Himachal Pradesh – Into the Thin Air of Spiti Part-2

June 2, 2014June 3, 2014 by Kaushik

19th June:

The morning was brilliant again and I didn’t wait anymore but sharp at 6 started the 3 km hike towards Dhankar Lake. Some parts are stiff but mostly moderate hike and reached at lake by 1.5 hours. It was a calm morning and lake was awesome with mirrors of surrounding ranges specially manerang. I just sat there for an hour and the feeling was hard to express in words. Early morning Dhankar lake is an awesome experience. I came back by 9.00am and took a shower, had a good breakfast and started by 10.00am towards Kaza. Straight away proceeded towards Langza once the Scorpio got it fuel tank filled up. Langza and Komic were 2 awesome places with Chau Chau kang Langda in its backdrop, both places had monasteries where as Komic Monastery had an extra attraction of a stuffed Snow Leopard there. I thought of spotting some fossils in Langza but didn’t find any, heard from locals it might be available near water streams in the forest, most likely maximum were picked up and sold already. There is another village called Hikkim and there are roads connecting each of them. We took from Kaza the main road and took left fork towards Langza as mentioned by a Kaza local.From Langza again one road goes Komic directly and we took this to reach there, while coming back we tried to experiment a little and took the road to Hikkim from Komic and after Hikkim there is a fork, right side goes towards Langza and left goes towards Kaza directly. We took right and got stuck in Mud slush for half an hour, finally retraced and took the left towards Kaza and soon discovered why the local asked us to take Langza route. The road was extremely narrow and full of loose gravels that is difficult to grip, Scorpio faced skidding in couple of places and once we escaped by an inch from a straight fall to Spiti Valley. After some time found a dozer is removing stones and we kept waiting for almost 15 mins before it gave us an extremely narrow space to pass, Vinkal’s driving skill saved our day and when we took first hairpin after that, we realized the dozer we just passed, throwing the stones on our road from top. We shouted a lot to stop, honked a lot, all in vain and then we had nothing to do but to pass the stretch as stones are coming from top and it was steep and full of loose gravel to back track. Now the worst, Vinkal told we need to remove few boulders from road those could damage the car, he was at steering, it’s only me who need to do the job as he had to drive fast the moment I pushed the stones. It was most horrific moments of my life, stones are coming from top, I was pushing stones with all my energy to make way for the Scorpio and Vinkal is honking if the dozer shows some mercy to us, don’t know exactly how long it was but seems to be never ending, finally crossed the stretch unhurt. Came back to Kaza and meet Lotey and the best thing that could happen then was exactly what he told, Kunzum opened 2 days back and first lot of cars crossed Barlacha on that day itself. Along with that the bad news was Chandratal link road was still closed and none knows even in Kaza when it could open. I asked if I could try a trek from Kunzum Pass as that is shorter and more scenic. He discouraged me very clearly as he was expecting lots of snow in that route. We didn’t want to stay at Kaza and asked him if anything is available in his hotel at Rangrik (Spiti Sarai). He offered us a complete suite with 2 rooms and 3 beds for 1000. It’s the best deal we got in whole trip and undoubtedly the best place we stayed among all 17 days. The hotel location was superb out of all hustles and bustles of Kaza and the food was extremely good. Voyager once wrote, it’s best value for money in the valley and he was 100% correct.

Dhankar Lake:

Dhankar Monastery on the confluence of Spiti and Pin:

Dhankar Monastery Old at back and New one at Front:

Kaza from Top:

The Cutie at Langza:

The Buddha at Langza:

Kye Monastery from Rangrik Hotel Spiti Sarai:

20th June:

The food was so good in Spiti Sarai, we planned for the lunch here too and planned to visit Kye/Kibber/Tashigang in morning after placing the order for lunch. Kye Monastery is in a lovely location and can be seen from the hotel itself in the backdrop of colored mountains. The views from Kye towards valley is amazing. We moved towards Kibber and clearly could see Chichim and Kibber in same frame, Parilungbi River flowing in between. This region starting from Chichim, across Parilungbi river Kibber, Gete, Tashigang and then across Shilla Nalla Langza, Komic is called pasture country, having an appearance of a plateau high above the valley with meadows and sharp cliffs falling sharply to main valley and striking appearance of two left bank tributaries of Spiti, Parilungbi and Shilla flowing through narrow gorges. From Kibber the famous Parang La pass trek starts towards Tso-Moriri in Ladakh. Chicham is not motorable from this end but having road connectivity from other side, a place called Kiato. (Towards Losar from Kaza) From Gete, walk till the start of the trail going down to Kye Monastery and you would be rewarded with an awesome valley view having Kaza and Rangrik in same frame. The road from Gete to Tashigang is very bad with lots of places full of mud where you can get stuck easily. In such a place, we stopped our vehicle and started walking forward through a well marked dirt road. We walk for almost one and half hour and the result was amazing, we could see Langza far away across Shilla Gorge and then got the best view of Chau Chau Kang Nalda at right and Kanamo at left. Both are brilliant with all white views and lots of fresh snow in June. If one can stay a night at Tashigang (not sure if any accommodation is available there as only couple of houses I could see within my 360 degree views from there), I think it would be worth experience as the place is awesome with brilliant views of all high peaks and colorful panorama of pastureland. I would be back here for sure. While returning we found a Sumo got stuck in mud that left at least 40 mins before us from Tashigang in it way back to Kaza. Driver was busy with all sorts of tricks and almost opened the whole toolbox and seems to have already tried all means. The passengers seems to be young couple who were quite scared as the rear right wheel was very badly stuck. Vinkal joined the fray and when nothing worked, he asked all of us to come down from our car and gone into the back seat of Sumo. When all of us cramped in back, rear wheel ultimately got some grip and yes it was able to come out of the ditch. Next was our turn and we put some stones, pebbles to make it much easier and came out without any hassles. When we reached Kaza it was almost 2.00pm (the walk in Tashigang helped us to offshoot the estimated lunch time we told in hotel but again it was worth), enjoyed the nice lunch, quickly pack ourselves to start off for Losar. This is another memorable stretch from Rangrik to Losar and each of the villages enroute are awesome with some very scenic canyon drive. Pangmo flat was awesome in this journey along with hoodoos formation near Kiato. We reached Losar and stayed at PWD GH, which was undoubtedly the best place to stay here. We experienced an awesome sunset and sunrise from Losar, it’s very windy place but simply out of the world because of the location.

Spiti Valley from Kye Monastery:

Kye Monastery:

Pangmo Village:

Losar Evening:

21st June:

After an extremely comfortable stay in Losar, where we had room heaters, geysers, enough blankets and a very comfortable room with a nice dinner, we started next morning towards Kunzum. Vista got changed dramatically as we entered the snow zone with all white everywhere. Unlike Rohtang it was very clean and clearly quite a lonely pass to enjoy. In the temporary Tent of PWD on Kunzum top, I found the famous signpost where it was showing “Chandratal 14.5 km and Jeepable 13.5km”. They removed the signpost even from Batal link road and that is quite an indication they are in no hurry to open the road this year. I had nothing much to do as the other trek route from pass that almost goes down all the way to lake after a small climb in pass, was full of snow. The PWD local fellows also advised me not to trek the route all alone and asked me to checkout the Batal route. But Batal route is close to 14km and trekking both way in one day from there would be almost impossible with my fitness level. Accommodation for family there in Batal was another problem and of course I could see weather is going to get bad from 25th onwards and before that I needed to be back in Manali after covering Lahaul, so I decided to skip Chandratal and taken a decision on spot to comeback for this divine lake again sometimes soon. The descent from Kunzum towards Batal was worse than ascent from Losar and very soon, I could see the Chandra River down below and the famous link road to Chandratal that was blocked at least 4/5 places with snow as long as I could see from top. Reached Batal and heard the harrowing story of those school kids who got stuck there for 10 days from Batal dhaba owners. Even a German Cyclist was killed due to Avalanche on the fateful days of 7th to 9th June with huge unseasonal snowfall in the region. Batal itself had 4 ft snow then and the original road is completely abandoned now and PWD made way for a new road just beside the Chandra river for first 6 km from Batal to Chotadhara. Going through some arduous stretches with scary water crossing, high snow walls, glacial zone of Bara Sigri, some nice meadows the road goes towards Chotadhara, Chatru and finally Gramphoo for almost 60 km. It’s just making way for humans rather than calling it a road. I understood why only high ground clearance cars are advisable here when I crossed the section. Weather was brilliant all across and when we reached Gramphoo and hit Manali Leh road, still we couldn’t believe we are so close to Chandra Valley, Same Chandra River was still flowing with us but hats off to BRO for making an excellent wide road in such a difficult terrain. Actually you would feel any road brilliant just after covering Batal Gramphoo stretch. In Khoksar we took lunch and met the cordial PWD asst engineer to get the stay warrant for stay at Sissu and Gondhla on 22nd and 23rd. Due to VIP Visit we got it in reverse order than what we wanted and as a result had to travel 50km more. Soon came across Pagal Nallah of Sissu and it’s really Pagal specially in late afternoon. Lahaul valley is much greener than Spiti and farming is more noticeable across the valley. Reached Tandi by 5.00pm and the road was excellent except a 10km stretch between Sissu and Gondhla. Made the fuel tank full and discovered all hotels of Keylong were full with almost zero availability. It’s full of bikers and tourists who were stuck there for days as Barlacha was opened just a day before. Lotey again came into our rescue as we didn’t hesitate to call him straightaway to Kaza. We got a nice room in Hotel Dekyd for 1200 just because of his contact and the hotel was very nice.

Losar Morning:

Approaching Kunzum:

Kunzum Top:

Chandra River and on the right in white Batal Chandratal Link Road:

Ice Walls Continues:

Quite Chilling:

Journey Continues through Greener Lahaul:

Gondhla on the way:

Valley Turns Greener:

Journey through Green Vista close to Tandi:

Previous: Himachal Pradesh – Kalpa and Into the Thin Air Of Spiti Part-1

Next: Himachal Pradesh – Lahaul, Land of Folklores and Tirthan Valley

Himachal Pradesh – Kalpa and into the thin air of Spiti Part-1

June 2, 2014June 3, 2014 by Kaushik

15th June:

My luck with weather continues with another brilliant morning there, I decided to go for Nagasthi ITBP camp walk in the early morning and it was awesome. This is the place where the famous Har Ki Doon Trek starts or ends and this valley connects with many famous valleys of Uttarakhand. We took lunch in Panchali itself and started around 12.30pm for Kalpa, intention was to catch the sunset there but for the first time in afternoon sky turned cloudy and weather started behaving differently. I heard about 3 hotels in Kalpa, HPTDC was one of them that flatly refused to talk stating all their rooms are filled up even though I saw just 2 days back they have plenty of rooms specially in above 2500 range. Hotel Kinner Villa is nice option but they have good room only for 15th and 16th they were shifting me to a backside room. Golden Apple is the third, I heard a lot about and it also could offer only a good room for 15th. I somehow ignored Rakpa Regency though Vinkal repeatedly told me about this and later repented a lot for this. Golden Apple room was ok but toilet was not that good, geyser was not working. The worst experience I had with food and such a half cooked chicken they offered, I still have a nightmare and couldn’t have chicken since then. The Hotel also doesn’t have a good lobby/terrace to enjoy Kailas range, so called side view rooms were simple horrible and you would be in a difficult situation unless you get a front facing room there. It’s quite costly too; as a whole I won’t recommend this hotel to anyone. With bad weather and shattered dream of a divine sunset, the matter got even worse and I decided to shift to some other places on next day.

Good Morning Chitkul:

Trek to Nagasthi:

16th June:

My alarm went on at 5.00am but I could hear raining from bed itself and with the time rain was getting heavier. The reversal of good luck in start of the trip continues as around 9.00am I have scrapped the idea of walking to Chakha. At 11.00, the moment rain gets lighter, I started exploring the other hotels and found Rakpa completely vacant. Chose the room no 405 at top floor with a nice terrace, attached balcony and awesome views of surroundings. Rent was 1000 as compared to 1700 of Golden Apple. With change of hotel, luck also started swinging back and we decided to go to Peo for lunch and some marketing as next day we would start for Spiti. Little Chef was a brilliant place to eat in Peo and with 2 cartons of mineral water (24 bottles of 1 ltr each) and filled up fuel tank of Scorpio, we were all set for next day. We went to Roghi in afternoon, amazing cliff and terrific fall below. This is the actual HT Road again from Poari towards Khab via Chini Village (Kalpa). In the evening, more bad news came as we met a group of people from Kaza who returned after waiting unsuccessfully for 4 days to cross Kunzum Pass. I called Lotey (Ramesh), the extremely helpful person who owns Spiti Sarai Hotel there and Spiti Holiday adventure a tour organizer in valley. Thanks to Voyager for giving his contact. He assured me telling it would be open soon may be in a day (that he used to tell me from 7th, the day Kunzum closed after sudden snowfall) and I have nothing to do rather than praying for it. My Tata Photon got dead after Sarahan but Airtel came alive after entering Kalpa. I was frantically checking IMD and Accuweather through cell GPRS and only hope was next 4/5 days were predicted as dry in both the sites.

Kalpa Village waking up:

Majestic Kinnaur Kailas:

17th June:

I woke up around 4.30 and the stars in the morning sky made it clear that a brilliant day is waiting for us. The next few hours were amazing with an unforgettable sunrise in Kalpa with crystal clear Kinnaur Kailas Range in hand shaking distance. Started at 7.30am in morning hits NH22 again and move towards Spillo. Seen the right diversion towards Namgiya and Shipki La and left towards Ropa valley. The road was almost all the way good but turns better after Khab Bridge. I remembered to catch a glimpse of Reo Purygal, highest peak in HP from Khab Bridge as mentioned by my friends. It was awesome, the road started to go up after Khab and a signpost marked clearly Yangthang ahead in old road and Nako on the top in new alignment to bypass Malling. New Monastery of Nako was good but best is the sight of Reo Purygal again from there. Visited Nako lake and village for some time, watched quite clearly the old Malling road that was completely destroyed for 200 mtrs in between and new road alignment at top. Around 1.00pm started from Nako and proceeded towards Chango where the old Malling Road meets with new alignment on other side. Chango to Sumdo was mainly through deep canyons of Spiti which was with us since Khab. Pare Chu meets Spiti at Sumdo and yes in right we found NH22 gone up to Kaurik for another 17km. Kaurik is not open for civilians without permit and probably an unique place that is completely destroyed in 1975 earthquake where as the name is still being used in all milestones. We left NH and started with SH30 from Sumdo as we enters Spiti. Land Scape changed completely after Nako with all barren mountains and some typical air erosion patters picked up straight from geography text books. Took a detour of 12 km one way to Giu for that famous Mummy, a bigger temple kind of structure is being built there where mummy would be kept, saw the hair of Mummy but not sure if they are still growing as claimed by many. Hoorling comes once you hit SH30 after Giu. The road is worst here and this part was closed for a day in first week of June shutting Kaza – Peo link. Then We reached Tabo around 4.30pm and found Trojan GH vacant yet pricey, Mentok Dumra little too basic, surprisingly didn’t find San Maria at all in that small town which otherwise was a famous hotel. Lotey again became savior and directed us to Diket Norphel and later we found this is nothing but lost San Maria that changed the name now. So first floor room there at 500 was extreme value for money. The food was good and hotel was extremely clean. Visited Tabo Monastery and brilliant paintings there are quite mesmerizing.

Brilliant Morning from Terrace of Rakpa Regency:

Nako Village:

Spiti Valley:

That is Tabo:

1000 years old Tabo Monastery:

18th June:

We didn’t do breakfast but got some Alu Paratha from the hotel and left by 7.30am. First destination was Mane Village, seems to be greenest in whole Spiti Valley, this is the place where Gunsarang and Manirang Pass trek starts that connects Ropa Valley. The site of Spiti Valley and SH30 was amazing from here. Manerang Ranges were at touching distance and both upper and lower Mane villages are very green. After Mane reached Schichiling but skipped Dhankar as our plan was to do a night stay there. From Attarago turned left towards Pin Valley and experienced some best panorama in whole Spiti Valley. Pin’s color is turquoise compared to muddy Spiti, Gone to Kungri Monastery, attended prayer there, From Kungri, Pin Valley looks awesome, reached Sagnam that itself is a very scenic place and after Sagnam road bifurcates to Mud and Bhaba/Pin parvati pass onwards and other fork goes to Talling and Kuokti Valley, this is the starting point of Larsa Pass Trekking towards Spillo at Kinnaur. Mud is having couple of accommodations and had a nice lunch there. Anyone would be surprised with the colors that Pin Valley can offer. We came back to SH30 and then gone other side towards Lingti Valley. The vista is completely different yet very attractive as we proceeded towards Lallung. There are apparently 2 roads marked for Lallung, one through Rama and Lingti Village that is extremely rough and as per local couldn’t connect to lallung yet as the board at SH30 claims. The other road as part from Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna starts again from SH30 and links Lallung, we took first route first, abandoned it little later and then took the second route to reach lallung. The Kamelang peak rises dramatically behind Lallung village and the old monastery there is worth visiting. We tried to took the short cut from Lalung to Dhankar by another gravel road and within 500 mtrs of Dhankar discovered the road was cut off in between due to a bridge work. We had to trace back all the way to SH30 and then through Schichiling reached Dhankar at 5.00pm. Gone straight to old Monastery and experienced awesome vista of Spiti Valley from Terrace. Got a nice room at 500 in Monastery Guest House with attached bath, geysers. Had a nice dinner and ended a busy yet very satisfying day.

Mane Greenest Village in Spiti Valley:

Spiti River Gorge SH30 on Right:

SH30 goes beside the River towards right Tabo and left Kaza:

Spiti Valley:

Pin Valley:

Small Village Pin Valley:

Colorful Pin Valley:

Pin Meets Paraiho just before Sagnam:

Vista Opens Up at Mud:

Talling Bridge over Pin:

Spiti Valley from Way to Dhankar:

Spiti Valley from Old Dhankar Fort:

Previous: Himachal Pradesh – Deb Bhumi Kinnaur

Next: Himachal Pradesh – Into the Thin Air of Spiti Part-2

Himachal Pradesh – Deb Bhumi Kinnaur

June 2, 2014June 3, 2014 by Kaushik

The Trip includes places like Chail – Narkanda – Sarahan via Baggi, Sungri, Taklech, Dharanghati, Mashnoo – Chitkul – Kalpa – Tabo – Pin Valley – Kaza – Losar – Kunzum La – Gramphoo – Sissu – Keylong – Baralacha – Udaipur/Trilokinath – Manali – Sairopa – Jalori Pass – Naldehra – Mashobra – Shimla.

It was trip from Kolkata to Chandigarh via flight and then taking a Scorpio for whole trip that picked up from Chandigarh and dropped us at Kalka after 17 days. We took Shatabdi to Delhi and Duronto on next day for coming back to Kolkata.

Start Odo Reading at Chandigarh Airport: 32001
End Odo Reading at Kalka Station : 34203
Total Distance Travelled 2202 km

The initial trip was planned from 19th June to 4th July that needed to prepone by a week round last week of May due to some urgent work that came all of a sudden like a Himalayan Western Disturbance. On one hand it resulted in a complete change in itinerary, air/rail tickets, straight away forfeiting 20% of booking amount with HPTDC Hotels and many uncertainties, on the other hand it gave me much more flexibility and most importantly I got the best possible weather of June 2010, a month that would be remembered for quite long due to some un-seasonal rain, heavy snow and record late in pass openings. On Accommodation front, my only pre-booking were at Narkanda, Sarahan and Chitkul.

11th June:

As a late riser I do hate early morning flights but Jet Connection at 6.30 in the morning was too lucrative to miss as I could reach Chandigarh Airport by 10.15am and that means utilizing the whole day. Actually reached 15 mins late at 10.30am and found Vinkal (my driver for this trip) was waiting with the 2009 model Scorpio(HP-02A- 2200) just outside the airport. I got some snaps of car and driver before hand and the deal was Rs.2200 per day inclusive of everything. By that time I spoken to the owner and Vinkal for at least 4/5 times and discussed the route and clearly communicated the route I am planning to take, an important thing, one shouldn’t miss if you want a hassle free journey later. There was no advance as I clearly mentioned I won’t pay unless I get a ride in the car 🙂 Ultimately I was so pleased with the Car, I decided to pay 50% on that day and called owner to come to either kandaghat or Kufri to collect it. Reason is few experienced travellers advised me to take the scenic Chail Route if possible. It’s a worth journey through the route bypassing Shimla completely and Chail Palace was a place we really liked except the monkey brigade there. Left Airport around 11.30am, took lunch break at Giani Dhaba, Dharampur for an hour, packed up the Scorpio with dry foods and 6 cans of mineral water 5 ltrs each and with a stoppage at Chail palace for 45mins,some photo stops, finally reached Narkanda round 7.30pm, when sun just sets into the mountains. As a first day of trip, I pre-booked Harsh Villa, Narkanda through HPTDC Website only and if you can tolerate the entrance that is little steep, rest is complete value for money for Rs.550 a day. If possible take a 1st floor room and the Himalayan Vista from Room and attached balcony was awesome. I had some very good snaps from this balcony itself. The guy could bring in dinner/lunch from local restaurants for you without taking any extra charges and suddenly at night with all blankets we feel heavenly after escaping from a pathetic 38 degrees in Kolkata.

Chail Palace:

12th June:

Next Day, rather in all subsequent days I made sure that I get up before sun and can start the day with a beautiful sunrise. My alarm was fixed at 5.00 in the morning for next 17 days. Started around 8.00 in the morning for Hatu Peak drive and the road was awesome. Only concern is the temple that is being built there, not sure whether the same serenity would be maintained when the temple would be open for all. PWD RH on Hatu peak is still not operational as there is no electricity there at top. But I wish I could stay a night there sometimes in future, such an awesome location it has. Came back from Hatu peak, strolled around Narkanda and the ski ground was great, a local cricket match was going on there, by the way Cricket seems to be tremendously popular in whole Himachal even in the remotest places. The afternoon was planned for driving to the Thanedar/Kotgarh areas, the apple orchards of Himachal. Nice places all through and finally spending a nice afternoon in Tani Jubbar Lake.

Hatu Peak PWD GH:

Thanedar Apple Orchard of HP:

Apples:

Lone Tree:

Rainbow:

Sun Down Narkanda:

13th June:

Kept a close eye on weather as my data card was still working, This was a day when I was planning to take a little off route to reach Sarahan and praying hard for a nice weather. Instead of taking NH22 via Rampur, I chose the route that British people started using to avoid hot Sutlej Valley and later established as a preferred alternative as part of Old Hindustan Tibet Road. The route was from Narkanda to take Baggi, Khadrala, Sungri, Taklech, Dharanghati, Mashnoo to reach Sarahan. The Baggi to Sungri Stretch was extremely rough and surely didn’t get any kind of maintenance for at least a year though buses ply in the section. From Sungri road becomes suddenly better and it was quite good road till 10km ahead of Dharanghati. Dharanghati – Mashnoo was complete offroading through dense forest region, an amazingly charming journey though and from Mashnoo to Sarahan again it’s a well tarred road. The whole section all along goes through higher ridges and utterly devoid of any traffic. You would get awesome vistas with awful roads. We started at 7.30 in morning from Narkanada and reached Sarahan around 4.30 in afternoon. Took a nice lunch break at Taklech and several other breaks in between. Sincere thanks to one of my friend for the idea of this route. Those who are interested can visit Saraikoti Temple from Dharanghati as it’s a divine place I heard. In Sarahan, we had pre-booking at Bhimkali Temple, a wonderful place to stay. In the evening we strolled to visit the Palace and Hawa Ghar on top, a nice place to see the Sarahan valley and in a clear weather you might witness a brilliant sunset over Srikhanda Range.

Colorful villages on the way:

Road To Dharanghati:

Journey through lush green:

The Road towards Sarahan:

Evening in Sarahan:

14th June:

The day started with a brilliant sunrise over Srikhand. We started around 8.00 in the morning from Sarahan, took a tea break at Jeori, experienced the worst section between Wangtoo and Karcham, SJVN and JP has almost ruined this entire part of NH22 and this region seems to be one of the highest producer of hydro electricity. I wish they could do some justice to the roads and infrastructure of this area as well apart from their business. Felt some relief after entering Baspa Valley but till Kuppa, the road was extremely narrow and the drive was quite scary. Reached Sangla by 12.15pm and took lunch, It’s quite a busy place with lots of hotels and we decided to move ahead until we reach Rakcham. Rakcham is a small village by the side of Baspa. We enjoyed a lot there, spending some nice moments beside Baspa before finally reaching to Chitkul around 3.30pm. Chitkul was simply a divine place and I discovered not only the Data card but also the Airtel Sim stopped working there. BSNL Sim works but without certainty, I found my hotel staffs almost doing acrobatic movements over terrace to catch BSNL signal. After sundown the serenity and cold icy air were hallmark of Chitkul. Probably I would stay longer here next time. We stayed in Hotel Panchali, valley facing first floor room was awesome but this is the place where I had to pay for pre-booking. I paid 1100 while booking from Kolkata and when enquired about rate pretending to be a potential guest, my heart was broken when I heard the guy telling “last price 550 saab, aur kam nehin hoga”. Chitkul is a place that might need pre-booking during puja holidays if mass tourism from Bengal is on, otherwise there are plenty of options unless you venture in an off season.

First Ray of Sun on Srikhand in Morning:

Srikhand Range:

Bhimakali Temple Sarahan:

Hall Mark of Kinnaur:

Sangla Valley:

Posing in front of Camera:

Rakcham:

Chitkul From Panchali GH Room:

Chitkul Afternoon:

Next: Himachal Pradesh – Kalpa and into the thin air of Spiti Part-1

Magical MP – Panchmarhi Part-2 and Pench

June 2, 2014June 3, 2014 by Kaushik

Now it is included in Satpura National Park region and visiting many places require a park entrance fees and also the local Jeeps formed an union and now divided the main attractions in 3 full days trip which costs you 1500 per day. Quite expensive specially if you don’t want to see all places scheduled in a day and instead want to replace a few spots with places of your choice, firstly union won’t allow that officially and you have to pay extra to driver on top of 1500. So this is the only place where a MPT safari would be extremely helpful. They cover the significant places in one day and with a charge of 1250. Morning they would take you to Museum to start with where you have to buy forest tickets (Rs 60 per person) and take a compulsory guide by paying Rs.200. The Museum is worth visiting to understand Pachmarhi flora and fauna. From Museum, the tour covers Pandava caves which had given much artificial look than what I saw it 11 years back, then to Apsara Vihar and Rajat Prapat, two water falls that needs some amount of trekking to reach. If you are a trekking enthusiast, you can go to bottom of Rajat Prapat but almost need a full day for taking that up. After lunch, they would take you to Bee Falls, some steep climb down and climb up is involved but you get an excellent views of the fall from below. In Bee Fall, I have seen an Indian Giant Squirrel, (6th snap below) with amazing colors. Next they would take you to Reechgarh, a natural amphitheatre in rock approached from Southside cave like entrance. You would find some old rock paintings here but this place also needs small trek. Finally you would end your day with a fascinating sunset over Satpura Range from Dhupgarh, a must go for any tourist in Pachmarhi. We also gone for some trekking in outer region of Pachmarhi that is equally fascinating as you can see a different views of Satpura range, some old rock paintings and also a 100 year old ruin called Begam’s Palace from where we experienced a nice sunset.

The next destination and last in our trip was again a forest, Pench, which is smallest in size in comparison to Bandhavgarh and Kanha and primarily have 3 zones. Touria is the most popular zone with most of the hotels and resorts are closer to this gate and this is nearest from Nagpur and that’s why have a lot of local tourists specially in weekends. Karmajhiri is the gate where you would find the MP Forest RH and much quieter area but travel involved is at least 25 to 30km more than Touria gate from Nagpur. On the other side of Pench river the least visited zone in Pench is named as Jhamtara which should be approached from a road forked to right while you are approaching to Seoni from Chindwara, not sure the accommodation options in this area and only 5 Jeeps are allowed in Jhamtara where as 10 allowed in Karmajhiri and 45 to 50 are allowed from Touria. From Pachmarhi We took the road via Matkuli, Tamia, Chindwara, Seoni, turning towards Nagpur up to Khawasa and then taking right to Pench. We stayed in MPT’s Kipling’s Court as we found FRH booking only allowed just a month before your travel date here. Also FRH is comparatively costlier around 1200/- per day here excluding the food, so we preferred Kipling’s Court with it’s all inclusive 3000 rate that includes accommodations, food and close to most popular gate Touria where we can get a car for our return journey towards Nagpur easily. My point of contact here was Ajay, excellent person who was already introduced in IM in some other threads. He was a very sincere guide and carrying some excellent books on birds to show us varieties of birds in Pench. I haven’t seen or probably haven’t noticed so many birds in Bandhavgarh or Kanha.

Pench, once known as Leopard County and famous for almost sure sighting of leopard even until 3 yrs back. Now leopard sighting is not that common still out of 3 safaris, in two we heard quite a few cars have seen leopards. We were not that much lucky to see it though. Pench’s specialty is Nilgai, male is actually colored blackish blue and females are having dark yellowish shade. We have seen them plenty apart from Gaur, Spotted Deer, Sambars, Wild Boars, Jackals, wild cat and lots and lots of birds. We have seen a spot-bellied eagle owl, a first time sighting in Pench and we had registered our sighting in Forest Office with a few snaps. Apart from Tiger show, we haven’t seen any tiger here. Tiger show usually happens when Forest elephant spots a tiger during morning safaris, costs 200 per head for getting a glimpse of the big cat. Not a very thrilling way of spotting a tiger but sometimes you can get excellent views, like in our day first few Jeeps got an excellent view of the cat with a kill in open space and then saw her pulling the kill to cross the road to go to a bushy area. Also she was accompanied by her 4 cubs of 2/3 months old, a sight to remember for lifetime, I have seen couple of snaps from them and they are awesome!! Later on the sighting was not that interesting, neither people could spot the cubs. So it’s all about your luck and the timing when your turn would come. But I have seen tiger shows running in Bandhavgarh, Kanha and Pench whenever they could spot a tiger.

Pench stay was really memorable as it was not that touristy like its big brothers Kanha and Bandhavgarh and we got a guide like Ajay who made it more pleasant. He arranged for an Innova to drop us at Nagpur airport for Rs.2200 on next day. The people who travels from Kolkata might end the trip via Nagpur as the Indigo flight connecting Nagpur Kolkata had a good timing, (5.30pm from Nagpur) would allow you to take even morning safari at Pench and then dinner back home at Kolkata. If you book well in advance, the sector offers a very competitive fare and that makes this 1.5 hours journey quite affordable too.

Previous: Magical MP – Bhedaghat and Panchmarhi Part-1

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Magical MP – Bhedaghat and Panchmarhi Part-1

June 2, 2014June 3, 2014 by Kaushik

With an awesome experience from Kanha we gone ahead with a break from forest again and heading for Bhedaghat via Mandla and Jabalpur. The few stretches between Mandla and Jabalpur was not that good, our first experience with bad roads in MP. But otherwise journey was smooth and we reached MP Tourism Motel Marble Rocks on time. The location wise the hotel is strategically placed close to all tourist attractions yet keeping a nice ambience. In Jabalpur which is just 24 km away, you would find ample accommodation options but in Bhedaghat you won’t find anything better than MP Tourism hotel. In the morning we visited the Dhuadhar Falls where Narmada river is jumping as falls, brilliant for your eyes but no so for your cameras as in morning you would face the sun while taking a photograph. Also if you want to enjoy the ropeway ride that takes you on top of falls and gives a nice view of marble rock, you shouldn’t try it before 10.00am as that’s when the ropeway service starts.

Enjoyed the falls to its best and then in the afternoon took the boat ride in Marble Rocks. If you take a local council operated share boat, cost is nominal around Rs.20 per head but getting a separate small boat and going little further than designated mark is well worth of your money. The marble rock is also affected by pollution and to see the actual white marbles, you need to go further towards the Falls now a days. This is one of the best of natural wonders I have ever seen in my life. The boating usually runs from 7.30am to evening till sun set and for full moon and a day before and after that, it runs in evening time as well. Surely would be costlier but probably something one shouldn’t miss. The Marble Rocks where Narmada flows through a deep canyon with marbles on both side of it would hardly be 5km of length where boat ride is allowed only for around 2 kms but still it would be an amazing experience of lifetime. I took again the same boat ride in morning 7.30 and preferred the morning journey more as that’s when you would get a better ambience as no tourist would be there, in morning time usually wind speed is low and you get some awesome reflection of marble rocks in Narmada. If you are a lover of old monuments and don’t mind taking up 150 odd stares, Chushat Yogini Temple is also a must see for you.

On the way to Pachmarhi we gone to Bargi Dam as well and impressed with the MP Tourism property there, the best we have seen among all MPT properties for sure. Location, ambience, cost, in all aspect staying a night here is recommended unless you mind having Veg Food. Had we been staying here, would surely enjoy an amazing sunrise and sunset on the backdrop of Bargi Dam, still enjoyed the speed boat ride, you can take paddle boats, water scooter as well apart from the nice ride in MPT vessels that takes you to sunset cruise in Bargi Lake if it gets sufficient number of tourists. We had a lunch here in MPT and then started our journey for Pachmarhi via Shahpura, Narsimhapur and Pipariya. Another 300km journey with mostly good to excellent roads can be covered easily in 6 hours with breaks.

Pachmarhi, we all know the hill station of MP, an excellent place but must be avoided during Shivaratri and Nag Panchami. I have earlier visited Pachmarhi and fascinated by its charm but with a festival in card and with lots of crowd, it lost its serenity. Pachmarhi has 9 MPT properties to choose from depending on your budget and the place actually is a trekker’s paradise. You need to spend 3/4 days at least to do justice to this place and its attractions.

Previous: Magical MP – Kanha

Next: Magical MP – Panchmarhi Part-2 and Pench

Magical MP – Kanha

June 2, 2014June 3, 2014 by Kaushik

After a break of 2 days from Forest, we were ready to head to Kanha, it was once again an excellent stretch of road through Dindori-Mandla-Kanha. We booked accommodation in Kanha FRH at Khatia Gate. In this end there are 2 gates, Khatia and Kisli (couple of km further towards forest), earlier the safari used to start from Kisli but as park is being expanded, now the safaris start from Khatia Gate itself. In Kisli (which is by now within park) only available accommodation is with MP Tourism. MP Tourism is allotted land now outside Khatia Gate and they are in process of moving the Guest House out of the park boundary. In Khatia gate, you would have lots of accommodation options are various range but FRH is excellent location wise as that’s closest to park gate. The Park has three zones, Kanha is the most favored among tourists, Mukki comes next and the least visited zone is Sarhi. A local guide told me, the road through the park from Kanha to Mukki or the reverse way can be traveled by paying entry fees of both gates in 3 specific days of week, haven’t verified that information with forest department, but I am pretty sure, it would be a great jungle drive from kanha to mukki if at all allowed by forest department. Kanha gate is more accessible from Jabalpur (Northern) end and Mukki is better approachable from south side. Nearest rail head to Mukki is Rajnandgaon on Kolkata – Mumbai via Nagpur section. Kanha FRH is having options of 2 types of Air Cooled Rooms, newer costs 500 and older 400 per day. I have taken the newer ones and would say they are extreme value for money. The food cost in all the FRH are same, they charge you flat Rs.100/- per meal per person for standard veg meal including eggs. You can expect to pay more for a Non Veg dish, quantity is unlimited, as much as you can eat. The food was good in both Bandhavgarh and Kanha FRH. The forest rates are same as Bandhavgarh except the Jeep Charges. Here for Morning safaris (between 6.15am to 12.00noon, though people usually leave by 11.00am) Jeep rate is 1500 and for evening (3.15pm to 6.15pm) it is 1000. Now again you could manage it by Rs.2000 for both the safaris in a day if you can bargain. Options are plenty to choose from. But once again as you can’t choose your guide here, choosing an expert driver helps. I took the service of Imrat, who is having around 20 yrs experience in Kanha and he was brilliant. His younger brother Sadan Yadav is a guide there and he was my point of contact in Kanha like Mukesh in Bandhavgarh. Imrat can himself be a guide as well as he knows almost all mammals and birds there and in my trip to B’garh, Pench and Kanha I didn’t find anyone better than him to understand tiger tracking. Here though we have seen tiger twice in our 3 safaris but from quite a distance unlike what we have seen in Bandhavgarh. Also due to vastness of park it is more difficult to spot a tiger here than Bandhavgarh. But still we enjoyed it more here as the charm of tracking the big cat in an absolute wilderness like Kanha with an experienced tracker is something you should have to feel. He understands the movement so well and we were in true sense running behind it, the hide and seek game it was playing with us, the start and sudden stop of alarm calls, change in call direction, running towards that end, understanding and guessing its movement all adds more thrill to the experience. Kanha tested our patience and it was really an effort that is worth spending to gain this experience.

As a forest, I liked it most in comparison to others just because of the vastness and varieties of landscapes it offers. Kanha surely deserves at least a week from any wild life lover, I would say. Guide told us there are some 200 odd routes available for safaris in Kanha. (in comparison to 4 to 6 routes in Bandhavgarh/Pench).

We have seen what all we have seen in Bandhavgarh and in addition to that we have seen the Indian Gaur (few call it as bison too, though they are completely different) and Barasingha. This rare species of deer family is Kanha’s main attraction and you would see them in herds here. They are simply amazing. We had also a very close encounter with couple of wild dogs here whose sightings are rare too. This year MP Forest department took 19 Gaurs from Kanha and placed them in Bandhavgarh in a protected zone, may be from next year onwards you may see them in Bandhavgarh as well.

Previous: Magical MP – Amarkantak

Next: Magical MP – Bhedaghat and Panchmarhi Part-1

Magical MP – Amarkantak

June 2, 2014June 3, 2014 by Kaushik

It was time to fix a car for 10 days to travel for rest of the trip and we have found even the caretakers in FRH were trying the play the middleman’s role in this regard. The Car is again a bargain, we got some nice deals especially with Tavera where almost 1700km travel and 10 nights were negotiated at flat 18000, but later decided to go for an Innova as that suits our need better and the driver cum owner Dinesh Namdeo was turned out to be a nice person. We paid around 23K all inclusive for 10 days for this car which was really in good condition and that was much more than what MP Tourism quoted us for same itinerary which was close to 30K including their 10% service charge for an Innova. Unless you are very hard pressed for time, there was no point in getting cars from MP Tourism, neither you should take the safari arrangements from them. They just book a private Jeep/Car for you which you yourself could do in a better rate and on top of that would charge you 10% extra as service charge.

We took Umaria-Shapura-Dindori-Amarkantak around 220km in an extremely good road averaging almost 90kmph.Except in some stretches between Mandla and Jabalpur everywhere the road condition was simply superb.

Amarkantak is a temple town with lots of temples around it and the place from where 2 major Indian rivers Son and Narmada originates. It’s scenic as well with hills, waterfalls and nice landscapes that you can enjoy. The 8th century temples are simply brilliant. MP Tourism here is the only good accommodation option though with not so good food.

Previous: Magical MP – Bandhavgarh

Next: Magical MP – Kanha

Magical MP – Bandhavgarh

June 2, 2014June 3, 2014 by Kaushik

This trip was planned earlier and then cancelled for some personal problems and this is not the first time, consecutive three attempts to MP failed because of some reasons or others, so I was really skeptic if I could ever make it. After Lahaul/Spiti and more desolate Eastern Arunachal, this was more of a relaxed vacation for us where we don’t have to carry dry foods or tons of medicines, neither we were depending on Govt CH with lots of uncertainties nor we were venturing into a territory with no communication but still it turned out to be quite eventful for many reasons.

We started from Kolkata by Mumbai Mail via Allahabad, a train which was not only up to the mark in terms of cleanliness (talking about AC- II) but also started running late from the very beginning. It started an hour late and kept running late and finally we reached Katni around 7.30pm where as schedule time was 4.20pm. As we have our reservation there in Tala FRH, Bandhavgarh, we had to hurry for our onward journey. The Bolero was taken for Rs.1400/- for a drop to Tala FRH from Katni and driver told it would be 2.5 hours drive from Katni, we estimated it much lower and immediately took a decision to buy our dinner from Katni as we didn’t expect FRH people to entertain us with foods at 11.00pm. So ultimately we started around 8.30pm from Katni, the road was excellent, ambience too, it’s a full moon night and we were cruising around almost 80kmph, after midway, I observed the headlight was getting dimmer, asked the driver, he said nothing, carry on further and suddenly around 15km before Tala, at the T-Junction where the road from Katni, Umaria and Tala meets, car refused to go any further, engine stopped completely. We had Vodafone, Airtel and BSNL and none had towers there, after repeated try driver called up the owner and complained the battery had completely drained out and requested owner to arrange some alternatives from Tala. It was an ugly mess, we were almost inside a forest region with no one in sight, with kid it was a pathetic experience and quite bone chilling when we didn’t find a single vehicle after waiting for 15mins. We didn’t have FRH Number to inform them on our status, then all of a sudden like a lifeline a mini bus came after attending a marriage nearby, it was not going to Tala but looking at our condition, the driver agreed to drop us those 15km for Rs.500/- Obviously we were not in a position to bargain even and when boarded the bus we still were not confident that we could reach those 15km, road got extremely bad couple of km before Tala and it was dense forest at both side but the full moon night was simply awesome, though we were not in a position to enjoy that. The bus finally dropped us around 11.15pm at Tala FRH, it’s the first accommodation when you enter Tala from Katni side. We relieved to see the Caretaker still awake then and got our rooms. The rooms are quite good for Rs. 500/- I must say and best part of MP Forest RH is they take money in advance (Through DD) and send booking confirmation either electronically or by courier. So you won’t be uncertain like other FRH in various states where your reservation might get cancelled in case of VIP Arrivals.

We were extremely tired and straight away had our dinner that we bought in Katni and gone to bed. Next morning we didn’t keep any Safari apprehending the tiredness of such a long journey and it turned out to be a boon. We slept till 8.00 in the morning and then got up and had a great breakfast there. The FRH location is brilliant; it’s far away from noise of Tala and had a large campus with very good arrangement of food and of course the value for money rooms. I have spoken to many resorts in Tala and all were quite expensive in the tune of Rs.2000 and try to include everything naming as Jungle Plan (that includes food, accommodation and Safari Costs) by increasing the cost even more. Our rooms in FRH had Air coolers, AC Rooms costs more around 3000/- in FRH but they are quite specious I would say. I was in touch with Mukesh Burman, a well known local of Tala and quite a knowledgeable and experienced guide there. Unfortunately he was suffering from Typhoid and couldn’t accompany us but made every attempts to make our Safaris as pleasant as possible. In Bandhavgarh for Tala zone 35 Jeeps are allowed where as in Magadhi zone they allow 66 vehicles. But tickets of Tala (Zone1) would always be sold off completely and don’t expect to get a safari ticket on spot there unless you pre-book it though your agent or by yourself in https://www.mponline.gov.in/Portal/Services/Forest/Search.aspx Magadhi zone tickets would be available but people say tiger spotting (the main attraction of Bandhavgarh) in Magadhi is not that common as it is in Tala. Rest two zone, Khitauli and Panpatha, probably have very few visitors. Now in Tala almost 160 Jeeps are operational but as only at most 100 (including Tala and Magdhi) are allowed, it’s a bargain game for you. You would listen to many things like 1500/- is the standard charge fixed by Union but just stick to your ground and use your bargain skill and surely you would be able to negotiate it in a better rate. I got it @1000 per safari.

Usually once you decide the Gypsy, the driver would take the tickets (that you have pre-booked) from you and would get it verified in next morning and pay the guide charge and you would be ready to enter the park. In Bandhavgarh you can choose your guide where as in Kanha and Pench the guide would be allowed in sequence and you have to take who ever would be allotted. In Pench there is a work around where you can choose your guide out of turn by paying additional Rs.200 to the guide who was initially allotted (Total Guide cost would be Rs.400 then) but in Kanha I didn’t find anyway to get the guide I want. Guides do matter specially for first timers as an experienced guide can tell you in details on park and its flora and fauna. Also they have tremendous sense of judging the movements of big cats, understanding the alarm calls and behaviors of other animals and also they would keep telling you some interesting stories about the park. I’m sure a good guide can make difference in your experience.

Back to the park, Bandhavgarh and Pench are almost same size and much smaller to the size and varieties in comparison to Kanha. In Bandhavgarh for Zone1, there are 4 specific routes, A, B, C and D and you would be getting 2 out of them in random, since park opening in Oct 2010, route A is closed for visitors, so only available routes in Zone1 are B, C and D. We got C/D in evening safari of first day. Evening safaris were scheduled to start around 3.00pm and it goes till 6.00pm the sunset time. It was cloudy day and we started our first safari with few birds, storks, and herds of spotted deer. In 5 to 7 minutes after starting the journey, the guide suddenly asked us to be silent, he spoken to the driver in some local accent which I didn’t understand much but the way jeep started running after that, we understood something is going to happen. Slowly we understood in subsequent safaris the alarm calls of Sambar/Spotted Deer and the movements of Langurs nearby and how these guys actually zero in then the possible movement of Big Cats by considering where they seen the cat last and many other factors like if it killed any last night, if it is accompanied by cubs etc. This is really an interesting aspect and you would surely enjoy the moment you would start understanding the underlying principles. Soon the driver also heard something and press the sudden break to halt the Jeep and then started the waiting, we were trying to look here and there but didn’t understand what’s going to happen. Within few moments another three Jeeps came from behind and stopped there, hardly 2/3 mins of waiting and then the unbelievable scene, it was barely 10 ft from me, suddenly it appeared royally from the bush beside us and crossed the road without even caring that 5 odd Jeeps and at least 30 odd people were watching holding their breaths. Its absolute silence and only the sound of relentless number of shutter clicks, not sure how many actually seen it in naked eyes as when I took off my eyes from Camera, I saw all were watching through their lenses only. Actually I was so engrossed with my 300mm lens, I would have completely missed the opportunity to take snaps with some other perspectives, like the first one below, with Jeeps in background it shows how close we have seen it, Thanks for my friend Arindam for taking this snap and sharing with us. But 10 minutes within the first safari, the dream was coming true, it was an unbelievable feeling, difficult to express, the way it walks past us clearly shows the royal arrogance. We were so awe struck, for next 10/15 minutes we were not speaking normally among ourselves, we couldn’t believe that we have seen tiger from so close.

Bandhavgarh at its Best (The First snap credit goes to my friend Arindam):

Rest of the evening was not that eventful, mainly because all of a sudden it started raining and our driver forgot to carry the plastic they use during rain and you can understand how we spent the rest 2.5 hours in relentless rain sitting in an open Jeep.

Next day morning safari was at 6.30am and we had to start around 5.45am after the last evening rain, it was very cold, morning safaris are really a different feelings when you could see the forest is coming into its life with sun, the wild boars, herds of deer in light and shade were awesome, the light was so low, no point in trying anything with camera, specially with slow lenses, so enjoying the forest and feeling it is the only thing that one can do to his or her best during this early hours. The sun rise in the rocky terrain is gorgeous and beyond any word to express. We have seen lots of birds and peacocks (mainly in route B), sambars, spotted deer, jackals and langurs.

In evening safari we have experienced a great sun set on the backdrop of Bandhavgarh Fort, which again needs proper planning to visit as only 4 cars are allowed per day, 2 during morning safari and 2 between 11am to 2pm. This ride can’t be booked online, you need to buy the tickets on spot if available. Some amount of trekking is involved as vehicles no longer are permitted to go till top because of environmental degradation.

Next: Magical MP – Amarkantak

Arunachal Far East – Dibang Valley, Walong, Kibithu and Namdapha – Part-3

June 2, 2014June 3, 2014 by Kaushik

3rd January:

Brilliant day with a great sun shine started, we planned to walk to 20th Mile through MV Road (Deban is in 17th Mile). The 3 miles walk took almost 2 hours as the road was not even walkable. But it was a nice experience walking through that road and seen Lizu tribes of Vijaynagar (Undoubtedly one of the remotest corners of India) are walking through the roads after buying their rations from Miao. They said the walk is of 14 days if they follow the road, they usually take shortcuts by crossing NoaDihing River that flows through Namdapha and climbing mountain but still that takes 6 days of walking. They build makeshift camps in the forest to spend night and again start walking in the morning. Surprising to even think how many faces India really is having. I found even a 4 year old kid is walking with them and would walk up to Vijaynagar. From 20th Mile you can get good views of Daphabum, the highest peak in Namdapha in a clear day. Evening was spent with the Forest dept people there making a camp fire and watching stars and listening to the flows of the river below. Wonderful experience and I have never experienced so much remoteness in any forest in my life.

On MV Road Trekking to 20th Mile:

Lizu tribes take their daily commodities from Miao:

Bridge made by Lizu on Noa Dihing:

Lizu girl of 4 years, she too walks for 8 days through dense rain forest:

Deban Forest Rest House:

Tourist Hut in Deban:

4th January:

We initially planned to trek into the forest up to Haldibari but then forest people advised us not to go with a kid of 5 years as this year because of heavy monsoon, we had to cross 2 water streams to reach there and both are having knee deep water for an adult and having difficult turbulence and slippery rocks below. Also leach guard is mandatory to go there and getting a leach guard of kid’s size is impossible. So we decided to cross Noa Dihing and visit the Chakma Village on other side of the river and also considering next day’s plan we decided to leave in the afternoon rather than staying that night at Deban. Chakma Village is very nice and clean, had thatched house fitted with Direct To Home connection, a nice fusion of tradition and contemporary. They do farming for their livelihood. Around 2.00pm in afternoon after having lunch, we started our return journey to Miao and this time with ample daylight and much drier road after 2 days of bright sun, the MV Road didn’t seem to be as bad as we experienced when coming. Still the car could get stuck anytime and we found a Scorpio stuck in between and we all helped to get it out of the mud. Reached Miao in evening and stayed in Eco Tourist Lodge in Miao, another Forest IB, presently run by a NGO. The accommodation was nice and clean, food was not that good though.

Himalayan Giant Squirrel:

Boatman of Forest Department:

Chakma Village on other side of Noa Dihing:

Butterfly:

Chakma Girl plucking Red Chilies:

Butterfly:

Picturesque Chakma Village:

Chakma Boys:

Pagoda style Buddha Bihar in Chakma Village:

Noa Dihing flows through Namdapha National Park:

Driving through the River, that’s how drive in Arunachal means:

5th January:

We started early and gone to experience the Ropeway in Miao, that’s being used by local to cross Noa Dihing. This was one of the oldest ropeways built in 1975, developed and still maintained by Oil India Limited. Those who visit Miao must experience this as the view from the ropeway is awesome. It starts at 9.00am and runs till 4.00pm. We reached around 8.00am and requested them to give us a ride; the person was kind enough to start it at 8.30am on our request. One way crossing takes 7 mins and after having a good 15mins ride, we started our onward journey towards historic Stilwell Road. From Jagun we diverted left towards Jairampur. Jairampur is having the check gate to enter ILP. Soon after we faced first army check post where we have to show the special permit to visit the Pangsau Pass as given by ADC, Jairampur before they let us go. We visited on the way the second world war Cemetery towards Nampong (Nampong to Jairampur is 17 km and Jairampur to Jagun is 10km). Nampong is last Indian village on this road towards Burma where Burmese people come to shop on 2 specific days of month (15th and 30th). After crossing Nampong again we were stopped by army in another check post. Here even after showing the permit, they spoken to their higher authority and after 15mins we got the go ahead and we were told that on the way army would escort us to border to show us the border stones and then would escort us back again. We faced one land slide in between, waited for 30mins to get it cleared by BRO and then suddenly we saw the much sought after mile stone written as Pangsu Pass, we noticed on other side another stone showing “Union of Myanmar” but still couldn’t believe we reached the border. The roads suddenly got deteriorated but we kept continued and after 2 km we understood the mistake when faced by Burmese Police. We realized we crossed the international border with a car without any valid papers, it could be much worse, fortunately the Burmese Police were kind enough, we even clicked a few snaps with them, they didn’t understand any language we are aware of and then when we are coming back, we encountered Indian Army, the post we didn’t notice at all while going. They asked why we went alone without army escort and also enquired exactly how far we gone, we realized any silly answer would make our condition worse, we started showing some place pointing our fingers and saying “Till there” and we apologized for going there without taking army escort but it was really not intentional, though proved good for us finally for a 2km to and fro drive in Burma that was impossible if Army would have escorted us. By the time we were returning it was communicated all through Indian Posts that a red colored Bolero gone towards border unescorted and everywhere we had to explain the same thing repeatedly. We were back to Jagun by 2.30pm much relieved after experiencing the Stilwell Road and the much sought after Pangsu Pass. It was really amazing to even think how this 1736km road was built in flat two years negotiating such a hostile terrain of mountains and dense rain forests cutting across 3 countries from Ledo in Assam Plane to Kunming in China through Myanmar. After Jairampur road was superb and we drove fast till Digboi, in between touching Ledo station, the easternmost operational railway station of India. Digboi was famous for many first especially considering the fact; it was the place where crude oil was discovered in 1889, first in the eastern part of Suez Canal. So in that sense it’s first oil well discovered in Asia. A visit to the centenary Oil Museum there, is really good way to get yourself educated on Digboi and Oil industry. We liked the place and Digboi is very clean town. Finally we reached Tinsukia as checked into the same hotel again where we started our trip.

Noa Dihing from Ropeway:

Scenic Road to Jairampur:

Drive through Stilwell Road:

Historic Stilwell Road enters Myanmar here, the gate is closed (Its a closed border):

Myanmar Starts while India ends here:

Historic Pangsu Pass known as Hell Pass during Second World War:

Nampong Town, last Indian town on Stilwell Road:

Second World War Cemetery:

Eastern Most Rail Station of India since Lekhapani Rail Station was closed in 1993:

Previous: Arunachal Far East – Dibang Valley, Walong, Kibithu and Namdapha – Part-2

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Arunachal Far East – Dibang Valley, Walong, Kibithu and Namdapha – Part-2

June 2, 2014June 3, 2014 by Kaushik

31st December:

Started from Walong at 7.00am as we had to explore the area before heading for Hawai to stay the night. Gone to Kibithu, famous as it’s known as “East of North East” crossing the most panoramic part of the whole journey. The road from Walong to Kibithu would make you remember of Kashmir Valley specially the road to Pahelgaon. Crossed Namti Valley where the fiercest battle of 1962 was fought by Indian Army but when you would be crossing these area, you would be more amazed by the beauty of nature than the memory of war though the whole region has several battle monuments for the martyr of 1962 war. We reached Kibithu (24km from Walong) around 9.00am and found the helipad is now restricted for civilians. We visited the ITBP Camp there and from there we could clearly see the Chinese Camps in other side of border. Photography is strictly prohibited in whole area especially towards to Border. Only phone in the camp was down and we got a chance to chat with couple of ITBP people who were really frustrated for not being to able to even talk to their family and wish them in new year, what a hard job these guys do and its because of them we are celebrating our holidays, I was just enquiring about the exact tri-junction border between India-Myanmar-China and they said its still almost 85km from there (out of which around 20km is motorable up to Dechu) and they regularly goes for patrolling the area by foot, the forest is so dense, they can’t even use horse/donkey to take the ration, one side trek takes around 8 days from Kibithu. No further roads can be built as the border region here is disputed and China doesn’t agree to McMahon line here. We gone towards Dechu through another road through Mesai Bridge and Kaho that is written as “Eastern Most Road of India” but just before Dechu was stopped by Army and they told no civilians are permitted beyond Dechu, the last habitable place closest to Border. From a place nearby, with the help of Indian Army we gone up to a hill and through their telescopic lens we could clearly see the Chinese Army movement in other side of the border as well. They said the border is completely peaceful for last 2 years but both sides’ army patrols there 24 hours, I couldn’t even imagine how difficult it would be to spend night after night in open air looking through Night Vision Telescope towards the border but that’s what Army do for us every single day and night. This road to Dechu is fearsome, on one side its steep rock gone up and other side deep gorge straight down to Lohit River. We started around 11.45 from here our return journey and on the way back stopped near hot springs of Walong where you could touch the Lohit River, awesome place and a new circuit house is being built here, locals are even catching fishes in the cold water of Lohit, God only knows how anything can live in such a cold water. The hot spring is nice and you can take a nice bath if you plan for it. We reached circuit house in Hawai around 3.45pm in the evening and in December, in that region, it gets dark by 4.15pm. The Hawai is the district Head Quarter of Anjaw though the town is being built and still DC/ADC of Anjaw usually works from Hayuliang and Tezu (District HQ of Lohit). The circuit House is brand new and the best I stayed in my life. The persons are very friendly and we had a great time there but Hawai is probably located higher than Hayuliang and Walong and we felt the worst cold here. Had a nice dinner, only issue is I had to take bath at 4.00am in morning as power goes daily between 5.00am to 9.00am there and you won’t get any hot water in between.

Namti Valley carries the history of 1962 Sino-Indian War:

Kibithu – East of North East:

Postcard from Anjaw:

The hill on far side is in China:

Picturesque Lohit:

Awesome Anjaw:

Close to Heaven:

Road to Eastern Most part of India:

Close up Lohit:

Walong Valley:

War Memorial at Walong:

1st January:

It was such a serene place, we didn’t even realize it was a new year morning, the weather doesn’t look promising as the WD that lashed Western Himalayas on 29th/30th Dec, by that time about to arrive Arunachal. I was aware of that and without wasting any time my first objective was to come down from hill before the rain starts. As weather was gloomy and it was a return journey, photo stops were very limited and we took a heavy breakfast, so we tried to come down as fast as we could without stopping for any lunch break, weather was slowly turning bad to worse and slight rain started when we crossed Hayuliang. Crossed Y-Junction at 3.00pm(Started from Hawai around 10.00am) and reached Parsuram Kund around 3.30pm (16km from Y Junction). Took a brief stop but weather was turning worse, rain was getting heavier, we didn’t waste anymore time and crossed Wakro around 4.30pm (It’s completely dark by that time and rain started quite heavily). There is a road to Deban (In Namdapha) from here only 50km and shortest if someone wants to reach Namdapha from here. But from there, you can’t take your car to other side as there was no ferry service to take your car, so if you could arrange another car ready in other side of river and get your forest permit ready (that needs to be collected from Miao) you could save almost 150km to reach Namdapha and that is translated to saving a whole day in Arunachal. We crossed Wakro and reached Medo (21km from Wakro) where we planned to stay in a Forest Dept IB inside a Tea garden that is presently being managed privately. It was an excellent stay and with heavy rains outside, power gone off, the ambience seems to be brilliant but I couldn’t feel the romance at all as I knew I had to cross the deadly Miao-Vijaynagar Road on next day and this rain could make the road worse than hell. Pana, the caretaker was a Bengali guy, cooked Chicken for us and the dinner was excellent. Next day morning we discovered the place was even more brilliant than we thought of and repented of not staying there for one more day.

The Road follows Lohit:

Parsuram Kund Bridge where Hill Meets Plane:

Parsuram Kund Bridge:

2nd January:

I have got up several times at night and every time heard it was raining heavily, so tried to checkout several plans for next day, There are 4 ways you could reach Namdapha from Medo.

a. Through Wakro-Deban – Shortest but none could tell me how the road is from Deban to Miao through other side of Noa Dihing, so couldn’t take chance here after heavy rain.

b. Through Namsai-Dayun-Phup Village and crossing ferry to Miao – The 2nd best option but again people couldn’t tell how the Namsai-Dayun stretch is and how the approach to ferry specially after heavy rain. Sometimes it might get difficult to take your car up to ferry after heavy rain unless the approach road is good. Also the other issue that made me thinking was if I took this road, I couldn’t enter my ILP in Namchik gate that is used to enter Miao and while returning that might create trouble.

c. Coming back all the way towards Tinsukia and through Makum-Digboi-Margarita to Miao – Longest and would cost you almost 125 extra km and huge time and I couldn’t reach Deban on same day.

d. Namsai – Bordumsa – Jagun Ghat – Crossing ferry on Namchik River and to Miao: This sounds best to me as I had first hand information on Jagun Ghat and also I could enter through Namchik Gate to avoid any harassment later on. The road was somewhere good, somewhere medium and somewhere very bad.

I started from Medo at 9.30am (which was pretty late considering my days plan) and visited Buddhist temple in Chowkham and Tengapani, excellent architecture and different from other Buddhist Temples in India in terms of the structure, you would find sound resemblance with Pagoda style of Myanmar and Thailand here. Finally I paid Rs.100/- all inclusive this time to cross a 2 min ferry ride with car to reach Jagun and from there to Miao via Kharsang (104km Medo to Miao through this route) at 3.15pm. As it was a Sunday, I had to waste some more time as we need to collect Namdapha Forest Entry Permit and Deban Forest RH Booking Permit from the forest Conservator Miao and being a holiday I had to call him and get it collected from his home. Finally we started at 3.45pm and hit the dreaded MV Road (Miao Vijaynagar Road) soon. MV Road was built in 1970s and soon left unattended as maintenance was extremely difficult in soft mud hilly terrain and dense rain forest. The whole stretch is 157km and only 25km up to Deban is still motorable and that too was closed for whole 2010 since a big landslide hit early this year. Governor of Arunachal tried reaching the place in August but had to come back in between and he then promised to come back at December end again. For him we heard the road became motorable few days back again up to Deban but when we gone after the rain, we found it’s only advisable with a 4X4 here. The road going through river bed and in dark if you don’t know it’s difficult to follow the correct road even. The roads inside the rain forest doesn’t get light even in morning, so around 4.30 we were driving almost in dark, in many places the mud was touching the foot board of Bolero. Suddenly we got a cracking a sound and discovered the front left wheel gone inside a trench on the side of the road which was completely covered by grass. We didn’t have much to do than to pray as only option was to lift the car from there which was impossible for 2/3 persons. Being 1st Jan, we found almost a God sent Picnic party returning from Deban and almost 25 people tried their best for 10 minutes to get the car out of the ditch. We started proceeding further in complete darkness now even more shattered after the earlier incident and crossing every single km seems like crossing a hundred km. It was never ending road, we got stuck in one more place where I don’t know how I could able to push the car from mud touching the underbelly of the car. Then in final twist we crossed the mark of Forest RH in left and kept moving through un-motorable stretch of MV Road. We were lucky as one PWD Camp was there barely a km ahead and they showed us the right way. We finally reached the FRH at 5.45pm but would never forget the experience of driving through that 25km. Mainly because of Governor’s initiative PWD started working again on the MV Road to make it motorable up to Vijaynagar and a few bulldozers were airlifted to Vijaynagar and started working on the road from both side. As per Governor’s wish, he wants to hoist National Flag on 26th January but I have real doubt if that dream would ever be met at least on 26th Jan of 2011. We had given accommodation in tourist hut as FRH was being prepared for Governor’s visit but the rooms in FRH were much better than the Tourist Huts. We had our dinner and gone to bed as soon as possible as solar light there gone off in 2/3 hours and we were extremely tired after a long day.

Tea Gardens at Medo

Tengapani Buddhist Temple inspired by Myanmar Pagoda Style:

Lord Buddha:

Crossing Namchik River to Jagun on the way to Namdapha:

Entering Namdapha National Park:

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