Friday, June 5, 2009

Day 8: Valley of Flowers with Rajneesh

This is a series of my two weeks of tryst with the Garhwal Himalayas:
Day 1&2 : Secunderabad to Delhi
Day 3: Delhi to Haridwar bus ride
Day 3: Meerut Road
Day 3: Har Ki pauri- Haridwar
Day 4: Impressions from Haridwar
Day 4: Through Rajaji national Park
Day 4: Devaprayag-Srinagar-Rudraprayag-Karnaprayag
Day 5: Pipalkoti-Joshimath-Badrinath
Day 6: Mana: The last Indian village
Day 6: Adventure in Badrinath-Govindghat Road
Day 7: The Boys from Rishikesh
Day 7: Trek to Ghangaria
Day 7: Meeting Rajneesh
Day 8: Valley of Flowers

Valley of Flowers National Park is an Indian national park, Nestled high in West Himalaya, is renowned for its meadows of endemic alpine flowers and outstanding natural beauty. This richly diverse area is also home to rare and endangered animals, including the Asiatic black bear, snow leopard, brown bear and blue sheep. The gentle landscape of the Valley of Flowers National Park complements the rugged mountain wilderness of Nanda Devi National Park. Together they encompass a unique transition zone between the mountain ranges of the Zanskar and Great Himalaya. The park stretches over an expanse of 87.50 km².


I would recommend you all to do an image search of valley of flowers in google or flickr. You would be enchanted by what you would see.


When I heard Rajneesh guided tourists to Valley of Flowers, I dropped my plans of going alone.


I thought I would absorb more if I had an experienced guide to go along. Rajneesh usually had a group of 6-7 tourists. But, since it was the last week of the season when Ghangaria would be closed before snow would cover the whole viallge under 9 ft , he had none. So I was the lone tourist for him.
We left at morning 6 pm. Had parathas at his hotel and packed some for lunch.


Rajneesh was a self learnt botanist and had learnt a lot about local flora and fauna.



Rajneesh crawled inside this bark and could stand straight inside much to my amusement.

It took us 5 kms to reach the valley



My first tryst with Himalayan glaciers.


The valley at its prime. The best time to visit valley is July-AUgust when the valey if filled with flowers. Every fortnight the valley is spread with a flower beds of different colours.





Though it was sunny, it was so cold that we got into the sheets on a comfortable patch of bed.
By 12 we were hungry. Stuffed ourselfves with packed parathas and caught a nap amidst heavens.



19 comments:

Vamsee Modugula said...

Beautiful pictures of the mountains. Why are there no flowers in the pictures? Did you go too late?
I am hoping to go there this August. let's see if I can make it.

Anuradha Shankar said...

Great pics!!!!! Wish i could go there too...

Anu

Lakshmi said...

I just saw celine's post on VOF..lovely pics

Unknown said...

Hi Ravi!

Nice pics and informative post, after much awaiting!

Luke Anderson said...

what a coincidence! im travelling to Garhwal soon. would like to tell you about this offer i received http://tinyurl.com/n5lnku . book online between 23-29 june to get discounts upto 60%. worth a look with discounts on hotels in 27 locations.

Flowergirl said...

Hi:
Great blog you have. Nice pictures. So much of interesting details.

Cheers!

Mridula said...

I have to go there one day. Long time no new post?

indicaspecies said...

Ravi,
It is nice to see your version of a place I've seen through my eyes. VoF is an awesome place. Which month did you reach there? I think July end-early August one can find more greenery and fields of flowers. You may wish to check out my post titled "A day in the Valley" at your convenience. Cheers.
- celine

Bhushavali said...

Lovely place and lovelier pics. You must have had a great time..
Loving your blog and following it now.
Do drop into my blog sometime - My Travelogue

Bala said...

the 7 photo is really nice as if a bird sitting inside a tree and the 3 photo the trees surrounding a small path is amazing.

It is great. Have u travelled Chennai-Coimbatore

Unknown said...

Hello! I'm new to your blog and I was thrilled to read this spellbinding photojournal of your trek to VOF. We're planning a trip in late September - not the best time for flowers, I know, but we couldn't manage it sooner. Can you tell me how we can contact a guide? And what the charges per day are? I'd greatly appreciate a response. Thanks!

Ravi said...

Beej, mail me at kumars.ravi@gmail.com

x said...

You might want to edit the following line :)

We left at morning 6 pm

Unknown said...

While it is important to have good writing skills, that is only part of writing a good article. Obviously you possess these skills, but you also have a special flair for informative writing. Well done.

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flowers to india said...

it is looking great.

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Anonymous said...

Loved the places....Hoping to travel through these soon...:)

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Great information by author . We would like to recommand your blog to others.

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