Amazing Arunachal – Ziro and Daporijo

May 24, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

Day 10:

Airtel Edge works at Ziro/Hapoli, so after long time we could connect to internet and HVK informed us Romin and Megha were in Ziro on same day and we could meet easily. They were a lovely couple, had been roaming the North East from start of October 2012 and almost covered entire North East in their backpack trip. Thanks to HVK for sharing their number. We started around 9.00 in morning after having breakfast, this day was reserved for a rest day after a long drive from Nameri and we decided to roam around Ziro on that day. We met Romin and Megha at Ziro and then first proceeded towards Hong Village, the largest village of Apatani tribes in that area. It was a nice one to soak into their cultures, Romin and Megha was taking serious notes of the conversation we had with the locals and I was busy as usual with my clicking. We tried to walk around the village and it was pretty nice though looking little dull after the crop seasons were over. I could imagine this place would look best during Spring / monsoon. In March they usually have the Apatani festival and may be one of the best time to visit this place. Once we completed our excursion to Hong, we proceeded to Momipholong, another nice place around 7 km away from Hong. You would get a good view of the valley from top. Then while coming back to Ziro, we went to see the Shivling which was natural and excavated some 10 years back. It looked quite natural and old but then it was discovered just 10 years back. The best part is the height of Shivling was around 25 ft and you would find Devi Parvati and Ganesha also embedded in the stones. There is also a constant flow of water just below the Shivling. Somehow I enjoyed the place which I usually don’t do much while visiting a religious place, we came back to Ziro and wished Megha and Romin best of luck for rest of their journey, had a very late lunch with just Maggi and went back to the Circuit House. It was amazing to see the evening approaching on the Hapoli from the Circuit House. We were about to go for another long journey tomorrow towards Daporijo, the heartland of Tagin Tribes.

Trek in Hong Village:

Apatani man:

Hong, the largest Apatani Village:

Momipholong:

Cute Apatani Girl:

So many colors:

Ziro Stadium:

Ziro Circuit House:

Day 11:

Ziro to Daporijo would be around 175km and we knew a long drive waiting for us. So woke up and quickly got our breakfast to start our journey by 8.00 in the morning. This is first time we have got the feel of typical Arunachal ambience, hills surrounded by dense forests and the serpentine road crossed through the deep green valleys with sun, clouds, mists playing around. Initially the day was sunny but more we proceeded, the sky started turning grey with clouds. In road side you would find locals selling fruits like Oranges. So cheap and so sweet the oranges were, just one costs a Rupee. We kept going at our own pace with some photographic breaks and a few tea breaks. The shared Sumo plying between Ziro and Daporijo were the only vehicles we encountered from opposite direction, otherwise it was a journey through the lonely road with mother nature all around.

The Driving Distances for the day:

479 – Start from Hapoli
538 – Tamen
558 – Raga
582 – Saddle
603 – Laa
655 – Daporijo.

Just before entering Daporijo, we could see the town just beside the Subansiri river, was looking so nice in the setting sun. This is a town in Arunachal which is not that welcoming in nature and you might have a hard time to find anything decent to stay here unless you book circuit houses in Daporijo or further 20km down to Damporijo. We booked the Daporijo Circuit house and even confirmed it from Ziro but by the time we reached there, the DC office was closed and the chowkidar declined us any accommodation citing that our name was not sent from DC Office as Guest. The trouble broke out, getting a phone be landline or mobile is extremely tough in this part of Arunachal, I started trying to contact the person in DC office with whom I spoken, fortunately I had his mobile number. He spoke to Chowkidar and confirmed the booking was sent from Office but Chowkider was insisting he couldn’t help unless he gets written permission. This is a major problem in Central and Eastern Arunachal where infrastructure is not yet ready and you have to depend on Govt CH / GH and availability of those accommodation would always be doubtful until you could finally check-in there. Anyway finally the Chowkidar found our names, he explained the paper gone below the stack as our name was sent quite early than usual. What a relief!!

The rooms were Ok and certainly the best possible accommodation in Daporijo. The cook prepared our dinner but we never saw the Chowkidar again as he was drunk completely by 7 in evening and was in his room only. We paid everything to cook and got receipts and signed the guest book as we understood we won’t be able to catch hold of the Chowkidar in early morning as we had to go for another 180km to Along on next day. We slept properly but this is the only place in whole Arunachal trip where we couldn’t arrange any accommodation for Ashim, finally he had to sleep in conference room sofa as that was a cold night and was raining almost through out the night.

Today’s Journey Map – Ziro to Daporijo

Road from Ziro towards Daporijo:

Cute and Pretty Faces:

The winding road goes on:

Daporijo, the first look:

Daporijo Circuit House:

Previous: Amazing Arunachal – Nameri National Park and way to Ziro

Next: Amazing Arunachal – Way to Along and Mechuka

Amazing Arunachal – Nameri National Park and way to Ziro

May 24, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

Day8:

We woke up round 5.00 and get ready by 6.00 in morning with the forest guards already present there. We found the vehicle belongs to lodge actually going towards the start point of trek for getting woods, we were offered a lift and saved almost 2/3 km journey. While reaching the point we found the actual trek would start from other side of Jiabharali river a boat was waiting for us to get in that side. The river was quite deep as mentioned by the boatman and experiencing sunrise over Jiabharali river was simply fascinating. We had to walk another km or so on sands of Jiabharali to reach forest beat office and there we had to submit our permits and got the order to start our trek. The trek was fascinating inside the thick forest, we saw sambar deer, elephants, buffalos and many different birds. At some point of time our guard was little nervous as the herd of buffalos were almost charging to us but somehow we got escaped but the chilling current of nervousness flowing through our bones, we visited so many natural parks, wild life sanctuaries in India, but none seems to be so wild and virgin like what we felt in Nameri. We finished our trek of 8kms in almost slightly more than 2 hours. Then again 1 km trek on sand to catch boat and then 2 km walk on other side took us to Resort. We had a fabulous breakfast there as after a long time I walked for more than 10km at a stretch. I gave a call to Ashim and he was already on his way towards Nameri from Tinsukia. Good news but we were so tired, we left the idea of rafting as we had to go another 45 mins towards Bhalukpong by a car and the place was too hot to enjoy the rafting at noon. We preferred to take a much sought after rest after hectic 8 days of traveling and by evening Ashim reached safely with a new Bolero, that just ran less than 1000 km as per its Odo. We were happy and gone to sleep early as tomorrow we would enter more into Central Arunachal towards Ziro.

Sunrise over Jiabharali River at Nameri:

Pet Sambar Deer:

Indian Gaur:

The walking trail:

Elephant:

The Geometry:

We continue our walking:

Lots of Birds:

Nameri Eco Resort:

Day9:

With Ashim we started with new energy for the next and more interesting leg of our journey. We started quite early and for first 10km again it was a big struggle to proceed with extremely bad roads. After 10 km, road was smooth enough to sail at 60kmph easily. We reached Balipara which is around 17km from Nameri and there we take left on to NH52 for next 200km on very good surface where you could cruise around 80 kmph easily. We took our breakfast at Biswanath Chairali and moving through right (North) bank of Brahmaputra and as I mentioned this is the biggest hurdle in exploring Arunachal as every time you have to navigate through Assam in East-West direction and that definitely increase driving time, distances and most importantly complex permit issues as you have to repeatedly come out of various check gates from Arunachal and get into it through some other gates. 30km before North Lakhimpore, we took left turn towards Kimin Check gate and once again we had to face the bad roads. Till Kimin Check gate road was bad but surprisingly improved to some extent once we entered Arunachal again. Kimin is one of the closest check gates from Assam through which you can access Central Arunachal districts like Lower Subansiri, kurung Kamey. Serpentine roads through thick forest roads over hilly region had high similarity with Bhalukpong though road was better here and as usual number of tourists were much less in this circuit. Our permits were checked in Kimin Check Gates and then we were allowed to enter Arunachal. When I have come to this topic, I must say obtaining a month long tourist permit is difficult at least from Kolkata, they refused me to issue even 2 non-overlapping permits for 2 different regions and finally I had to get one in my name and other in my wife’s name sending her to Arunachal House to get rid of this problem. So those who are planning for more than 14 days trip and covering more than one check gate and especially planning to get it done from Kolkata, please plan accordingly. We booked our stay at Ziro Circuit House, but the circuit house is actually located at Hapoli, 5 km before Ziro town. You would get some alternative accommodation too in Ziro but Circuit House seems to be the most value for money, not just because of its cost but the excellent location, you would be able to see the whole Hapoli town from the circuit house. The drive from Nameri to Hapoli was almost 365km out of which 100km was in hilly terrain and so it was a tiring day for all of us. Ziro’s height was 5500 ft much lower than even Dirang but believe me, I have very rarely experienced more colder place than this in my life, don’t know how much the temperature was but it was chilling and even more difficult to sustain that what we faced in 10K ft height at Tawang. Nameri Eco Resort Manager specifically told us about this infamous cold of Ziro but that time we didn’t put much importance to that considering it was just 5500 ft height. But certainly it was a cold place may be because of some special air circulation or for some other reason. We were tired, had our dinner and quickly retired for the day.

A quick Odo reading for the day:

104 – Nameri
121 – Balipara
173 – Biswanath Chariali
333 – Kimin Check Gate
345 – Hawa Camp
356 – Lichi
375 – Potin
383 – Pussa
394 – Yazali
409 – Yachuli
424 – Joram Top
430 – Hapoli
435 – Hapoli Circuit House

Today’s journey Map : Nameri National Park to Ziro

Just after crossing Kimin Check Gate:

On the way to Ziro:

From Hapoli Circuit House – view of Hapoli Town:

At Ziro:

Previous: Amazing Arunachal – Tawang, Journey towards Bumla

Next: Amazing Arunachal – Ziro and Daporijo

Amazing Arunachal – Tawang, Journey towards Bumla

May 24, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

Day 5:

It was an important day for us and luckily we got a great weather and the Tawang Monastery was looking awesome from the other side. Gayki Khang hotel probably offers you one of the best view of Tawang Monastery. The day was sunny with blue sky but quite cold after last night’s snow. The Tawang town looks so beautiful with fresh white snow and the surrounding mountains are all glittering in the sun light. We skeptically started our journey after having breakfast. Within 10/12km of Tawang Town the road started to be filled up with snow only. The place where our permits were checked, army men clearly told us, it was impossible to go even up to PTSO without snow chain, but we assured him we would only try till we could go without taking any risk and then would return. But by the time we reached around 3 km from PTSO, our driver, Dipankar started loosing his confidence and didn’t really want to proceed, It was difficult indeed with snow and ice (some hard ice) with some amount of skidding but definitely doable had we been having a local driver from hill. We even found couple of cars proceeded further but Dipankar was so nervous, we didn’t press him any further. He needed BRO guys help to do a reverse on his Bolero and that’s one important lessons we learnt that day, if you expect challenging hill driving with ice / snow etc. be careful while choosing your driver, inexperienced drivers in those conditions would surely fail 99% times. We even tried to walk and gone almost 2 km in that icy/snowy condition at that 13K height but then we found it was even beyond the condition for walking, we were slipping in every alternate steps and then called off our mission as sky started turning gloomy quite quickly. We were more than happy with our day playing in on lots of snow and a white carpet all around but definitely missed Madhuri Lake and Bumla for which I believe you need luck and good driver if you try it in December. One major snow fall can change the whole scenario. Later we learnt the cars were not allowed beyond the PTSO either towards Bumla or towards Madhuri as snow was much heavier after that but finally what happened was we had lot of times left for that day to visit War Memorial at Tawang and the Tawang Monastery where paintings were simply fabulous. We had to shift our hotel too and moved to place more close to main market but still quite isolated from the crowds and charged for a very nice room of around 1000/- with heating. It was much cheaper and value for money than what we got in Gayki Khang. Somehow I couldn’t remember the hotel name but I certainly collect the number and try to put in end of the log.

Tawang after last night’s snow fall:

Tawang from Top:

The snow bound land turns more white as we progress:

Enroute PTSO:

War Memorials at Tawang:

View of Tawang from Monastery:

Mother and Baby:

Inside Tawang Monastery:

Inside Frescos of Tawang Monastery:

Day 6:

The day was nice and sunny but simply the feeling of taking the same route all the way from Tawang to Bhalukpong was making me sick. Arunachal Govt should and must resume reliable helicopter service or should improve the road at earliest, I heard by 2014 end the whole road would be ready but really doubtful considering the work culture of this part of India. We started the day early and first destination was Jung Falls, that we missed while coming as it was late. But Location of falls was so weird, it was difficult to get proper sunlight any time of the day for good photography but the location was really amazing. We proceeded further to Jaswantgarh, had the wonderful samosas and tea by army again but moved as quick as possible to cross the Sela pass before it’s getting late. We also knew about the bad stretch of road between Baisakhi and Dirang. During our return journey, Sela was even more windy and we didn’t want to wait there anymore and straight away proceeded to Dirang. When we reached Dirang around 4.00pm, day light started fading out and we started searching for hotel. Dirang is really having very few hotel, except Pemaling nothing is that good or standard but with help of Dipankar we were able to find a nice hotel, Snow Lion which was pretty standard for a night stay I would say and cost us just Rs. 700/- where as Pemaling’s lowest rate room cost would be Rs. 2200. We had a nice dinner and wonderful night there.

On the way back from Tawang to Dirang:

Hotel Snow Lion at Dirang:

Day 7:

We started another long journey towards Nameri and it was an eventless day as we crossed the same road again via Bomdila, Tenga, Sessa and Bhalukpong. We noticed for the first time in trip a late start almost around 9.00 in morning by Dipankar, he always used to take breakfast with us during entire trip which he broke first time for the trip and in morning gone alone to have his breakfast. Anyway we were ok with that, As we reached Bomdila, he refueled the car but just after crossing Bomdila he said there is some bushing problem in front wheels that he needed to change then only, we surprised and asked why he didn’t do it in morning, he said it was not that bad in morning, we were fine with that but we understood we were loosing significant time of the day. Then at Tenga, he took a break again for us to buy some fruits etc, but once we returned we didn’t find him for at least next 20 mins. We started from Tenga around 1.30pm which was late and then in Sessa when none of us were ready to take lunch, Dipankar insisted he had to take, finally we reached at Bhalukpong by 4.30pm when light started fading out, once again he took a tea break and then wasted some more time in Check Gate. We started from Bhalukpong around 5.00pm and reached Nameri finally around 6.00/ 6.30 as road was terribly bad and it was absolutely dark. After reaching Nameri we had a cup of tea and finally when I started the settlement with Dipankar reasons for all the delays since morning were clear to me. We hired him for 7 days and it was 7th day evening now he claimed as it was 6.30 and he couldn’t reach Guwahati on that day, he would charge for 8 days. His intention was clear to me by then and I again called up Rampal who actually got me connected to Dipankar. Rampal intervened and persuaded him somehow and saved my day otherwise honestly speaking it’s extremely difficult to trust most of these North East Drivers, Dipankar was sober, co-operative, punctual for most of the time, polite and most importantly didn’t drink while driving but he was definitely not honest. Anyway we ended our first part of the trip and was little shocked as well as we didn’t expect this nasty surprise from Dipankar on last day. But anyway day after tomorrow onwards we would start our next part of the trip, which should be more pristine and lesser known places and more importantly with someone whom I knew earlier, Ashim, the guy who drove me in Eastern Arunachal. We had some other things to do like getting Nameri Forest Permits / arranging for forest guard as there is still no Jeep / Elephant Safari available in Nameri, it’s simply walk with one armed guard, sometimes feel scary too but an experience you should never miss out. Everything can be done from Forest Office which is located just behind the lodge and anybody who works there in lodge can help you to get the permit. We took both forest visit and rafting permits for all 3 of us and a forest guard was allocated to us, we were asked to be ready by 6.00am in morning to start the safari. We had our dinner and retired for the day.

On the way back from Dirang to Nameri:

Previous: Amazing Arunachal – Tawang , Journey to Zemithang

Next: Amazing Arunachal – Nameri National Park and way to Ziro

Amazing Arunachal – Tawang , Journey to Zemithang

May 24, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

Day 4:

This was our first full day in Tawang and the day was neither fully clear, nor completely cloudy, it was slightly foggy and cold morning and we were ready for our trip to Zemithang. Zemithang is towards extreme western end of Tawang district and the state of Arunachal, in the border of China (Tibet) and Bhutan. This is around 100km from Tawang and day trip would cost you a full day. Apart from the famous Chorten in Gorsam (Just few km before Zemithang), the natural beauties of the place would keep you spell bound. This is completely different than what you see in high mountains of Tawang, the whole route is through much lower elevation and you would find lots of trees and greeneries and amazing fall colors (even in early December) through out the route. The terrain matches more closely to Bhutan and now a new road is almost built up to border of Bhutan and work is being progressed for a connecting road from Bhutan end, which when completed, would give a new corridor of business between Bhutan and India apart from existing borders in Phuntsoling (through WB) and Somdrup Jonkhar (through Assam). The road is one of the best I found in Arunachal Pradesh and scenery is simply mind boggling. I also strongly suggest if possible stay a day in Zemithang, there is an Inspection Bungalow which usually be available and enjoy the serenity of the place. If you are traveling in October / November, even better is to plan a round trip from Tawang to PTSO to Madhuri Lake to Y Junction to Taksang Gompha and then to Zemithang and then back to Tawang through the valley route. I missed it as the road between Y Junction and Taksang was blocked and even road to Madhuri lake experienced heavy snowfall for last few days. The chorten at Gorsam usually be opened once in 7 years and it’s very famous to Buddhists. We tried to move another 8 km in a half broken roads towards the border at Kenzamane and stopped by ITBP there, they didn’t allow us to proceed without formal pass from Tawang Brigade but I heard from them, if you could go till border (another 3 km from that point), you could see the Tibetan village on the other side of McMahan line.

Gorsam Chorten at Zemithang: (taken from Tawang Official Web site)

This is situated 90 Kms from Tawang town. This Stupa is the largest Stupa of the area. This Gorsam Chorten is believed to have constructed in the early part of 12th century by Lama Pradhar, a Monpa monk. The semi-circular dome niddling high into the sky rests upon a three-terraced plinth. Four miniature stupas are also set on the four corners of the lower most terraced of the plinth. The base is squared with each side about 170 fts. in length with a niche running along its whole length and 120 manis are set in wooden frames. A well-paved footpath goes around the Stupa for pilgrims to go round about praying (Kora).

After spending a nice day at Lumla and Zemithang, we started our return journey through same route towards Tawang, my intention was to take the high mountain route through Taksang and Y Junction and but everyone at Zemithang advised us not to take that route because of then weather and it was raining there in the valley means snowing in the upper reach and the road is very isolated and you might not get any help if you get stranded. So coming back through same road was the only possibility and we reached Tawang in evening when light was just fading out. After reaching hotel I first enquired about Bumla permit and Hotel manager told the road was blocked beyond PTSO and people couldn’t even reach Madhuri Lake on that day. I called Pabitra and he initially told me that day permit was not issued by army and they would evaluate situation on next day and issue if situation improves, sounded convincing but somewhere I smelt something wrong in his behaviour. I started quizzing him in depth, asked him to handover the permit he obtained from DC Office and I planned to visit myself the brigadier office. Then he started fumbling and told he would be able to manage it tomorrow and when I insisted he told that he couldn’t collect the permit from DC office itself, now that was surprising, when I asked why, he started showing lame excuses like power was gone, photo copy machine was not running, DC was not there and many more. Now I asked him to return my money back, he said he had to travel to Army HQ in a cab, so he spent 200 there, when I encountered him why he gone to army when he didn’t collect the DC permit in first place, he couldn’t answer but stuck to his earlier stand he would refund me partially. This was really irritating, first of all he messed up my Bumla plan and next he was trying to be smart. I called up directly Rampal and spoken to him at length explaining him the situation. Once he intervened Pabitra returned me the money he took but snapped Bumla from my itinerary. So lessons learnt is don’t trust these hotel guys, if you want to visit Bumla, either connect to local cabs and spend a full day in Tawang and get involved in the process of obtaining permits unless you know someone very reliable. Anyway we decided two things on that day, first we would try to go on next day as much as we can as from that day evening it started snowing quite heavily even in Tawang town, so realistically we might not have much of a chance to reach Bumla and second was we would leave Gayki Khang and move to some more value for money hotel as we really took this permit incident as a cheating from hotel’s part. We retired for the day and prayed for a nice day tomorrow.

Morning View of Tawang Monastery:

On the way to Zemithang:

Fall colors at its best:

The zig-zag road towards Bhutan Border (Road is completed till border from India end and still in progress in Bhutan side, when completed, this would give a third option of entering India to Bhutan apart from existing Phuntsholing and Somdrup Jhonkar)

Zemithang Valley:

Waterfalls on the way:

Famous Gorsam Chorten:

Zemithang – a place one must spend a night

The gushing river:

Posing for a photograph:

Previous: Amazing Arunachal – Nameri National Park and on the way to Tawang

Next: Amazing Arunachal – Tawang, Journey towards Bumla

Amazing Arunachal – Nameri National Park and on the way to Tawang

May 24, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

As I mentioned, moving from west to east in Arunachal is difficult because of lack of a trans Arunachal road from west to east and one needs to plan meticulously to break the trip so that you have enough time to come to Assam plains and have time in hand to manage uncertainties of Arunachal. Our plan to was to cover the more touristy western part first mainly because of two reasons, this region is highest and can snowbound anytime after December, so earlier we could cover it is better, second reason is obviously we wanted to avoid the Christmas/New Year crowds in these tourist locations. So we booked an early flight to Guwahati from Kolkata which reaches Guwahati by 7.20 in morning. This is again a little gamble during December in North East as fog may ruin your plan but anyway many times I have seen fog started to become heavier after 6 and fortunately for us it was a clear morning. We arrived Guwahati little late as Guwahati had a foggy condition and flight was delayed by 30mins there. Our first destination would be western Arunachal covering Tawang. No need of much planning required here as this circuit has tourism infrastructure developed already. We contacted Rampal who was once associated with Gayki Khang Hotel in Tawang but now a days shifted his base from Tawang to Guwahati. The person is helpful and in at least in 2 occasions he saved us from ridiculous cheating attempts which are common in this sector. Our requirement was a car like Bolero and driver who at least won’t drink while driving and know how to behave with passengers (this is very difficult to get in this circuit as I have seen many trips here ruined simply because of drivers). Rampal ensured that would happen and introduced me to Dipankar who would be around his late Twenties and drives a Bolero. The rate of car in this circuit is extremely high mainly because of the bad road the car has to encounter through its journey till Tawang. It can vary between 4500 to 5000 a day if you hire it from Assam. If you get a Tezpur line cab (regularly plying between Tezpur and Tawang), you might get it in 3500 range but might face terribly conditioned cars and an extremely unfriendly driver who might start charging you for even a diversion of a km. The Guwahati cars charge you more but if you can manage a good driver (from some contacts) at least your trip would be peaceful. You can take them for any sightseeing in Tawang (which usually takes 2/3 days) but if you travel in winter months, my suggestion would be spend few bucks more but keep your car idle in Tawang and take a local cab for sightseeing on high mountains like Madhuri Lake / Bumla where you would reach a height of 15K ft. The Assam drivers badly lack confidence in high hill driving in snow condition, (and this is generic, don’t think it’s a specific case that happened with me) would elaborate this in depth later.

Day 1:

As we arrived Guwahati, Dipankar, our driver for next 7 days was there with a small token gift from Rampal. The things started well, we left airport and drove through Assam plains in a misty morning. Our first stop was to take breakfast and fill up diesel but before that at the junction where we touch NH52, a truck suddenly took a bad turn and fortunately missed the Bolero by fraction, the tail light was gone, Dipankar stopped the car, found the backlight needed replacement but considering our delay in reaching destination, he didn’t chase back the truck, we felt bad but appreciated his professionalism that he considered about his guests. The journey till Tezpur is non-specific, it’s just like a drive in any Bengal’s highway, the scenery is very same but road conditions are certainly better in Assam. We reached Tezpur in 5 hours from Guwahati with all stops and from there I called up the manager of Nameri Eco Resort, where we are scheduled to stay our first night. From Tezpur we continue through NH52 till Balipara, where we leave the NH and took the straight road towards Bhalukpong. From Balipara to Nameri Eco Camp is 17km out of which last 10km is extremely bad due to road construction. You have to take right just after the board of Nameri National Park to a unpaved road which is difficult to spot if you reach there after sunset. Another 2 km on that unpaved road would take you to Nameri Eco Camp. We reached there around 3.00 in afternoon but during this time sun sets in this part of India around 4.00, so we didn’t have much to explore and neither we planned for that. We kept a full day in Nameri during our return trip and planned to explore the area on that day. The Eco Camp is setup by Govt, Forest Department and local people and very nicely located and provided us excellent warm welcome and we were surprised by the quality of foods and helping nature of their staff in that remote location. There around 13 tents and 2 huts in Eco Camp, we booked the hut and was happy with the arrangement. We were tired, had a nice dinner and retired early for another long day.

Nameri Eco Resort:

Day 2:

We woke up early and Dipankar was ready and we started around 7.30 after taking breakfast in Eco Camp, today our destination would be Bomdila. Now while going from Nameri / Bhalukpong to Tawang, people usually break either at Bomdila or Dirang, Dirang is more beautiful than the small and little congested Bomdila. But we chose Bomdila primarily because Bomdila is at 8000+ ft height would give us better acclimatization before Tawang (10500 ft). Till Bhalukpong check gate the road is bad and once the permit is checked and Arunachal is started, next 20 km road was simply pathetic, you can hardly go at 10kmph speed. The mountains started just after the check gate but it was lush green forested mountains all around, the journey was pleasant except the bouncy road. Till Sessa the road was very bad. From Sessa you would find the road diversion towards Seppa, the district Capital of East Kameng District, we gone straight and the road suddenly became much better and the landscape has started changing, now we realized we were entering high hills, small valleys, fast streams, waterfalls started appearing in both side of the road. But this region would certainly give you a mixed feelings of mountains and rain forests due to its unique nature. We skipped Tipi Orchid Sanctuary, which is another known destination for tourists as it was closed for some reason on that day. The next big town after Sessa would be Tenga and road between Sessa and Tenga is probably the best stretch in the whole Tezpur – Tawang section. We had some snacks at Tenga as we reached there already very late for having dinner and then we started for Bomdila. As I mentioned sunset happens around 4.00pm during this time, we reached Bomdila when almost it’s getting dark and the place was all surrounded by clouds, mists and fogs. We accepted the wet welcome to Arunachal gladly and decided to stay at Bomdila Monastery GH, which might not be the best in town but certainly most value for money. At Rs. 1500 we got a suit with hitting, clean bath room with geyser and balcony. Absolutely loved it, much smaller rooms are being sold in 2000 there and the location of monastery GH is better as it’s slightly out of the main town. We had our dinner (You only could get Veg there) it was indeed tasty and then retired for the day.

Bhalukpong by the side of Jiabharali:

On the way to Tenga:

Bomdila Monastery Guest House:

A Misty evening in Bomdila:

Day 3:

Next day we had a long road to cover, especially Sela Pass, so Dipankar wanted to start by 7.00 in morning, at 6.30 we all were ready but found Dipankar still sleeping, may be it was a hectic day for him back to back. Anyway he was very co-operative and got ready very quickly and we started from Bomdila on a foggy morning. The roads were not at its best but good I would say in Arunachal’s standard. The vistas were nice, all green mountains around covered with fog and clouds, river gushing through deep gorge below, sometimes the valley got opened up suddenly and you would find farming activities in place. It was nice start in a chilly morning, in couple of hours we entered Dirang, another nice valley and we found much sought after Sun for the first time in the day there. Dirang is indeed a gorgeous valley, looks much beautiful than Bomdila but it’s at a much lower altitude (at least 2K ft lower than Bomdila), we already had a plan to stay here during our return journey, so didn’t wait much, we proceeded further and the nightmarish road started just after we crossed Dirang. It was almost a no road condition for almost next 40km which would take at least more than 2 hours. The road widening was going on and it was being completely re-laid and with heavy flow of tourist vehicles, local vehicles and army convoy this was hell of a journey, it was all dust if dry, all mud if wet. The situation changed after Senge where the road condition significantly improved until Baisakhi, an army station before Sela Pass. Now the road started gaining height significantly as we could see the ice beside the road and the snow covered trees just before the Sela. Sela is at almost 14K height and Dirang side always clouded and covered with heavy fog and mist but the Tawang side located in rain shadow was having a clear sky but Sela is notorious for its high wind in the afternoon. We really couldn’t stand the wind for more than couple of mins with heavy woolens, it was so cold. Sela lake was awesome, it was partly frozen and we couldn’t resist to spend some funny moments there, my daughter was super excited as it was her first experience to jump on a frozen lake. But the wind chill and the long road yet to be traveled, couldn’t allow us to wait there for long. We started our downward journey from Sela and after some magnificent vista, we reached Jaswantgarh. Road in this side of Sela is relatively better than the other side. The army war memorial and an army canteen were the points of attraction. The Canteen serves tea free of cost and one of the most delicious Samosa I ever had in my life for just Rs. 5/- I bought one nice army jacket at a throw away price of Rs. 500/-. Some more break and we started further towards Jang, the waterfall there was a major attraction which we decided to cover during our return journey as the light started turning poor by then. Another 40km of tedious journey finally brought us to Tawang and by that time it was completely dark and the road before entering Tawang was really horrible. Anyway as Rampal arranged Hotel Gayki Khang for us, we straight away gone there mainly because of 2 reasons. First was we didn’t want to search hotels with good heating system after such a tiring day and secondly Rampal assured us he would do the needful to get me a Bumla Pass. To get to the Indo-China border at Bumla, you need 2 permits, one from DC office at Tawang and then same has to be produced and countersigned by Army Brigade at Tawang. The first thing after checking in our room, I called up Pabitra who was supposed to get us the permit as per Rampal. He came and collected documents like one photocopy of ILP and one photocopy of any of the Govt issued Photo I-Card like Passport, Voter Id etc. for each one of us. I was surprised when he asked for Rs. 600 for getting this done especially when DC Office was just next to the hotel and the entire process shouldn’t cost much. Anyway I agreed as I had complete trust on Rampal and I really had no time to spend an entire day to do this activity in Tawang, if you have time, especially for those who would keep a day for local sightseeing, may easily do it for themselves. About the hotel, I would say it was clean and nicely located slightly out of main city, you could have a good glimpse of Tawang Monastery from the hotel itself and the quality of food was really good but truly not that value for money, it’s one of the costliest hotel in Tawang. We had a nice dinner and retired for the day.

Bhalukpong – Tawang Road:

Approaching Dirang:

Beautiful Dirang:

Towards Baisakhi:

Things turn more white as we approach Sela:

Sela Pass:

Sela Lake from Pass:

Frozen Sela Lake:

Previous: Amazing Arunachal – Tawang, Ziro, Along, Mechuka, Tuting : Introduction

Next: Amazing Arunachal – Tawang , Journey to Zemithang

Amazing Arunachal – Tawang, Ziro, Along, Mechuka, Tuting : Introduction

May 24, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

When I last visited Arunachal, 2 years back I fell in love with the state, the awesome landscape starting from rainforests of eastern part to alpine meadows of western part meeting mighty Himalayas, the high mountains all around, deep gorges carving its way with blue waters gushing in, you can clearly see and feel the rapids from top. Waterfalls in almost every bend, in one turn its vast blue sky and in next turn in completely filled up with fog and mist. Arunachal will surprise you in every moment, the other aspect is the diversified culture, it’s completely a tribal state and there are 101 recognized tribes in Arunachal and mostly believe in different religions like Donyi Polo (Sun and Moon), Hinduism, Christianity etc. The state has borders with 3 foreign countries, Bhutan in west, Tibet (Now People Republic of China) in North and Myanmar in East. Tourism is not developed except the western part of Tawang sector, which was developed by late Mr. Dorje Khandu, the former chief minister of Arunachal who belonged to Tawang. The state buses sparsely run through the main towns but still Shared Sumo service is the most common mode of transport for locals, in almost all districts you would still find 30% villages not having any road connectivity and still depend on long trek to meet their daily needs. Actually northern part of Arunachal was more closely connected with Tibet through 4/5 different passes until British drew McMahan line in 1913 as per Shimla Accord with Tibet. The usual business with Tibet had been going on until China disregarded the McMahan line and attacked India in 1962 in both Ladakh and Arunachal sector. Since then all the passes were closed and the whole border with China/Tibet was closed and people were forced to walk 3/4 days through treacherous mountains and dense forests to come down to Indian plains to start their new lives. When we visited places like Gelling, merely a km from McMahan line, the elders were telling us the sad stories how they suddenly got partitioned from their near and dear ones living just couple of km across other side of border since 1962. The state is covered by mountains from west to east and deep river gorges from North to South including Kameng, Subansiri, Siyom, Siang, Dibang and Lohit that created mighty Brahmaputra river system. So traveling the state is extremely difficult from west to east as there is a lack of trans-Arunachal highway which is presently being built with the aid from Central Govt. Every time you have to come down 300 km to Assam and then again have to go up another 300km to reach another spot. So you need at least 45 days just for a touch and go trip to visit the prominent areas of state. So better if you could make multiple visits. Last time we covered Eastern Parts covering Lower and Upper Dibang Valley, Lohit, Anjaw and Changlang districts, this time we covered western and part of central covering, West Kameng, Tawang, Lower Subansiri, Upper Subansiri, West Siang, East Siang and Upper Siang.

The 5 major ancient trade points between Tibet and Arunachal was through Kenzamane (Zemithang), Bumla (Tawang), Kapangla Pass (Gelling), Lolla Pass (Mechuka), Dumla Pass (Monigong) and Kibithu. Except Bumla (where civilians are allowed with passes from DC and Army) all the other borders are closed for civilians. Our main intention was to travel as close as possible to these points to trace the historical McMahan line. We covered Kibithu in last trip, so tried to touch upon the rest of the points.

Our itinerary was like this:

Day1 – Kolkata – Guwahati Flight and drive to Nameri
Day2 – Nameri – Bhalukpong – Bomdila
Day3 – Bomdila – Dirang – Tawang
Day4 – Tawang – Zemithang – Tawang
Day5 – Tawang PTso – Sengetsar Lake – Bumla – Tawang
Day6 – Tawang – Sela Pass – Dirang
Day7 – Dirang – Bhalukpong – Nameri
Day8 – Exploring Nameri National Park
Day9 – Nameri – Balipara – Kimin – Ziro
Day10- Around Ziro
Day11- Ziro – Daporijo
Day12- Daporijo – Along
Day13- Along – Tato – Mechuka
Day14- Mechuka
Day15- Mechuka – Tato – Along
Day16- Along – Pangin – Jengging
Day17- Jengging – Tuting
Day18- Tuting – Gelling – Tuting
Day19- Tuting – Jengging
Day20- Jengging – Along
Day21- Along – Shilapathar – Bogibil (By Ferry crossing Brahmaputra)- Dibrugarh – Tinsukia
Day22- Tinsukia – Dibrugarh – Flight to Kolkata

Enough of Texts and now a few snaps to share some highlights of the trip:

Nameri Eco Resort:

Bhalukpong in the side of Jiabharali (Kameng River):

Semi Frozen Sela Lake at Sela Pass:

Tawang Monastery:

Magical Zemithang:

Snowed Out Tawang:

Snow in backdrop of Fall Colors:

Inside Tawang Monastery:

Sunrise in Nameri:

Elephant Nameri National Park:

What a Geometry:

Ziro:

Apatani Girl:

Subansiri River:

Wayside Water Falls towards Mechuka

Adi Tribes:

Mechuka in evening

The Hanging Bridge at Mechuka, Signature of Arunachal:

River Si (Yargap Chu):

Indian Air Force is landing at Advanced Landing Ground Mechuka:

Mechuka:

Mechuka at evening:

Moonlit Mechuka:

Mystic Mechuka Valley:

Gorgeous Serenity:

Lovely colors:

Siyom River:

Morning Mist on Siang Gorge:

Mighty Siang:

Tuting Inspection Bungalow:

Indian Army at LAC near Gelling:

Chopper drops the ration at Gelling:

Memba Boys:

Gelling, the gorgeous Village:

The green mountain in back is the dividing line between India and Tibet (China) – McMahan Line:

The Cute Lama:

Majestic Upper Siang:

Galo Girls:

Next: Amazing Arunachal – Nameri National Park and on the way to Tawang

Unexplored Kashmir – Naranag Temple, Dudhpathri, Srinagar

May 24, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

05-Oct-2012:

We woke up early as it was our last day in Gurez and wanted to enjoy the morning in that heavenly land. Weather was sunny and our own Sunny Paaji was there, so it was all the way sunny . Had some photographic session with Sunny Paaji and his friend and then Sunny’s team gone out to Brigadier’s camp for getting their permit to visit Chorgaon advance post. Somehow they were denied the permit on that day, Army said they had some movement of higher officials on that day and they won’t be able to allow any visitors but to me more likely was as they were a big group of 15+ people, may be that’s the reason for permit denial. These are not tourist spots and army never wanted to project that way to allow a bus full of tourists to an advanced camp. If you are a small group, especially with family, getting permits usually becomes much easier, that’s my experience everywhere starting from Kashmir, Ladakh to Arunachal.

With Sunny Paaji and his friend at Gurez:

Bidding goodbye to Haaba Khatun and Kishanganga for time being:

Rajdhan Pass with season’s first snow:

Anyway we had our breakfast and started our long journey back to Srinagar but we thought of taking a detour from Bandipore towards Mansabal lake and then towards, Gandharbal, Kangan and finally towards Naranag. The return journey was smooth and dust was much lesser than what we faced 3 days back because of last nights shower. As we approached the upper reaches towards Rajdhan Pass, we started finding the snow, season’s first snow on the road itself. On the top one side of the ridge was covered with snow, which turned the scene completely from what it was 3 days back. We stopped there for a while, chatted with couple of CRPF Jawan and then further proceeded towards the Bandipore. We took a short tea break just after Bandipur again with a vast vista of Wular lake in front of us, hope someday after the cleaning activities, Wular would be a nice stop for the visitors. We soon crossed Mansabal Lake, that’s picturesque too but we didn’t have time to take a break there, continued and hit the NH1 soon and turning left we were going towards Kangan. The road was fantastic and after the bad road of Gurez, it was a welcome break, just couple of km before Kangan, the road towards Naranag takes left diversion, we took that, hit a very narrow yet well built road and reached Naranag around 4.00 in the afternoon. Naranag is more famous as the start or end point of famous Kashmir Great Lakes Trek. People usually start from Sonmarg and covers Vishansar, Kishansar, Gadsar, Satsar and Gangabal lakes before ending the trek at Naranag. I have seen some amazing photographs of this incredible landscape and hope someday I will be able visit too. Naranag is a small village, very nicely located with few trekkers hut and a stream flowing rapidly through the dense forests and meadows, surrounded by high hills. The major attraction of Naranag is the temples built in 8th Century with ancient Aryan structure.

Source: Wikipedia
The Naranag temple is the main attraction for the tourists. It is one of the important archaeological sites of the country. The site consists of a cluster of temples facing each other at a distance of about 200 meters. Historians say that the temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva by the 8th century ruler Lalithdatiya muktadiya. It is believed that the king Awantivarman paid a visit and donated a pedestal for bathing at Bhutsher. Its architecture reveals the art of the 8th century. The government has only constructed walls to protect it from encroachments and nothing else has been done. It is now left in ruins of which only faint traces have survived. This temple has the typical Aryan structure as was present in Aryan Kashmir.

Small Pool believed to be filled up with water from Gangabal Lake:

Eighth Century Ruins of the temples, see the Shiva Temple:

Naranag – Nice Valley:

We had a nice time there, visiting the archeological wonders, you would be surprised and thrilled to see how people brought those heavy stones way back in 8th century and made the geometrically accurate curvature with them at a height of 50 ft from ground. This is a place one shouldn’t miss on the way to Sonmarg.

We started our return journey as sun was tilting towards west horizon, we came back to the highway again and hit srinagar around 7.30 in evening with a huge traffic jam as usual. We were very hungry as we didn’t have our lunch so headed to Mughal Durbar and had a wonderful dinner with various types of Kababs. No journey should be completed without the great foods, we had it here after several days of skipping breakfasts and lunches.

06-Oct-2012:

This was practically our last day in valley and it was kept as a spare day in case if something pushes our plan. We initially planned to enjoy Srinagar, especially the Dal Lake on this day, but as we already lost a day in Aharbal due to a strike, we had to use this day if we wanted to visit Dudhpathri. So the question was Dudhpathri or Dal Lake, we chose the first and started around 8.00 in the morning towards Budgam. Dudhpathri is a newly identified spot which is still being developed as a full fledged tourist spot by J&K Tourism. To do that they have created a separate entity called Dudhpathri Development Authority and this entity is still developing this little known beautiful meadow to a well established tourist spot. Now they have already made good roads for most part, Dudhpathri is 61km from Srinagar and a day trip to this scenic location is very much possible and highly recommended. We reached Budgam (20km from Srinagar) in a short while and going further 26km we reached Khan Sahib, the known junction from where road to Dudhpathri diverts. From Khan Sahib you would get another 7km of well tarred road and after that bad / unpaved road started for last 10km. The road was still being made and some part of that was really quite steep and we found few of the small cars and also big buses could not reach till the end point, but looking at the pace of the work, I believe by starting of next season the whole work would be over and it would be a nice and easy drive to Dudhpathri from Srinagar. Nothing much could be written about this place, it’s a very scenic and gorgeous meadow which would keep you short of words, if you try to describe it. The meadow is quite huge and starting point of couple of good treks uphill. The river Shali Ganga flows through the meadows and dense forests in higher reaches surrounded by snow peaks made the whole ambience amazing. Probably May/June would give visitors even better view with more green and snows around. We spent almost whole day there, there are few pre-fabricated huts where one can have a lovely stay. To stay there you have to contact Dudhpathri Development Authority and as the location is quite remote, they would arrange for your foods and everything once you confirm your arrival.

Shali Ganga River:

Awesome Tourist GH at Dudhpathri:

Inside the Pre-Fabricated Huts at Dudhpathri:

New Wooden Huts are being built:

We didn’t have time to stay the night but wish we could, had some snacks, noodles, tea made by the caretaker of the GH who was a very nice person and we had a wonderful picnic on that day. We took Kazim’s son who was studying in Srinagar for this day trip with us and the young boy was really happy to be with us for the day.

Kazim and his son:

Our Picnic:

Lovely Meadow Dudhpathri:

We started our return journey towards Srinagar around 4.00 and by 2 hours we reached Dal Lake, lean season and some hard bargain, earned us a very sweet deal of houseboat stay in Young Golden Palace for just Rs. 1200/- But we didn’t have time to enjoy, as we rushed towards Sunny Paaji’s place for dinner, he invited us couple of days back and we were already late. Reached there around 7.30 and really didn’t know how we spent next 3 hours, it gone like a flash with delicious dishes prepared by bhabi and paaji himself and some intense chit chats on remote areas of Kashmir. Paaji is an avid trekker, has been trekking since his school days and showed us lot of wonderful snaps of his various treks from school days onwards, What a great and nice end to a wonderful trip!! I will surely return to Kashmir again, just to have those Kababs again at Sunny paaji’s place, Paaji thanks a lot for that great dinner, wonderful photographs and the warm get together. We came back to house boat around 11.00 at night and then suddenly I started feeling a void, no more planning, no more discussion with Kazim for next day, it became almost a habit for last 15 days. We have done what all we have planned, in some cases even more than what we planned, still we felt, it could be more, couple of days more!! Srinagar Airport was infamous for rounds of checking, so we had to realign our luggage accordingly, repacked those again and gone for sleep quite late.

Delicious Dishes at Sunny Paaj’s House:

Bhabi and Paaji, what a wonderful couple:

A fantastic get together:

Back to the House Boat:

07-Oct-2012:

We got up very early to catch the typical morning in Dal, wonderful experience it was, people started lives on water with small boats, selling flowers in a foggy morning in the lake made it fabulous. We enjoyed the lake for almost all the morning before we had to leave for airport. It’s a non eventful journey with some tiring checking in Srinagar airport (3 layers of checking where first layer would be by offloading your luggages from car and put into an X-Ray machine and reloading into the car again) and even more tiring wait time in Delhi Airport T3, took us back to Kolkata. We were very tired but it was really a wonderful trip with so many memorable moments and wonderful people and beautiful places.

Morning at Dal Lake:

Previous: Unexplored Kashmir – Gurez Valley, Chorwan, Bagtore valley

The End

Unexplored Kashmir – Gurez Valley, Chorwan, Bagtore valley

May 24, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

04-Oct-2012:

Lone Saab told us about possibility of visiting an advance border post at Chorwan, so first thing in morning we called him up and reminded him about arranging a permit for us from local army brigade. He was a very nice person, took us to army brigade and got permission for us, the officer looking at my camera gear, just reminded me that it was no photography zone, I was more than agreed to that already. Amit told me about Ramiz Raja, another loveable character who works in the GH and a local lad from Bagtore. We took him along with us as after Chorwan we had to proceed to Bagtore. He had day off on that day and with us he would also visit his home in quick time. So we went to Chorwan first, army was already informed as they didn’t even bother ask about our details and straight away asked us to proceed to the main camp. The person there took us to the observation tower and showed us a 270 degree view of various Pakistani Posts in other side of the ridges through a powerful binocular. We could see their camps and even spot their bunkers some 500 mtrs away. They had several night vision cameras installed there to track the slightest movement in other side of LOC. We were enjoying, my kid was very thrilled, even requested the army to shot few rounds from their Insus, she never has seen bullets so closely, was amazed and asked me repeatedly when Pakistan would start firing (so from our end we could retaliate ). After the visit we had some nice Pakoda and Chay there with the army and had some good chat. It was getting late and we had to move towards Bagtora, so we moved further, got some fabulous shots of Dawar from opposite side of Kishanganga and was able to touch the LOC fencing too, it was really thrilling, took some snaps and then proceeded towards Bagtore.

Dawar from Chorwan side:

The LOC Fencing, we are standing at Zero Point:

On the way to Bagtore:

Near Tarabal where the encounter happened on 20th Aug 2012, militants were trying to cross Kishanganga here:

The nature at its best:

Last point where road ends at Tarabal:

This side of Gurez was even more scenic, we crossed Wampot, Khopri, Nayal and then at Kanzalwan took right and moved towards Bagtore. We reached at Tarabal which was the last village in this side of LOC where motorable road ended and along with Ramiz, we started walking towards the BSF Camp which was the last camp just before LOC. It was a short 20 mins walk just by the side of river Kishanganga and what an amazing scenery it was, I couldn’t really express in words rather try to put some snaps of this small yet beautiful trek. The captain at Camp was posted in Bengal for almost 7 years and could even speak some Bengali was very surprised to see a family with kid there out of no where. He invited us for lunch, which we readily accepted and had a great lunch with roti and sabji. He told though civilians were not allowed there, once we came, we should enjoy the place, he showed us positions of various army camps and bunker positions of Pakistan and also the exact place where a fierce encounter took place between army and militants last year 20th August when they tried to infiltrate by crossing river Kishanganga in a raft.

Walking towards the last Post near LOC:

Kishanganga is flowing at right:

Looking back towards Tarabal:

Extremely colorful terrain:

BSF Commandar posing with us, the far ridges are in Pakistan just on other side of Kishangana gorge:

After spending some more time there, we started our return journey and Ramiz took us to his home. We met his parents, brothers and sister, had cup of tea and snacks and chatted with them for a while. The time was very nicely spent with this warm yet simple Kashmiri family in their own ambience listening to the stories of their daily lives. Another amazing day came to an end as we started our return journey and on the way Kazim found a water falls to get a free car wash. We were enjoying the misty evening with clouds and suddenly a white Tata safari came to screeching halt and a gentleman came out and extended his arms, he knew me for sure, I took a guess and yes it was Sunny Paaji, with his friend who was also a BCMTian. So a small BCMT get together was inevitable and what a place to meet Sunny Paaji, we never even thought in our wildest dream that we would be meeting in Gurez after narrowly missing each other in Srinagar and in Aru. They were also travelling to Gurez and fortunately we all stayed the night at JK Tourism GH at Gurez only. After coming back to GH, we had some more chatting on Gurez and entire Kashmir trip. Kazim prepared the chicken again for last time in the trip and it was so delicious to have that in dinner. After a nice dinner, caught up with some World Cup T-20 cricket in TV before we retired for that day.

Trekking back the same route towards Tarabal:

Tarabal Village:

Ramiz (at right) with his brother and parents:

Previous: Unexplored Kashmir – Gurez Valley Dawar and Tulail

Next: Unexplored Kashmir – Naranag Temple, Dudhpathri, Srinagar

Unexplored Kashmir – Gurez Valley Dawar and Tulail

May 24, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

03-Oct-2012:

We woke up in the morning, had our breakfast brought from Sabbir’s hotel and initiated our discussion with immensely helpful caretaker of the Guest House, Mr. Lone. When he heard we had 2 full days of time, he suggested us to visit Tilail valley to Abdullah (Which now a days known as Chakwali) village on first day, till the point civilians are allowed. The road goes further 17 km to reach Kabul Gali and finally runs just by the side of LOC to reach Mushko Valley (famous for Kargil war in 1999) and then finally meets Srinagar – Leh highway at Drass. Gurez is a narrow valley sandwiched by mountains in north and south side where river Kishanganga flows in between from East to West. The valley is one of the best I have ever seen, narrow yet very fertile, having lots of villages along side the river, you would see farming activities all across, mainly they are into potato farming, potato of Gurez is very famous. The valley gets narrowed initially after Dawar towards east and then again starts widening from Barnoi Village, which is considered as beginning of Tilail Valley.

Kishanganga at Dawar:

Wild Flowers enroute:

Barnoi village, start of Tulail Valley:

The Amazing Valley continues:

Potato farming in Gurez:

Kishanganga River and Tulail Valley:

It goes on through Barnoi, Dangithal, Tulail, Jurniyal, Manzgund, Badugum, Baduaub to finally Chakwali and then valley again narrows down and the road goes up to the Kabul Gali to cross mountain pass to reach Mushko Valley on other side. We started our journey and kept going keeping river Kishanganga beside us. The picturesque valley was difficult to describe in words, the interesting part was we were invited almost in every village enroute for a cup of tea and roti. We assured all of them we would be back while returning, kept going ahead. It was almost 2.5 hours drive to cover 55 km from Dawar as the road was not not in a good shape.

Tulail Valley at its best:

Farming activities at full swing:

We reached Chakwali and crossed the village and kept going ahead, we didn’t see any police or army check post and our idea was to drive until we were stopped by someone.

Chakwali Village and locals:

After another 7km drive we came across a bridge where BEACON labourers were working and we found the bridge was not opened, though there was another road to cross the river through river bed, it was not possible for a low GC car like Innova, though Army convoys could easily cross that and move towards Kabul Gali. We could see from that point, road started ascending again towards hill top and we were told in another 3km there would be an army post where the permits would be checked and as of now no civilian (except army convoy and VIP like MP/MLA/DC) is allowed in that road to Drass beyond that check post. So we took a stop there and cajoled the BRO workers to get a cup of tea but it didn’t happen as they were working in the site and they told they had nothing there to prepare tea. The place was looking amazing, all snow peaks around, the valley half turned into golden yellow due to fall colors, half still in green, looking amazingly gorgeous in the backdrop of clouded sky.

Awesome mountain scenaries as we approaching end of Tulail Valley:

Gurez is really very scenic place and more beautiful are the people there. While coming back we stopped in Chakwali village for a while and started a small chat with the locals. They were telling us how indifferent Govt/ administrations were for their causes. They got alienated from rest of the world for more than 6 months due to pass closure and Govt couldn’t even provide a simple medical facility there. Any medical emergency usually be attended by Army Doctors and any emergency evacuation even done using army choppers. They have couple of primary and middle schools and one high school in all these 12 to 15 villages across 55km but all of them were mostly built and managed by Army. This was a place where people were really appreciating the work of army for local development. But they have some grudges too, not entirely unreasonable, I have seen myself, the LOC fencing whatever they have put, was atleast 5km inside the actual LOC and unfortunately gone through the middle of the farm land even after the disagreements of the locals. They were telling how these fencing in middle of land and village used to create trouble for them, every day, be it by reducing the farming area, cutting down the short walks across the village, even the cattle get themselves trapped and hurt while grazing through those fences. While chatting, we didn’t even realize when they arranged for namkeen chay and makai ka roti for us. It was really fun to have those with them enjoying the chill outside. That day probably we had 20 cups of tea on the way back to Dawar at different villages. They had to walk 10km for buying biscuits from nearest grocery but they won’t hesitate to offer those biscuits to the complete strangers like us.

The road approaching towards Kabul Gali:

The Bridge upto which civilians are allowed in Gurez – Drass Road:

Warm people of Chakwali Village:

Notice the valley at far side, a walk of 2 days through that would take you to Sonmarg:

We finally reached Dawar around 6.00pm and watched TV for sometime. Dawar was most important and biggest town of Gurez and it is powered by generator between 6.30pm to 12.00 midnight and again between 5.00am to 6.00am in morning mainly for water heating. Dawar JK Tourism GH was inaugurated last year, located in a fabulous place beside river Kishanganga with Habba Khatun at backdrop. We had our dinner and retired for the day with a plan of exploring the Bagtore side on next day.

Habba Khatun Peak:

Amazing location of JK Tourism GH at Gurez:

Previous: Unexplored Kashmir – Karnah Valley, Teetwal, Lolab Valley, Entering into Gurez Valley

Next: Unexplored Kashmir – Gurez Valley, Chorwan, Bagtore valley

Unexplored Kashmir – Karnah Valley, Teetwal, Lolab Valley, Entering into Gurez Valley

May 23, 2014May 25, 2014 by Kaushik

30-Sep-2012:

We woke up by 6.30 in the morning and had tea, roamed around Reshwari for one last time, the place was so serene and peaceful, you would always like to comeback. Soon Bashir prepared a nice breakfast for us and after having that we said good bye to them and proceeded for our day with unknowns. We soon hit TCP Nawgam, the army asked us with a smile if we gone to Bangus, we answered with a smile keeping the answer vague that how beautiful the whole place was. Reshwari to Handwara was around 20km drive. We soon hit Handwara – Baramula road at Langate and turned towards Handwara. We traced back our route to Kulangam to meet Sopore – Kupwara highway and then turned left towards Kupwara. The road was in excellent condition and a further 18km drive from Handwara took us to Kupwara.

Enroute to Kupwara:

Kupwara had a T-junction, bottom end of T is coming from Handwara side and the top left of T is going towards Karnah Valley via Chowkibal – Tee Pee – Sadhna Top. The top right is going towards Lolab Valley and Machal Valley (Towards LOC). We took left as Sabbir saab arranged our accommodation at Chowkibal PWD GH. We reached there after a drive of 23km from Kupwara, found out the PWD GH but surprised to see presence of many police persons there. Anyway we spoke to the caretaker there and he was already informed by Sabbir Saab and shown us the room on upstairs in no time. But it was little congested and not having much openings, felt slightly damped as well. We didn’t like the room and were preparing to spent the night there somehow. Then we thought of taking a tea break there and in this time I noticed a gentleman with 2 other persons sitting in the lawn and heavily guarded by police force. The gentleman saw us and invited us to join him, we gone little hesitantly but then started a nice conversation with him. His only son was studying engineering in Delhi and he started telling us about Kupwara region. He told he had come there for going to a day trip to Bangus with his family members. I was surprised how Bangus trek can be started from Chowkibal but he said there was another approach from Drangyari (Tee Pee) towards Bangus where again after some distance one had to trek, later I found that road as well while going towards Sadhna Top. Soon he introduced himself as Mr. A.R.Khan, DSP, Kupwara. He was very nice and amicable person. Once he heard we were about to settle the night at Chowkibal, he suggested us to visit Karnah Valley and suggested us to visit Teetwal specifically, the border between India and Pakistan and from there we would be able to see Pakistan’s village even in hand shaking distance. He mentioned there was a PWD GH in Teetwal just beside the river Kishanganga where we should spend the night. We were very excited but asked him how we could get the permission. Khan Saab then asked for a paper and just there made a handwritten letter to Karnah Police Station SHO at Tangdhar to arrange everything for us to stay the night at Teetwal. We couldn’t ask for more really, didn’t think even a second to say a thank you and good bye to the caretaker of Chowkibal GH and proceeded towards Karnah with his letter.

A.R.Khan, DSP Kupwara without whose help we won’t be able to make Teetwal or even Sadhna Top:

The Map of Karna Valley – Note the last road marked orange is ended in Teetwal and other side the North South Road marked in yellow is in Pakistan going from Astore (Neelam Valley) to Muzzafarabad. — Source Wikimapia

Just after Chowkibal, first time we had to register our details in an army check post in this route. But problem came when we approached the second army check post just before the ascent of Sadhna. There the army was not willing to let us go even upto Sadhna Top without a valid permission taken from DC, Kupwara. Initially I didn’t tell them about DSP’s handwritten letter as I was trying to understand the reality, I knew couple of people visited till Sadhna Top without any permission. But he explained me rule has been changed and now to cross that check post and going further we need permission from Kupwara District Administration. Finally I was forced to show him the letter given by DSP and realized had we not been meeting DSP at Chowkibal, we won’t even be allowed to Sadhna Top. Anyway we proceeded further and the initial part of the road was not that good but from 10 km before the top, the road turned very good. We crossed the nice meadow of Tee Pee (Drangyari) and there we noticed the road marker to Bangus. It was written as Kastwar – Nildori – Bangus – Lokut – Drangyari Road showing 37.225km and maintained by BEACON. If anyone is having any idea about the exact alignment of the road, please let us know.

The Road Marker to Bangus from Drangyari:

We reached Tee Pee which was 10km from Chowkibal and then another 16km drive took us to Sadhna Top. Just 5 km before reaching the top there is a place enroute from where you would get an excellent aerial view of vast valley of Kupwara and the narrow Keran Valley.

Keran Valley at far from a bend enroute Sadhna:

The top was excellent, on the other side road slowly winding down towards Karnah Valley. Now again the TCP at Sadhna Top asked us to show the permit and all details. Initially they asked us simply to turn back stating civilians apart from locals were not allowed beyond that point. We showed him DSP’s letter and he spoke to his seniors and came back stating this letter was just hand written and not with official stamps, so he couldn’t accept that. Somehow DSP mentioned his 3 mobile numbers there in the letter (probably apprehending this kind of trouble enroute), I asked the army guy to call and verify, now he was in trouble as there was no connectivity (of mobile) on and beyond Sadhna Top. He again gone back to camp to consult his seniors and then came back and asked for Driving License of Kazim. Army kept that and asked us to go quickly till Tangdhar and back and collect the license while returning on that day itself. Though we didn’t mention our intention to go till Teetwal to them, just told we would be visiting till Tangdhar but the direction of coming back on same day was really too much to accept for us. The argument kept going, we said we couldn’t come back on same day as it was already 2.00pm by then, one more round of discussion with their seniors and then finally they agreed to let us go with two conditions, first, we had to come back by next day and second we won’t be going beyond Tangdhar.

Sadhna Top:

We accepted and proceeded further, the valley started getting widened and vista opened up. Karna Valley was really a treat to eyes, we reached Tangdhar which is 26km from Sadhna Top in another one and half hour and straight went to Karnah Police Station there.

Karnah Valley – So lovely:

We met SHO and told him our intention of visiting Teetwal which he rejected out rightly telling no tourist is allowed there, they only issue the permits to local and that too a day pass only. Then we showed him the letter from DSP, things changed slightly but SHO was still not convinced and he said he needed to verify by calling DSP’s mobile number. Next few hours it was a frantic try going on to reach DSP, it was difficult as I said this side of Sadhna has limited phone connectivity due to security reasons, no mobile worked this end, they were trying from landline but as DC gone for Bangus trekking, I was not expecting to reach him any time soon. So police told us to roam around Tangdhar and mean while they would keep trying contacting DSP. We thought of doing the same but finally ended up loosing almost 2 hours by looping around Tangdhar hills in very bad road across the hilly region. We took a tea break at a small village called Tad, spoke to the locals there, they showed us the ridges occupied by Pakistan in far but suggested us to visit Teetwal for a closer look to Pakistan.

Tad Village:

We returned the Police Station around 5.30 and by then they were able to contact DSP. Then they said at most they could issue a day permit, no way they could give permit to stay at Teetwal, we really had not much to bargain, we accepted that and asked for Teetwal permit for next day and mean while planned to stay the night at Tangdhar PWD GH. We met Javed, the caretaker and wonderful guy there at GH but he said he couldn’t issue a room without consulting executive engineer, as we were with family, he was kind enough to take us to Executive engineer’s home and there we got the permission of staying at the GH. Executive engineer was surprised too to hear tourists from Kolkata came to visit Tangdhar. The guest house was really nice and food served by Javed was even better, we retired for the day quickly having a big hope of reaching LOC next day.

Teetwal Permit:

Tangdhar PWD GH at evening:

Ever helpful Javed, the caretaker with my daughter:

01-Oct-2012:

We quickly had a breakfast in the morning and started our day. The destination was Teetwal and a 7 km drive took us to Chamkot, the first army post where we had to show permit and prove identity. At this place, they again asked for Kazim’s Voter I-Card and kept it with them asking us to collect it during return. This was strange, no where in India I have seen despite of having valid permits, army insists on keeping the original proof of identity with them to allow us to proceed further. Anyway we have gone through 7 such check posts including Army, Police, CRPF, BSF etc. for the next 10km journey to Teetwal and road was simply pathetic. The last evening at Tangdhar GH, civil dressed CID persons met us and verified our identity cards, they had the information about us from local police station and according to them any new comer at the valley except locals used to be thoroughly checked. Anyway the other notable point was in all these 7 check posts we had to leave one or the other of our original I-Card. Finally Kazim had run out of all his I-cards and I also had to submit couple of my I-Cards in between. Finally reached Teetwal around 9.30 in the morning. I have seen borders many times but difference in Teetwal was the inhabitation, roads, buses, trucks plying, people walking, even women washing clothes in other side of river, it was all so close within 50 mtrs of where I was standing. The border didn’t look like normal LOC where you would just see a fencing but no human being around, it was rather full of life, could even see those Toyota Van, colorful buses of Pakistan going to Muzzafarabad. But strikingly the roads made in Pakistan end was fully metalled (heard it was built by Chinese) and in much better condition than what we faced in Indian side. Locals mentioned Pakistan end was better in terms of power, road and telecom infrastructure. The locals here too would touch your heart by their simplicity. One old man came to my car and requested me to take his complain that though his house had no electricity for last 3 months, he was paying the bill, they never saw tourists and thought we were some officials came in a visit and honestly looking at his innocent face, I couldn’t tell him the truth, I gave him some false assurance that I would inform the appropriate authority and the smile that appeared then was simply unmatched and priceless.

Teetwal Middle School, Pakistan in background:

Pakistan’s Army Truck going towards Muzzafarabad:

The Toyota Van in other side of border going towards Astore (Neelam Valley, Pak Occupied Gurez Valley):

Pakistan’s Village just on other side of Kishanganga:

The colorful buses of Pakistan:

Towards Teetwal Bridge – Locals cross it to their relative’s place with appropriate papers, so it’s not a closed border:

Otherside of Teetwal – Flag of Azad Kashmir (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir) and Pakistan:

Teetwal Bridge – Otherside in Pakistan you can see Muzzafarabad – Astore Highway and this side Indian Village of Teetwal divided by River Kishanganga:

The last turn – Kishanganga after on and off into India, finally enters Pakistan, renamed as Neelam and meet Jhelum and finally Indus

Return was through same route via Tangdhar and Sadhna Top, only important thing was to collect all our I-cards we submitted in between. We had a quick tea break at Tangdhar and then back to Sadhna Top – Tee Pee – Chowkibal – Kralpora and Kupwara. Just before Kupwara we got stranded in a traffic jam due to an army convoy, lost almost half an hour. We didn’t loose any more time in Kupwara, as it was already afternoon, we were hurriedly moving towards Lolab Valley. We were supposed to stay at JK Tourism Guest House at Chandigam, a brand new GH, inaugurated just 2 months back. One of the best JK Tourism GH in terms of cleanliness and facilities, would be this one for sure. The caretakers Umar, Ershad, Yaqub all three were very friendly, we had a nice dinner there and then had a long post dinner chat with them along with cups of hot coffee which was really interesting. These guys were very tired after hosting 3 days of Lolab festival but we never missed their smiling faces and helping hands whenever we approached them. Umar prepared a nice map for us to explore Lolab Valley and with that we would start our journey next day.

02-Oct-2012:

We woke up early as it was a long day ahead of us. We had to visit Lolab Valley and then we had to move to Gurez Valley (Dawar) for our night stay. Umar first took us to a place called Naya Chandigam, which was 7km apart from Chandigam GH and the place was very scenic. JK Tourism has acquired land in that place to develop a nature park, which would really be a nice plan. Chandigam is centrally located in lolab valley and the major two big villages in the valley are Sogam and Lalpora. We planned to start from Sogam and took an anti-clock wise loop across the valley via Sogam – Walkul – Takipor – Lalpora – Wavoorer – Khumriyal – Kupwara. Considering the time left we decided to leave Kalaroos for some other day as it was a detour after Khumriyal and we had to reach Gurez on same day. The Lolab valley was a vast land surrounding hills and dense forests and huge farm land, it was somehow giving me a feel of rural Bengal. When we visited, the leaves started turning yellow/red and by October end / November we heard lolab would start looking amazing and gorgeous with fall colors. Lolab is a place where you don’t have any specific destination, you can roam around any road that comes your way and certainly you will enjoy it, it’s just a kind of exploring this wonderful land. DSP, Mr. Khan and Tourism Guest House Caretaker told us, the place was still not completely safe, there were lots of army camps in every 2/3 km and anyone staying in Tourism GH had to be reported to them with all details and that was the reason why during checking in, we had to furnish a lot of information including skin color. Few stray incidents happened mainly after sun down in last few months but when we visited the valley in morning we found it very warm, charming and full of lives.

Few snaps of Lolab:

Lolab’s hand made map by Umar:

Distance Chart of Lolab:

Lolab Valley:

The New JK Tourism GH in Lolab:

Big Lawn was favourite of my daughter:

Awesome setting of the GH:

Umar, Ershad and Yaqub, the nice caretakers of Chandigam GH:

Naya Chandigam:

Lolab Valley:

We planned to trace back to Kupwara and Sopore and then turned towards Bandipore via Watlab for our journey to Gurez. But locals confirmed the direct road between Lolab and Bandipore had already been built and awaited to be opened for civilians, it gone through the dense forested region and would be a very scenic route and one could reach Bandipora from Lolab in just 1.5 hours through the new route which now takes almost 4 hours. 10km before Sopore we found a short cut for Sopore Bandipora road through a place called Bumei and we saved almost 15km. We took a short break in Watlab for tea, the place was nice overlooking the Wular Lake, which was really in a sorry state, currently Govt has taken big projects to restore this lake and hope sometimes in future it would be great sight for visitors. We reached Bandipora after 100km of drive from Chandigam. The road became awfully bad after Bandipora and the major reason seem to be the construction of Kishanganga Dam and all the big dozers, trucks of NHPC had destroyed the road completely. It was full of dust in a dry day and during rain would surely turn into a nightmarish muddy state. This was the worst part road we covered during our whole journey. I would say as even in Warwan we got roads very bad but atleast air was clean there, we didn’t get this much of dust and pollution. 42 km of worst road would finally take you to Rajdhan Pass that separates Gurez Valley from Kashmir Valley. From this place you can see Nanga Parvat in a clear day, it was not that clear in afternoon, so we took some snaps and proceeded towards Gurez. The road condition in other side of Rajdhan pass was in much better shape. We reached Kanwalzan where the road had bifurcation, left was going to Bagtore, where we would be back soon but then we needed to take the right road towards Dawar. Here you would see how Kishanganga’s main channel was completely blocked now and the whole water was diverted through a tunnel inside the mountain, might be to get the height difference to generate hydel power. The work had completely stopped due to a stay order from high court and that seems to be the primary reason for putting so much restriction in permit process to stop outsider to enter Gurez as Govt is apprehensive of a bigger movement there against the dam project. We reached Dawar around evening when last ray of sun touching the mighty Habba Khatun peak. We gone to the GH and happy to got our room, thanks to Iliyas Saab (Dy. Director under whom Gurez Tourism comes) and Md. Lone, the nice caretaker of otherwise filled up GH. We called up a month ahead to both and ensured they would keep a room for us. Unfortunately there was no provision of food in the GH and people used to visit Sabbir’s hotel nearby for food, we were tired, so quickly had our dinner and retired for the day as next day we had plan to explore Gurez in details.

Kashmir Valley from Rajdhan Top – Ullar can be seen at right: