
portrait”!!
Awww…they were so cute, all blushing in the picture &
so humbly wondering why we were interested in taking their group snap!! It was
a treat to finally meet Lata aunty too…who is possibly the sweetest woman we
have ever met!! When we complimented her on her culinary skills, she just
blushed & said “please do not flatter me…it is just home food…nothing
special. Just boiled food with no spices, nothing. Im glad you liked it…but it
is nothing special at all”…well Lata aunty, that is what makes it special. The
perfect taste of home cooked food J
Well, all good things, come to an end, & so did our
stay at Raju’s. Karan very sweetly offered to keep our cycles in his garage
till we trek back from GHNP the next day…and boy, that was a relief.
We bid adieu to the lovely home…as further adventures
awaited us!! J J
17th April:
Great Himalayan National Park
We had booked our trek in GHNP via Sunshine Himalayan Adventures that is run by Ankit Sood & his brother Panki Sood. Ankit is
from Kullu itself & is an Eco-Tourism expert & holds camping &
treks to Great Himalayan National Park.
The GHNP is another great wonder to discuss. It is
possibly the newest wildlife park in India, and was built in 1984. The very
expanse of the park is mind numbing at 1171 km square!!! The altitude of the
park varies from 1500m to 6000m, which is saying something!! It is possibly one
of the most unexplored national park of India, and is HUGE beyond any
comparison!! You can read more details on the park here… GHNP Wiki
The Park, that is nominated to be a World Heritage Site (a
huge honour), connects to 3 distinct valleys in Kullu…Gushaini, Parvati &
Sainj!! Such is the large expanse of GHNP.
GHNP is widely known to spot the very rare Himalayan Snow
Leopard – a snow white colour leopard that is a rarity & only found in
upper Himalayas. You can also spot black bear & brown bear here. While
black bear might be a common sight for national parks, a brown bear is still a
rarity in the country. Photography enthusiasts come from far & wide &
spend days on end in GHNP to spot these animals. In fact Ankit Sood’s team of
porters regaled us with many stories of such photography pursuits to which they
were personally a party. Like they told us the story of this one photographer
from Delhi who spent 15 days in just one area in GHNP to spot the black bear
& the brown bear. He spent days on end & was frustrated many times (as
the jungle can get very unnerving & lonely after 1 or 2 days) trying to
spot the duo. He would still spot the black bear, but missed out on the brown
one!! One day, he spotted what he was looking for…and it was the most
spectacular sight!! It was a black bear & a brown bear caught in a combat
with each other!!! WHOAAAAAA!! How we would kill to click such a moment. But
such moments are clicked with hell lot of patience & perseverance, and are
rarely a stroke of sheer luck.
Moving on with our own adventure, we met Ankit as soon as
we checked out of Raju’s & he came across as a very sweet & fun loving
person. He introduced us to his family and took the responsibility to get our
permits made for GHNP entrance. He introduced us to his team of porters cum
guides cum chefs…in short his team of one man army, Dileep Ji. We will take a moment
here and tell you something about Dileep Ji & his team of porters. Dileep
Ji is one of the oldest guides at GHNP & has been working there for good 20
years!! He is a local, obviously, and is an indescribable wonder of a man!!
The porters here carry at least 15-20 kgs of your comfort
on their back & trek with you to stretches in this forest, where it is
difficult for you to even walk. Agreed they are locals, but seeing their
agility despite so much of load on their back & their attention to each
detail for your comfort, is a truly humbling experience. For this they earn
nothing compared to us city breds, who probably cannot put even 1/10th
of their effort in our work & still earn miles better & still crib
about our lives in big cities. When we see the satisfaction and effort with
which these people do their work and not expect anything, it makes us feel
really small.
Dileep Ji & a young co-guide with him carried 15 kgs
each of our comfort with them, & off we started!!
Before we started, although, Ankit took us to the temple
right at the entrance of GHNP trek point, where we clicked some pictures of the
gorgeous & intricate wood carvings in the small temple!!
We started our trek to the Great Himalayan National
Park!!
This time we also opted for a trekking stick, and
discovered its true wonder. Truly, if you have a trekking stick in hand (Dileep
ji gave both Hasina & Musafir a sturdy staff which was a rather long bark
of a tree in the forest). It was amazing how much force you can put on these
natural staffs, while walking & they would not break at all!!! God knows,
which tree gave such springy, soft, easy to use & sturdy wood!!
Hasina felt like Gandalf, the wizard, and would tap her
staff on ground many times, expecting magic (hehehee!!)…also the surrounding
was so decadently Lord of The Rings, that it was hard not imagining yourself as
one of the characters in a mega epic fantasy series!! J
The trek to GHNP is actually easy; easy compared to the
snow trek we faced in Jalori Pass. It is a much longer trek (11 kms one way; 8
kms to entrance gate & 3 kms ahead of that in Rolla), but since we were not
that worried of where to put our feet, we found it easier. Not to forget, the
trekking stick helped a lot too.
One thing that we would like to mention here is that our
campsite this night was in Rolla, that is level 1 in GHNP and is just 3 kms
from GHNP entrance gate. This is considered the easiest trek in GHNP. People
who stay here further, hike next day to level 2, that is Shilt; another 11 odd
kms from Rolla. This trek is fairly challenging as the jungle gets denser &
denser & chances of encountering wild animals is much more. In fact the
porters told us that jungle here gets so dense that many times you have to pass
from under boughs & barks of trees!!
Level 3 after this, and the toughest trek here, is Tirth.
Tirth is the source of the majestic River Tirthan, that flourishes in the whole
Kullu valley, and the most spectacular place!! A total of 5-6 days are required
to do this trek from Gushaini side only. You can always choose to trek back via
Parvati Valley or Sainj.
A little talk with Ankit clarified that the whole GHNP
can be done, but is quite challenging & requires 15 days!! He also
mentioned that he hardly knows anyone who has done the complete GHNP stretch!!!
Anyways, we were just at level 1, as GHNP was part of our
itinerary & we will take you till Rolla with us!!
We will take you through this route via more pictures
& less words J J…because sometime pictures
just say so much more!!
As we trekked deeper & deeper on our route & into
the forest...
we could not help marvel on how we were leaving civilisation behind
and getting deep in the throes of the wilderness of GHNP.
…waylaid by gorgeous views
…by little streams gushing in the most picturesque
locales.
…by blood red rhododendrons carpeting our walk!!
And Coldplay’s “Paradise” was on our playlist the whole
way!!
Around 4.30pm we reached at this beautiful scene that
made our jaw drop!!
This is the legendary Hippo Falls…it is called so,
because of how the rock in front of the fall is shaped like a Hippo!!
We sat on the huge rock right opposite the falls (with
the help of Dileep Ji), the rock was super slippery as it had been drizzling
all along!! Dileep ji, the one man army, handed us our packed lunch right
there!! Oh what joy it was to sit right opposite a cascading fall, the type we
had only seen in movies, in middle of a jungle and munch on sandwiches. Post
eating a quiet lunch, we posed for a selfie or two J J J
After all, it was a big moment.
It was time to resume our trek, and we entered inside the
GHNP entrance gate finally!!
From here, we were joined by a guy named Aakash Mohindra,
an ex XLRI student. He also became part of the group now!! We resumed our trek
to 3 kms ahead of the gate, where the route got even denser & with roads
completely washed off at places, it had just a rickety wooden bridge for
support!!!
Whoa…well you asked for it!! That’s the look Musafir gave
to Hasina J
The 3 kms trek however, did not take much time, and we
reached our first campsite just before dark.
Within half an hour, we were given hot Maggi to eat!!!
While we sat there wondering where that came from & munched it hungrily
& happily, we were serenaded again with hot soup half an hour later!!
Aakash, who had been there a day or two earlier, laughed seeing our awed
looks!! He had experienced this hospitality & told us tales of his stay
there, and how he had never been so comfortable in his life!!
We all huddled by the fire, which was so so comforting…and
the rest of the porters told us many stories & anecdotes of GHNP. One of
them being, how a woman in one of their treks fell down & broke a bone in
her leg. The team was then in Shilt, which is again 11kms odd trek from Rolla,
where we were currently, and way denser jungle. Obviously a panic ran amongst
all people in the group, as the jungle was too dense, it was raining, and the
woman could not walk or do anything at all….and the way back to the base was
again through 23 kms of dense jungle. But these talented porters left no time
in immediately fashioning a stretcher out of whatever was available in the
jungle…wood, twine, etc etc & made a stretcher where they tied the lady.
Then she was mounted on the back of one of the porters, who trekked her back in
no time!!!
This should sure go in Ripley’s Believe it or Not!! That’s
the sheer capability & capacity of mountain folks!!
After an hour & so of chatting around the fire, with
the fire being the one & only source of light (the moon was not visible due
to dense cloud cover), we were astonished to see Dileep Ji & his team
preparing a candle light dinner for us!! Candle light dinner in this
wilderness!!! We had frankly expected nothing at all!!
Dazed & very awed, we moved to the dining space &
saw Dileep Ji had prepared Rajma, Rice, mix vegetable, warm chapatis, salad…all
under 1 hour…and and that too after supplying us with Maggi & Soup!!! And
that after trekking with almost 15 kgs of weight over 6 hours!!! Needless to
say, the food was so delicious, so sinfully good to taste that we ate thrice of
our apetite.
The candlelight dinner was rounded off with sinfully
delicious bread pudding as dessert, prepared by Dileep Ji too. Trust us on
this, we have never had such delicious dessert & food in the best of 5
stars!! And those guys have fancy kitchens & equipment to cook!!
Post polishing off each & every morsel, we sat again
by the fire…happily drowsy after a long day; a long but beautiful day!! We chatted
for a while, until one of the porters asked us if we wanted Hot Chocolate or
Coffee to round off the day!! We were aghast & awed by their relentless
attention to our comfort!!
The jungle around us looked dark, deep, quiet…and so so
mystical!! We were parked next to a grove with river cascading away & the
sheer magic of this setting was maddeningly unnerving & yet so calming!!
It was time to sleep…and we must confess it was our first
time sleeping in a tent & in a sleeping bag!!
CATERPILLAR!!!
That’s what we felt like in our zipped up sleeping bags…like
two caterpillars, trying to find our mamma…the butterfly!! Hehehehee….
Well the “caterpillars” slept off soon!! It wasn’t the
most comfortable sleep, but seriously, in a jungle, this is as good as it can
get…well unless you wish to sleep in those pseudo so called “jungles”, that
have 5 star resorts!! Too pseudo for our taste!!
Hasina (aka The Drama Queen), woke up at night to
drizzling & pitter patter of rain drops…saw an oddly shaped something on
our tent and woke up Musafir “S..s..s..snake”….Musafir woke up with a start, saw the shape, & was exasperated. “It
is letter W written on our tent, in a zigzag manner, just sleep…will you”!!
After 2 hours, Hasina woke up again, and prodded Musafir
awake…
Musafir
(clearly irritated): What??!! What now..what??!!
Hasina:
Shhh…can you hear that??
Musafir:
What??!!
Hasina:
Someone is saying “My Precious!!” (told you…Drama Queen!! Could hear Gollum
here)
Musafir:
Sleep!! Just sleep!! S.L.E.E.P!!
Finally it was morning!!
We came out of our tents to rain washed valley and lots
of fresh energy!! J
Our porters were already up & served us morning tea
right away!! Best tea we have ever had!!
After tea, we were served breakfast like royals.
We were truly FLOORED!!
After breakfast it was for selfies & group pics & time to trek back.
The trek down was just completing the way in rainfall.
We met Ankit downstairs & recounted how we loved the
trek!! Post this trek Ankit was supposed to take us to Lake Prashar, another
beautiful wonder!! But alas, we could not go, as it was raining there & due
to bad weather, Ankit advised us not to go there.
So, our plan was thrown out of the window completely…but
what are we if not adventurous.
All we need is our car…the spirit, we already possess!! J J J
And off we went…unplanned, for yet another adventure!!! J
P.S:
Thanks a ton Sunshine Himalayan Adventure (web link here) & Ankit Sood for
beautiful hospitality!! You are a joy to talk to, and so knowledgeable!! We
will do that Lake Prashar trip again & with you only!! J
Coming
Up:
Musafir & Hasina in “Wonder” Wyne land J J Oh yes…this is a true lifestyle
post!!...and a side of Shimla you never knew existed!! Keep logging in for more...
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