GHNP: Tirthan Valley – a brush with nature at close quarters

Brief Outline of Travel (but not cutting a long story short):

28^th May 2011 –

Journey began from Mumbai by flight to Delhi. From Delhi (majnu ka tilla) took the overnight Volvo bus to Aut (near Manali).

29^th May 2011 –

Reached Aut early morning around 6 a.m.; picked up around 7 a.m. by SUV type vehicle and taken to Sai Ropa (Nagni village) & place of stay i.e. the TroutValley hotel. Aut to Nagni was about 40-45 minutes drive. After breakfast, went on an ‘initiation’ trek to a nearby waterfall, back for lunch and night spent at Nagni.

30^th May 2011 –

Our group of 9 + a dozen odd porters & guides started from the hotel to Gushaini (1-2 kms) at about 8:30 a.m. by car. Gushaini was the starting point of our trek and at about 1500m height. Started from near the Gaada Durga temple at Gushaini for Rolla at 9:15 a.m. and reached Rolla at 3:35 p.m. covering a distance of nearly 11 kms and reaching a height of 2100m.

On the way passed Ropa, the last village where one could buy essentials & have tea / snacks; Kharongcha where we had our packed lunch at 1 pm and crossed over into the national park’s boundary beyond the ecozone area to reach the campsite at Rolla by the side of the Tirthan river. Stayed for the first time in a mobile/collapsible tent & slept in a sleeping bag.

End of Ecozone & start of the National Park

31^st May 2011 –

This day started very early having begun the trek to Shilt at 7:30 a.m. and reaching there around 12:10 p.m. after walking for 4.5 hrs covering about 6 kms on an uphill terrain to reach a height of about 3100m (~10,000 feet). Night stay was at Shilt in tents.

1^st June 2011 –

If not for the continuous rain the previous afternoon & this morning, the plan was to go to Rakhundi top. So stayed put in our tents to stay warm & dry.

While in the thought of attempting the Rakhundi top trek the next day, another trekkers group of 4, also from Mumbai, returned from an unsuccessful attempt to reach Rakhundi & beyond due to snow and rain. Trek to Rakhundi top was to be about 7 kms one way and was to be a day trek. Rakhundi top trek was then dropped after the other group’s experience & decision made to return to Rolla the next day by all including the 4.

2^nd June 2011 –

Slow trekkers like me reached Rolla around 1:20 p.m. after a slightly grueling trek down, but almost everyone having experienced some kind of fall on the way . Night spent at Rolla nursing aching legs, but good to be beside the Tirthan again.

3^rd June 2011 –

3 members of our group returned to Gushaini, but rest of us stayed. Some of us planned a trip to Tirath starting point – Chalocha, but could not do it due to broken bridges. So, just went about a km & came back by afternoon. Everyone relaxed for rest of the day playing cards, chatting & of course eating.

4^th June 2011 –

Trekked back to base Gushaini from Rolla, reaching Gushaini at about 2:50 p.m.; taken to TroutValley hotel by vehicle for a relaxing bath and rest. Almost everyone from our entire group had started dispersing by the evening.

5^th June 2011 –

Early morning started by Toyota Qualis to Chandigarh. We 3 extended our trip by staying in Chandigarh for 2 days & returning to Mumbai on 7^th afternoon.

Experiences along the Way:

On 28^th May traveled by 5 modes of transport :) – by car from home to Mumbai airport, by flight from Mumbai to Delhi, by red bus from Delhi T1 terminal to T3 terminal, by airport express metro (started newly in Feb 2011) to New Delhi station, by yellow line local metro to Kashmere Gate, by auto rickshaw to majnu ka tilla & finally by Volvo bus to Aut.

All along our trek we were continuously kept company by the various little birds and butterflies. And whether we were able to capture them in our electronic boxes or not, the birds definitely captured our attention by their incessant chirping calls of varying pitch & tunes. And the butterflies flitted around & very near to us, teasing us.

A few birds which we spotted & whose identity was told to us by our dear guide Sesram were – plumbeus water redstart, red-billed blue magpie, brown dipper, red-throated fly catcher, tit, warbler, thrush, swift, bulbul, and so on.

At 1-2 places we saw nature in fight for survival – a butterfly caught & struggling desperately in a spider’s web & a centipede trying to overcome a tossing-turning larva attempting to save itself from becoming the centipede’s meal. But we just observed from afar & let nature decide the winner – without ourselves trying to be referees in the survival game.

Whether right beside the Tirthan or up & away from it, we could hear its crystal clear waters flowing and bubbling along the boulders, stones and rocks in its path.

With more porters & helpers than our trip members – food was in abundance & we were truly pampered I would say – morning tea around 6 a.m., breakfast at around7 – 8 a.m., lunch at 12:30 – 1 p.m., tea & snacks again at around 5 p.m., soup at 7:15 p.m. & then dinner around 8 p.m. which was at times around the bonfire!

Food menu except for eggs for breakfast was mostly vegetarian, but the range was awesome for a national park trek trip :) – parathas, cornflakes, bread, jam, butter, porridge for breakfast, rice, rajma, chapati, sabji, sweets for dinner, hot chocolate after dinner, bhajia, French fries, maggi for evening snacks!!!

And when it rained, the food was served at the individual tents.

They took so much trouble to keep us warm, dry and cosy! – At Shilt away from Tirthan, water was a problem as they had to get it in buckets from somewhere down below, but they never made us feel wanting for it.

During the treks, they carried such large backpacks of all the provisions, our luggage and so on (20–40 kgs), and they started from the campsites after us but always reached the next destination before us!

In Rolla, on 3^rd June night, by the bonfire the idea of barbecued potatoes was implemented successfully

In our tent of me, my mother and my sister-in-law, the day began at about4:45 – 5:15 a.m.with us stirring leisurely to the sound of chirping birds, the whistling thrush, etc. And with giggles as we got out of our sleeping bags looking like caterpillars and emerging as though out of a cocoon

You might be wondering – if we stayed in tents & slept in sleeping bags with hardly any space to even keep our things, what did we do for our nature’s calls & bath. So we did exactly that – nature in its open beauty called & we responded !! Basically, went back to basics… As for bath, the icy-cold waters were a deterrent to it & we were happy with just face and hand washes

But on the day when we came back from Shilt – 2^nd June afternoon – all of us without exception did have a dip in the Tirthan’s cold waters and refreshed ourselves thoroughly.

After what seemed like ages, we even went off to sleep one day at8 p.m.! which is unimaginable in our city of Mumbai.

Some anxiety was in the air on the day the other group of 4 returned half-way from their trek with only their guide because their 6 porters had gone ahead of them & did not return on the 1^st June with them. The next day evening they reached Rolla in the evening – exhausted after their trek from Rakhundi to Shilt to Rolla in one day ~13 kms! We were all relieved to see them back safe.

Amongst various other smells and sounds as we entered the forest, there was the smell of the pine trees – fresh and wonderful. Especially when we were on the numerous bridges over the Tirthan River at different points, the scenic beauty around was breathtaking.

Our mobile phones are no use once you cross a little distance from Gushaini till you are back. So in Rolla, Shilt you are absolutely free from ringing mobiles :) – no network, no telecom and I for one was sort of happy about it.

We even had a self-taught guitarist in our company of porters and guides – a young chap called Sahil who was himself a first-time trekker and a friend of Mr. Panki. So there was music and singing by the bonfire in Rolla and at Shilt after the rains had cleared.

Logistics of the trip:

We went on this trip with Jayesh Morvankar of Odati Adventures, Mumbai (www.odati.com) handling the stay, travel & other matters fromDelhi back toDelhi /Chandigarh. (We had already done a previous trip with Jayesh to Ladakh in Aug 2009). Jayesh himself being an explorer and adventurer appreciated nature very much and made the entire trip unhurried and leisurely – we actually had the time to “stand and stare”.

For this trip to GHNP, 28^th May – 5^th June, we were 9 of us including Jayesh aged between 11 years to 67 years – 3 of us (mother Pushpa, me and sis-in-law Tejaswini), 1 other uncle by himself Mr. Ashutosh, another family of 3 (daughter Nitya of 11 years and her parents) + Jayesh’s nephew Konark.

The porters and guides were about 11-12 in all.

The trail was from Sai Ropa/Gushaini – Kharongcha / Rolla – Shilt – Rolla – Gushaini/Sai Ropa. Region was the Great Himalayan National Park, Kullu, HP.

Overall expenses including return flight tickets, tips to porters, etc. were about 32,000/- per person (not including the 1.5-2 days in Chandigarh)

The arrangements in GHNP were made in coordination with Mr. Panki Sood of the Sunshine Himalayan Adventure group and his team. Mr. Panki is on his way to get his masters in Eco-tourism.

His team consisted of able, knowledgeable and very friendly members and guides like Sesram who gave us the gyan on birds and was my support throughout the descent from Shilt to Rolla, Pratapchand who had the uncanny knack of being a great subject for photography sitting or standing in super poses, the cook Roshanlal who made the sumptuous food throughout our trip, Bhopal bhaiyya who was ever willing to do the needful whether sun or rain and no sign of irritation ever, TC or Tarachand who had model-like looks, and Dilip the cook of the other group. There were many others whose names I am not familiar with but were around at all times – gathering firewood, water, making / dismantling tents as required and so on.

Some Info on GHNP:

The GHNP is of about 750 sq. kms in area and the ecozone of about 250 sq. kms. Ecozone is the area where there is habitat, villages and people. Inside the national park, now there are restrictions on cattle grazing, herb-collecting and residence. The forest is to be allowed to grow on its own. The GHNP has 4 valleys – Tirthan, Sainj, Parvati and Jiwa. TirthanValley as of now has no dams and hydro projects across its river and so is conserved thanks to the efforts of the local people. After the restrictions placed on the national park entry, the village inhabitants were organized into groups by the NGO there to earn living through tourism, handicrafts & other means. Each house is almost self-sufficient through its wheat, jau fields, potato and garlic products and orchards – apple, apricot, peach, pear, plum, etc. Soon the GHNP is supposed to attain UNESCO’s World Heritage status.

When you go to GHNP, visit, observe, see and explore BUT be sure to conserve – DO NOT leave plastics & other wastes there. Bring back with you the wonderful memories to last a long time.