A sign at the Entrance to the Valley of Flowers (VoF) says it all The passionate forest guard at the gate told me that he had been scolded by a senior officer that the VoF had no flowers, and that he, the forest guard, should put up a sign warning everyone so. The experience I had was entirely different, I saw a myriad flowers blooming and a tranquil Valley. And I thought to myself that: they are really blind those who will not see. These flowers were very different to to those I had seen on my earlier trip in August 2015, view my photographs of the earlier trip at the link here and my blog of that trip over here Flowing water everywhere A kilometer after buying a ticket at the forest check post, I cross the steel bridge across the Pushpawati River and begin the ascent into the VoF. The ticket is valid for three days of which I will visit on two. The mountainsides are striated with waterfalls fed by t he melting snow, whi...
�We all have forests on our minds. Forests unexplored, unending. Each one of us gets lost in the forest, every night, alone.� ? Ursula K. Le Guin , The Wind's Twelve Quarters Alas, it is difficult to get lost in a forest in India, there are few unexplored forests left and it is difficult to be alone. However the Satpura Tiger Reserve is one such forest where the crowds are less and the resorts are sensibly made to merge into ambient nature. Our welcome by a leopard by the side of the road as we drove in at night was a wonderful precursor of the two days ahead. The haughty animal, disdainfully looked at us and slowly walked away into the jungle. Here is where we let go of our daily electronic cocoons and freed ourselves to the joys of simply being at one with nature. The bridge and a hut at Reni Pani Resort... ...is a perfect example of being one with nature. Local material is used on the outside to give a natural ambience to the...
The Journey begins at Govindghat which is a 9-10 hour bus ride from Rishikesh. There are many ways to do it, by taxi (expensive), shared taxi, small bus; and one can break the journey or do it at one go. I spent the night at Srinagar and so had a shorter journey to Govindghat the next day., here I spent the night so that I could start my walk early next morning. I have been to this region before and both times have combined a pilgrimage to Hemkund Sahib with hikes to the Valley of Flowers. My blog to the Valley of Flowers this year is placed here . For a blog of my previous hikes please see Valley of Flowers and Hemkund -a Trek to Paradise ; the photographs I took are at Valley of Flowers , and at The Flora Around Hemkund . From Govindghat to Ghangariya is a journey that is now made easier by riding in a shared taxi for 4.8 km until Pulna and walking 10 km from there to Ghangariya, whi...
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