Trek to Har-ki-dun in the Himalayas – Sep 2015

I have always been a nature lover, in awe of the mountains, rivers and streams. So when we decided to go on a 7 day trek to Har-ki-dun in the Garhwal – the most beautiful region of the Himalayas – I was thrilled. We were five of us from three different cities – Meena from Mumbai, Rajini from Chennai and Prasaad, Anand and myself from Bangalore. And we embarked upon an adventure that would give us a hangover that would remain for weeks…

And adventure kept its promise to accompany us right from the beginning – Anand and I missed our flight to Delhi! We had to pay through our nose to get on to the next flight. Everyone else had reached and we took the Metro from the airport to the railway station to take the train to Dehradun. A young army man insisted on carrying my heavy luggage from the Metro to the railway station. He not only carried the burden of keeping the country safe but also happily carried my luggage. I salute all the people who serve our country with pride and patriotism.

Next day we drove from Dehradun to Sankari via Mussorie. We remembered Ruskin Bond and his simple and lovely stories. Driving through tall trees, long and winding roads and listening to old songs was such a divine feeling, I could literally feel stress slowly crawling down my hands and legs and leaving my body. I felt so light and cheerful, without a care in the world. We finally reached Sankari, a beautiful village surrounded by so many green mountains and chirping birds.

Next day we went by jeep to the place from where we would start our trek. After a few minutes I realized that the trek guide and cook were sitting on the roof of the jeep. And I got excited. I too wanted to sit on top. I immediately asked the driver to stop and joined them on the roof. We were driving on the edge of the mountain and I felt like I was seeing the world in IMAX 3D! Seeing butterflies skitting about, birds doing a ballet, driving through a waterfall, the smell of wet earth as the rain came pouring down, lush green mountains; this was such a delight! We then started on our trek along the red ramdana plantations. It was drizzling and lush greens mountains surrounding us were dripping with moisture and looked so sensuous!

We met so many villagers on the way and all the women and children looked so beautiful with pink cheeks and a lovely warm smile. One woman Doodhkali was coming home to her parents’ place for the Ganpati festival. She was so beautiful I just couldn’t take my eyes off her. She even invited us to her place, but we had to excuse ourselves as we were late for our destination. Almost every day we met villagers who kept asking us for medicines for fever, pain and diarrhoea. There are almost no medical facilities up there in the mountains. We promised our trek organizers that we will courier medicines to them and they will deliver them to the villagers.

Almost every day we camped right next to the river Tons which gets its water from the Jaundhar glacier. All through the night we could hear the soft gurgling of the river. It was like a lullaby for us. But the water is freezing cold! Even to brush our teeth, we would shiver with the cold water on our hands. Sleeping in tents wasn’t easy either. Three girls were in one tent and the two boys in the other. Sleeping in sleeping bags was so frustrating as we couldn’t move and there was hardly any place in the tent. We had to literally crawl out of the tent. But over the next few days this became our home and we became experts in living in them! It rained almost every evening. The pitter patter of the raindrops on our tent was like background music to our chirpy conversations.

Day 2 was a lot of uphill climbing through rains and we had to stop often to take a breath. Along the way, we met a shepherd who was leading about 500 sheep / goats! We were quite scared as the path was narrow, but all mountain animals – sheep, goats, cows, mules, horses, sheep dogs – walked on the side giving way to humans. There was nothing to be afraid of. (In fact, it is the animals that need to be afraid of us humans – we human beings kill animals for fancy accessories. What a shame!) I was surprised at the balance these animals had and how quickly they could climb hills and mountains and even difficult precipices.

Day 3 was nice and sunny! No rains after so many days! The warmth of the sun on our backs was so pleasant. We walked with gay abandon, clicking pictures of everything we saw. Everywhere we looked, there was beauty. The Himalayas offered us such stunning views and the magnificent mountains stood in all their glory looking down affectionately at the valleys. Along the way we saw so many butterflies flitting about as though they were gossiping about the flowers and the bees! We saw the Queen of Spain, Puffin and many other varieties of butterflies. And there were so many species of birds – wag tail, dipper, eagle, yellow beaked crow, minivets, fantail, doves and many more. There were so many colourful bees on the many varieties of beautiful flowers, creating life. Life was literally on every inch of land, even on dead trees. Everywhere you see, there’s greenery and we saw every shade of green there is in the world. In just a six by six square feet of land, there were at least a dozen types of plants and leaves. There was so much peace and tranquillity around, our spirits were soaring. But this was a tough day as it was a steep climb. Every muscle on our legs ached. But when we finally reached the destination Har-ki-dun, we forgot all our pains and aches. It was such a splendid sight, with snow-capped mountains surrounding the beautiful valley and the Tons river meandering its way downhill. We were all speechless. Every time I go the mountains, I fall in love with them all over again. And keep promising to come back, which I do… I realized my country is so beautiful. People from all over the world come to pay a visit to the Himalayas. I was always a proud Indian, and I became even prouder today! But then again, did God intend to divide the world into boundaries and countries? To make one species take ownership of land and rule over all the other species? What are we doing to this beautiful creation?

Day 4 was rest day but Prasad, Anand and myself went through the valley to see the Jaundhar glacier. There were so many horses and cows grazing in the valley. The valley was a carpet of yellow flowers. It was like nature was welcoming us. It was very picturesque. The air in the mountains is so crisp. We were breathing in pure freshly manufactured oxygen! Every breath brought new vigour into our lives. The water in the streams was so sweet and unadulterated. I used to stop by every single stream and drink water directly from the stream. One week in the mountains makes up for a year of living in the plains! So I swear to go to the mountains every year and rejuvenate myself! We had a campfire on both nights at Har-ki-dun. I have never seen so many stars in the sky. There was an extra sprinkling of stars in the sky and we were as delighted as children are when their mommies put an extra sprinkling of sweet treats on their desserts!

Day 5 was downhill and we covered in one day what we had covered two days going uphill. It was a little cloudy and the sun was playing hide and seek with us. We saw huge vultures today with the wingspan as huge as my arms spread. They were such magnificent birds taking flight into the blue sky and all the world was theirs. They could fly wherever they wanted with no boundaries and no need of visas and passports and no phone calls and blackberries to answer. The digital detox that all of us were forced into, what with no mobile or network connectivity, actually did us good. We never really missed it, in fact, we were happy to be disconnected from the world.

Day 6 was easy and we reached almost the end of our trek. As the sun set, the sky became peach coloured and then pink and purple. I’ve never seen such amazing colours from the plains. Today we had dinner with our crew Vikram the guide, Rahul the cute Nepali cook, Guddu the helper and Pansingh the kaccharwala (the guy who went along with the two mules Lalli and Lulli and the horse Badal) in the kitchen tent. Our crew was the best, they took such good care of us, fed us well, offered to carry our bags when we were tired and always being at our beck and call. They made our trek all the more memorable and easy. We will definitely do more treks with them.

Day 7 was a short trek back to the starting point Taluka. This time I made all of my friends sit on top of the jeep and they had the time of their lives! We were 10 of us on the roof of the jeep and there were 15 inside so a total of 25 of us! As we moved along, we saw a flight of red male and yellow female minivets doing a ballet mid-air. So many butterflies kept leading the way as though showing us the direction. We finally reached Sankari and were sad that the trek had come to an end. We were back to civilization, to materialism and politics. The pahadi people were so simple, with a song in their heart and a smile on their lips. They lived each day and you could hear the laughter in their voice and see the twinkle in their eyes. And I thought, maybe I should make a home in the mountains someday…

Birding trip to the Nilgiris – Nov 2015

The Himalayan trek to Har-ki-dun got me interested in birding thanks to Meena, who showed us several species of birds. So we planned a birding trip to the Nilgiris, recommended by a  nature and adventure travel firm Muddy Boots run by a good friend Pradeep Murthy. The same 5 who went to the Himalaya trek were to go for this road trip to Devala where we were to stay at Wild Planet Jungle resort.

From the beginning, things didn’t work as planned, but whatever happened was better than planned. We had been booked at the Sinna Dorai resort but due to some misunderstanding, the booking did not happen. But we were offered to stay at Wild Planet Jungle Resort as a result, which was a luxury resort in the lap of the Nilgiris, on a 100 acre land that included mountains, hills, forest, several endemic flora and fauna species, 30 acres each of tea and coffee plantations and a stunning view! Then at the last minute, both the boys dropped out so it was just us three girls Meena, Rajini and myself. We started at half past 6 on a Saturday morning in my recently serviced Volkswagen Vento with me on the wheel. We listened to each of our favourite songs on the way. Rajini had got old and new Tamil songs, Meena had got Scottish music, folk music and Nepali music. I had my share of music from MTV coke studio and some Bollywood numbers. We stopped at Kamath Lokaruchi for breakfast and Anand joined us there just to meet us and wish us a fun trip!

The drive through the Bandipur and Mudumalai wild life sanctuary was amazing! Rajini took to the wheel for a couple of hours. We were following GPS for directions and went to Nilambur through a long and winding road with greenery all around, which was a feast to our eyes! At some point, the GPS told us we had reached the destination but there was no resort around. We called our guide and realized we were in the wrong village! We lost a couple of hours to get back but we would have missed the lovely drive up the ghats if we had not got lost! We finally reached the Wild Planet parking lot from where we were taken in their vehicle to the top of the mountain where the resort was. It was such a beautiful drive through tea and coffee plantations with so many birds chirping their sweet melody. We passed through a gold mine and were quite tempted to go grab a few nuggets but refrained from doing so! The resort was better than anything we had imagined. We had two cottages overlooking the valley with a spectacular view!

After we refreshed, our guide and naturalist Manoj P Nair took us on a night walk within the resort property to see frogs! This was the first for me – to go frog watching! We saw three species of frogs, one snail, a bandicoot, and the brown breasted flycatcher bird that was sleeping on a branch. We donated drops of blood to leeches that feasted on us! This was the first leech experience for Meena and she was horrified when she found two leeches on her foot! After dinner, Manoj showed us a presentation of butterfly lifecycle and the frogs that he has done research on. He is an expert on birds of the Western Ghats, has done research on some frog and butterfly species and is an ardent wild life conservationist. This was the first time I heard someone say that frogs – that everyone finds slimy and creepy – are beautiful and that frogs have eyes that are more beautiful than a woman’s! I beg to differ on that Manoj!

Next morning we went to the Sinna Dorai estate for bird watching wearing gum boots that Manoj kindly arranged for us to save us from leeches. We spotted several beautiful birds like the Scarlet Minivet, Crimson backed Sunbird, Red whiskered Bulbul, Greenish leaf Warbler, Ashy Drongo, Black lored tit, Gray Wagtail, Black throated Munia, Nilgiri Flycatcher, Yellow browed Bulbul, Blue capped Rock Thrush and many more – over 40 species of birds. Our excitement levels starting rising as we started spotting never before seen species of birds and butterflies and reached a crescendo when we saw the majestic Black Eagle gliding through the blue skies. We saw it perch on a tree and feed from the nest of another bird. With wings spread, we could see every pattern on its feathered body and appreciate its long wingspan. We also saw more than 50 species of several butterflies like Common Sailor, Common Crow, Lemon Pansy, Rustic, Chocolate Pansy, Paris Peacock, Grass yellow, Blue tiger, Red Helen and the best and most beautiful of all the Malabar banded butterfly! All this would not have been possible without the expert guidance and knowledge of Manoj. He could figure out the bird by its flight pattern, by its call and of course by its features. He guided us on spotting birds, using the binoculars, how to differentiate between similar looking species and a lot more. This trip would not have been half as good without him. He is so passionate about birding and it is only because of his enthusiasm and knowledge, that our interest has increased and i think all of us have become birders for life! Thanks a ton Manoj, we will send all birders to you!

We had lunch at the Sinna Dorai bungalow. It has such a nice old worldly British charm to it.  A fire place, nature related books, grandpa’s armchair in the verandah, super huge rooms and wild Mexican sun flowers completed the feel of the old world charm. The homemade food was absolutely delicious and I licked the plate clean! We then left for their very own tea factory where we were given a guided tour of the tea making process. From plucking leaves to packing ready tea, the process is completed within 24 hours! I was amazed the process is so quick. It was an automated factory with machines doing most of the work and workers working round the clock in three 8 hour shifts. The leaves are weathered, crushed, mixed with a mixture of broken tea, water & enzyme, filtered into varieties by grain size, heated at very high temperatures and finally ready – all within 24 hours! The manager told us the brand “Classic tea” which is their tea is the best and anyone who has that tea never has anything else! We were too tired and went back to the resort where we saw a wild elephant on the opposite mountain having an evening snack! That was like a bonus sighting for us!

On Monday it was drizzling in the morning and while we were waiting, we saw many Martins, Swifts and a few Swallows performing acrobats in the sky – almost like performing a private show for us to make up for the bad weather! Once the skies cleared up, we went for a walk in the jungle. The Wild Planet resort property has forest running through its property! We spotted a few more varieties of birds today including the Brown Shrike, Golden backed woodpecker, Pied bush chat, White fronted water hen, Dark fronted babbler, Black bulbul, Jungle Myna, the beautiful Chestnut headed bee eater and the Malabar parakeet that curled itself into a round tennis ball like shape and was hanging upside down from the branch of a tree! We also saw some very beautiful butterflies like Malabar rose, pea blue, common emigrant, 3 spotted grass yellow, Danaid Eggfly and the biggest butterfly in India – the Southern birdwing butterfly that was almost as big as a small bird. Some of the animal life we saw both in the jungle and on our way through the Bandipur and Mudumalai sanctuaries include the Malabar giant squirrel, spotted deer, barking deer, monitor lizard, stripe necked mongoose and Nilgiri langur.

We wished we could stay a day longer but unfortunately the extra-long list of unread mails beckoned us back to the mundane world. So we started on our return journey with packed lunch. Along the way we saw peacocks, deer, spotted dove, some kind of a crested eagle that looked magnificent, something that looked like a pond heron and yes lots of monkeys! We stopped by at the Bandipur government forest office that had some benches. We opened our lunch and all of a sudden several monkeys gheraoed us. I tried to shoo them away but what looked like an alpha male monkey bared his teeth and came threateningly towards me. I backed off in fear but all of a sudden another monkey jumped on our table and snatched away a packet. We all looked helplessly as the monkeys gorged on our delicious smelling lunch. We then had to have lunch at a roadside restaurant and it didn’t smell or taste even half as good as the lunch we lost to the monkeys. We hope Lord Hanuman will grant us a boon someday in return!

The return journey as it always is, was a long one as we drove along dark unlighted highways, sad that a wonderful trip was coming to an end. I must say this was an initiation of sorts into serious birding for all of us. All thanks to Muddy Boots and Manoj, his knowledge, passion and unadulterated desire to get everyone to love birds and nature. We will continue on this path and make you proud someday Manoj! Despite several things going wrong initially, ultimately what happened was better than what we had expected. So as the bard would say, All’s well that ends well!