Monday, January 25, 2010
An account of my recent trip to uttarakhand, more specificallyto the kumaon region.
I did not once get bored nor did i even remember my home once in the 9 days i was in kumaon which normally happens on trips after just 3 or 4 days.
We started from kathgodam early in the morning in the bitter cold. Some time later the sky started changing it's colours from black tpink to orange to green and the sky were so clear and hazeless. The early morning journey was simply great with the kosi river flowing by. After almora the landscape changed and soon we were into some thick forests. The views were also great with the soft morning sunlight on the peaks.
1.Binsar village- Katdhara-At the Binsar KMVN Harish Jeena had come to pick us up. Soon we left for his village -Katdhara which is in the sanctuary limits. The walk through the oak and chir forests actually refreshened us up. The views from katdhara were great. The entire range from nandaghunti to nepal was visible. We were served a tasty kumaoni lunch of masur dal andsome local greean vegetable. The afternoon was spent wandering through the woods and sunset was from their terrace which has excellent views. Again dinner was a delicious fare with mandua roti,ghutka alu,gahat dal etc. We were given gas heaters and anghitis(or whatever that is called) to warm us up. The next morning was greeted to us by a wonderful sunrise followed by a breakfast of parathas and bhang chutney.
The only problem was that there was no electricity but they are trying to get more solar lamps shortly. But anyway we didn't "miss" electricity as such save for charging batteries of our cameras.
Gaunap village The walk to gaunap was a very unique one because the forests were really lush unlike the chir forests elsewhere. Gaunap like Katdhara was a typical kumaoni village with bright green terraced fields and white houses. The homestay of Sunder Singh was a comfortable one and had some electricity. Only thing was that we had to walk up to the village temple some 5 mins away to get a panoramic view- even the garhwal peaks were visible from here. There was a lot of birding to do here, a lot of good homely food to be taken ,a lot of silence to absorbed and plenty of peaks to gaze at. We were lucky to see a full moon rise behind the peaks on one day. Sunder Singh and his family took good care of us.
KMVN Binsar The climb from gaunap to KMVN was a long,tiresome one with continuous ascent. You should go for it only if you are reasonably fit. Otherwise it's better to walk to dhaulchinna and then take a taxi from there.
The views from the terrace were unmatched, they were better than those at the viewpoint also. The sunset was absolutely great from the terrace and so was the sunrise. The layers and mountains before the peaks and the mist that covered them and also changed it's colour from red to yellow and finally to white was breathtaking. Food at the KMVN was good but we had been so pampered by the homely food at the homestays that we found freshness missing in their food.
MO views from binsar are the best followed by the views from gaunap temple and katdhara. But the forests near gaunap and katdhara made up for that. So one can stay for a day at each to enjoy all the parts.
Chaukori The drive to Chaukori was a pleasant one. The road till dhaulchinna bad but the forests made up for that. We stopped at HillView to have more of Kumaoni stuff but it was no big deal after having homemade kumaoni food. The drive till berinag was full of terraced fields,green rivers and plenty of oak and chir forests and most importantly no traffic...surely not to be missed.We reached Chaukori by sunset. Views from chaukori are totally different from what we had seen earlier- very close viewsof the panchchuli and a different angle of the trishul and nandaghunti. But you have go to the tea estates or near the bungalow for uninterrupted views.
The next morning surprised us with cloudy weather. So we decided to go to Patal Bhubaneshwar. I won't describe PB as one has to experience it. The drive was also great. We had a great lunch at a dhaba next to the PB entrance. It started raining by the time we reached and it continued till late in the night.
The next morning was somethhing i can never forget. We were above a layer of clouds and the emerging through it was a sight such that i thanked Fate i was there at Chaukori on that day. All the peaks also looked brilliant with light clouds and jet streams all over them. Please everyone if you happen to experience rain in chaukori extend you stay by a day more and do get up early in the morning.
Lunch was at a dhaba right infront of KMVN. Way better than the boring stuff at KMVN. The only thing worth eating at KMVN is pakodas.
The return journey was quite uneventful till we accidently saw a leopard swimming in the Kosi waters near bhowali. That actually made my trip. We reached Kathgodam by 5pm and dinner was at Udupiwala which served south indian food better than any i had had in south india. Thus we ended our trip promising to back..
I did not once get bored nor did i even remember my home once in the 9 days i was in kumaon which normally happens on trips after just 3 or 4 days.
We started from kathgodam early in the morning in the bitter cold. Some time later the sky started changing it's colours from black tpink to orange to green and the sky were so clear and hazeless. The early morning journey was simply great with the kosi river flowing by. After almora the landscape changed and soon we were into some thick forests. The views were also great with the soft morning sunlight on the peaks.
1.Binsar village- Katdhara-At the Binsar KMVN Harish Jeena had come to pick us up. Soon we left for his village -Katdhara which is in the sanctuary limits. The walk through the oak and chir forests actually refreshened us up. The views from katdhara were great. The entire range from nandaghunti to nepal was visible. We were served a tasty kumaoni lunch of masur dal andsome local greean vegetable. The afternoon was spent wandering through the woods and sunset was from their terrace which has excellent views. Again dinner was a delicious fare with mandua roti,ghutka alu,gahat dal etc. We were given gas heaters and anghitis(or whatever that is called) to warm us up. The next morning was greeted to us by a wonderful sunrise followed by a breakfast of parathas and bhang chutney.
The only problem was that there was no electricity but they are trying to get more solar lamps shortly. But anyway we didn't "miss" electricity as such save for charging batteries of our cameras.
Gaunap village The walk to gaunap was a very unique one because the forests were really lush unlike the chir forests elsewhere. Gaunap like Katdhara was a typical kumaoni village with bright green terraced fields and white houses. The homestay of Sunder Singh was a comfortable one and had some electricity. Only thing was that we had to walk up to the village temple some 5 mins away to get a panoramic view- even the garhwal peaks were visible from here. There was a lot of birding to do here, a lot of good homely food to be taken ,a lot of silence to absorbed and plenty of peaks to gaze at. We were lucky to see a full moon rise behind the peaks on one day. Sunder Singh and his family took good care of us.
KMVN Binsar The climb from gaunap to KMVN was a long,tiresome one with continuous ascent. You should go for it only if you are reasonably fit. Otherwise it's better to walk to dhaulchinna and then take a taxi from there.
The views from the terrace were unmatched, they were better than those at the viewpoint also. The sunset was absolutely great from the terrace and so was the sunrise. The layers and mountains before the peaks and the mist that covered them and also changed it's colour from red to yellow and finally to white was breathtaking. Food at the KMVN was good but we had been so pampered by the homely food at the homestays that we found freshness missing in their food.
MO views from binsar are the best followed by the views from gaunap temple and katdhara. But the forests near gaunap and katdhara made up for that. So one can stay for a day at each to enjoy all the parts.
Chaukori The drive to Chaukori was a pleasant one. The road till dhaulchinna bad but the forests made up for that. We stopped at HillView to have more of Kumaoni stuff but it was no big deal after having homemade kumaoni food. The drive till berinag was full of terraced fields,green rivers and plenty of oak and chir forests and most importantly no traffic...surely not to be missed.We reached Chaukori by sunset. Views from chaukori are totally different from what we had seen earlier- very close viewsof the panchchuli and a different angle of the trishul and nandaghunti. But you have go to the tea estates or near the bungalow for uninterrupted views.
The next morning surprised us with cloudy weather. So we decided to go to Patal Bhubaneshwar. I won't describe PB as one has to experience it. The drive was also great. We had a great lunch at a dhaba next to the PB entrance. It started raining by the time we reached and it continued till late in the night.
The next morning was somethhing i can never forget. We were above a layer of clouds and the emerging through it was a sight such that i thanked Fate i was there at Chaukori on that day. All the peaks also looked brilliant with light clouds and jet streams all over them. Please everyone if you happen to experience rain in chaukori extend you stay by a day more and do get up early in the morning.
Lunch was at a dhaba right infront of KMVN. Way better than the boring stuff at KMVN. The only thing worth eating at KMVN is pakodas.
The return journey was quite uneventful till we accidently saw a leopard swimming in the Kosi waters near bhowali. That actually made my trip. We reached Kathgodam by 5pm and dinner was at Udupiwala which served south indian food better than any i had had in south india. Thus we ended our trip promising to back..
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