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Manali Track
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Himachal-Manali trekking
organized by WWF, Pune, India. Report by Amrapali Zaveri
16th May, 2003:
17th May, 2003:
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The next day in the train was
also very horrible I must say because of the weather and the so many people
trying to occupy every little inch of our seats. The 4 hours in the afternoon
were difficult to spend because of the scorching heat but at last it was all
over. We reached Delhi at 9:30 at night instead of 8:30! But we did reach. We
all assembled on the platform where Danita from WWF was ready to welcome us and
take us to the bus. We gathered our entire luggage and walked quite a distance
with our heavy bags before we reached the bus. All the bags were loaded onto the
bus and
then we proceeded to the WWF Office in Delhi where we were to have our dinner. The
time spent at the office was rather refreshing because we got good food along
with cool, fresh water. At 11 we left Delhi and started another long journey to
Manali. Everyone was rather tired so went off to sleep.
18th May,2003:
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Of course the journey to Manali
was another milestone in this camp. The night was very bumpy and not everyone
got a good sleep because of the bumps that kept us off our seats almost the
entire night. Although when we woke up in the morning we were half way up the
mountain and the scenery around us was rather beautiful. We stopped at a
restaurant to brush our teeth and had parathas for breakfast at 10. After that
we went on with the journey except for a two hour break where we had to stop
again because the rear two tyres had punctured. The traveling after that was
smooth, rather round because we went up the mountain in a circular manner ( I
mean the circular ghats). All
around we could see lovely tall mountains and down below we could see the river
flowing. It was rather picturesque. Towards the end of our journey we could even
get a glimpse of snow-capped mountains which did relieve us of all the pain and
the tiredness of the traveling. We reached Day Star School, where we were to
stay, at 5 in the evening and we were very very tired. We also had to carry our
entire luggage up five storey to top it all. We were greeted by the principal
and the cook there who were waiting for us since 3 in the afternoon. We were
served our lunch coz it was ready. After that we all needed a bath but the water
was ice-cold. Since none of us had had a bath since the past two days we all had
to do with the water we were provided. Some smart people went to Vashishta Hot
Water Spring, a common bath place, situated just 15 minutes away from where we
were staying. After the personal ablutions, at 8, we had a session with
Prof. Sudhakar who was accompanying us. He told us about a lot of things like the
flora and fauna in Himachal along with the map of the trek we were going to
undertake. Soon after that we had dinner and everyone went off to sleep.
19th May, 2003:
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We woke up at 6, had breakfast
at 7 and at 7:30 we left the school and went to the river where we were to do
river-crossing. We were filled in jeeps and taken to the place where we were to
do it. There were two experts who were accompanying us. They briefed us about
the safety measures after which we crossed the river by holding on to a rope
tied to us by a harness. Crossing the river was easy but the only thing was that
the water was ice-cold so all our toes became numb and for some half hour you
could not feel them. After crossing it twice we proceeded for a little trek up
to Jogini Waterfalls which is very famous there. It was an easy trek and I
reached there pretty fast while the others struggled to come up. It was a
beautiful fall and we could even go behind it. Some of the people went under it
and got completely wet while others admired its beauty from far. After spending
enough time there, we trekked down and went to Hidamba temp. Outside the
temple there were horns of the ibex, blue sheep, chiri antelope. We saw yaks and
rabbits outside and some of us took pictures with them for which we were
charged. Then we all walked down and reached Vashishta Hot Water Spring
where some
people stopped for a bath there while some of us walked back to the school. That
evening we had another session wherein the guides who were going to accompany us
for the trek were present and Sudhakar Sir gave us instructions as to what was
necessary to carry and about the details of the trek. We were to trek between
Kais and Kanawar Sanctuary. It was a five day trek. First day we were to start
from Prini and go up to Hamta, next day from Hamta to Jabri, then from
Jabri to
Jabri Nala, then to Sarotu and then back to Prini. We were to live in tents all
these days. We were to carry two bags... One little bag-pack which we were to
carry during the trek and the second bag which would be carried by mules up to
the place where we were to camp each day. After the session and after dinner, we
all sat to pack. Sapna and I put all our clothes in one big bag and all the
necessary material in the small bag-pack. Everyone slept early because we had a
long day the next day.
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20th May, 2003:
We woke up early, had breakfast
after our personal ablutions and by jeeps we went to Prini from where we were to
start our trek. We were given packed lunch which we were to eat later on during
the day. The first day trek was rather tiring and more like rock climbing
because it was steep and long too. One 11 year old kid started crying and most
of the elder people who were not very fit could not do it all at one time and
took a lot of breaks. Even I found it a little tough but it was worth it because
once we were up there the scenery was rather beautiful. Everywhere around there
were tall deodar trees and there was a blue-throated barbet who kept calling
continuously. The sun was shining brightly above our heads and the wind was
blowing through our hair. We even came across a little spring where we all
freshened up. We trekked for about five hours and then we reached a little tea
house where we took a two hour break. We had our lunch there and slept for an
hour. After that there was not much of climbing, it was just a long never-ending
meadow that we had to walk on and at the end of it we reached our camping site
which was just a clearing where we could pitch our tents. This place was Setu
which was about 8000 ft above sea-level with the Hamta river flowing few feet
below us. The guides and the helpers had already reached there before us and
had pitched the tents. We were allotted our tents and laid our sleeping bags,
got into our warm clothes and came and sat near the fire. It got dark by about 6
or 7 and it started getting cold too. We did some star-gazing at night while we
were served lovely dinner starting from tomato soup to a proper dinner of rice,
parathas, paneer sabzi and followed by desert of custard fruits and after that
we were given coffee. We were all in or tents by 10 and were asleep in our
sleeping bags.
Next day we left Setu and
trekked up to Madi which was 12000 ft. It was a 6 km walk and it took us nearly
5-6 hours with a lunch break in between. This trek was steep more like
rock-climbing but as we went further and further it started getting cloudy and
the wind started blowing harder. It was started to get cold – kind of indication
that we were approaching the snow regions. The place where we stopped for lunch
was beautiful. All around there were towering mountains in the front and behind
there were all snow-capped mountains. It even started raining a bit and on the
snow-capped mountains it was snowing – it looked very pretty. We reached Madi
and pitched our tents there. We were to stay at Madi for two nights because the
guides said it would not be possible to go any further because of the snow. That
evening, Sapna, Anuj and me went up the mountain where we could see a little
snow and we were the first three people to go and see snow out of all the people
at camp. It was a steep climb but it was worth it. Of course the snow was dirty
but it was snow after all and my first time to see it ! We spent half an hour
there and came down. After that we had a little session with Sudhakar Sir – he
had told us to make a song on the bio-diversity of
India.
We were divided into 4 groups. So we all presented what we had done and after
that had dinner besides the camp fire. That night we had Chinese for dinner. We
started with clear soup, followed with noodles and rice and custard fruit for
desert. Then we were given coffee a little later. A few of us sat next to the
fire while the other retired into their tents. We put potatoes in the fire and
had them – it smelled of coal but it tasted good. We sang a few songs and
enjoyed the warmth of the fire and went off to sleep.
22nd May, 2003:
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This day we were going to go to
the glacier. Some of the people did not come because of some reason. We were all
to go the snow line and after that climb the glacier if we could. It was a 10 km
journey. Some of them waited at the snow line while some 10 of us went further
ahead. But we actually could not go right up to the glacier. The distance that
we could see with our eyes was rather deceptive because the more we walked
closer towards it, the more and more farther it used to go. After that it
started raining so the guides told us to go back. We had lunch in a cave because
it was raining and walked back. We all really wanted to see snow so the guides
made us cross the river (over a bridge of course) and there we met the others
who were already in the snow. This was the best part of the trip. We all went
crazy seeing snow for the first time. We tried and walked up till whatever part
we could and came sliding down – it was great fun. We threw snow balls at each
other. We spent almost an hour there and then walked back to the camp site. The
walk back was long because we had taken a detour. We could not feel our hands of
toes because they were so cold and it was slightly drizzling along with the wind
blowing in our ears. It was all the more beautiful when we saw the rainbow. We
could actually see where it started and where it ended! We came back to the camp
site and rested for a while until it started raining heavily when we had to go
into our tents. But sooner or later everyone got hungry. The cook had made a
little place covered by a fly sheet where we could go and have food which we
did. That night we had mushroom soup for dinner with rice and mixed vegetables.
Desert consisted of Jelly! It was yummy since it was hot when it was raining
inside. We could not even sit near the camp fire because it was raining so much
so we all went in our tents and slept. That night the temperature dropped to 2
or 3 degrees!
23rd May, 2003:
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Next day we were to get back
down. We started late because it took the guides a lot of time to pack up
everything. The trek down was pretty fast. We walked down for like two hours and
came to another clearing where we were to camp. We could have gone down to Prini
that day itself but since we had started late the guides said that we would
reach down by the time it would get dark which would not be very safe so we had
to camp there for another night. That day we helped them pitch the tents but it
started raining again so we all sat in our tents for a while. They served us hot
cabbage bhajis with tea in the tent which was great. After a while the rain did
stop so few of us went for a stroll around the place to feel one with nature!
That night also it started raining again. My tent mates and I had dinner in our
tents only. We had rice, mixed vegetables, chapatti and brinjal for dinner that
evening and halwa for desert! We went to sleep after that.
24th May, 2003:
It was only 12 noon that
time. Ten of us from the entire group thought of going to Rhotang Pass since we
were here. We all climbed into one jeep and went there. On the way we stopped at
a place where we had to rent proper clothes, boots and gloves for the weather up
there. The uncle and aunty had to get a long fur coat. Uncle looked like a bear.
We were famished so we all had lunch at a restaurant on the way and then we went
up. We reached up in 3 hours. There was a lot of traffic coming down because
those people had gone up there early morning. There were only 3 jeeps going up.
The road up there was beautiful because there was snow everywhere and it was
white. It was snowing evening – there were little snow-flakes falling on the
wind-shield and it looked very cute. The place where we stopped there was
skiing. Noah, Jonah and Siana did it. Uncle and Aunty went to see some temple.
The others and me just walked around on snow, felt the snow on our face, ate the
snow and made a snow-man (actually woman!) It was great fun. There were hardly
any people so we nearly had the place to ourselves. We had tea and coffee at a
stall there and then came back to Day Star School by 6. We made everyone else
jealous because none of them had seen fresh white snow! We then had a good hot
water bath after nearly 6 days and then we went out for dinner by 10. We came
back and had a good sleep on soft beds and in cozy blankets (very important!)
25th May, 2003:
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We were to leave Manali and go
to Kullu for white water rafting. We were all packed, had breakfast, thanked the
cook and the principal of the school, loaded our luggage in the bus and in about
one and a half hours time we reached Kullu. We all registered for white water
rafting. It was an optional thing so some of the people went back to the bus and
went ahead where we would meet them. 24 of us were divided into three boats.
There were four people in the front and three behind with the person who was
rowing in the middle. Two people in the front were to also row so we all took
turns. It was a 14 km ride and it was excitingly amazing! There used to be times
where there were rapids and there were times where it was just cool waters. The
guy used to give very crisp instructions to us when we were supposed to row
forward or row backward or stop. It was beautiful and yes not to forget the
water was ice cold so it used to hurt whenever it used to splash on our face and
go down our back! But it was worth it. I really would not mind traveling through
the river to Pune rather than in Jhelum!! But of course it had to end. We were
all wet by the time we were out. We met the others who were waiting for us; we
changed and had lunch at 5. After that we were just to travel. We left that
place by 6 to get back to
Delhi because our train was the next day at
10:45 am. The
journey back was not as bad as it was while coming. We were all very tired so we
all were mainly sleeping. We just stopped at 10 at night at a place where we
packed some food but we were not that hungry.
26th May, 2003:
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Next day morning we reached
Delhi station by
8:30. We went to
the plat-form and waited for our train. We did our personal ablutions on the
station itself. The train came, we boarded it. This time we were all in the same
compartment and we had extra seats too. We all sat together and played. The
night we slept well. It was not that hot too.
27th May, 2003:
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We were all a bit sad because it
was all over so fast. We spent the last few hours together, took each others
numbers, promised to keep in touch and by 2:30 we reached Pune station.
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Well, it is over but I am still
camp-sick. I feel like going back to the mountains again, staying in the tents,
having the lovely food and walking through the mountains again. Everyone should
do it. The glacier we went to has receded by 5-6 km because of global warming
and nobody is doing anything about it. We all need to be aware of all these
facts and try to do whatever little we can. We even saw a living fossil there –
it is a tree called Gingko Biloba. It came into existence years ago and now very
few are left. It is extinct and nobody knows about it. It has a lot of medicinal
uses too. We saw the plant. Earlier there was a board on it saying that is a
living fossil but now the board has gone. It is all because of us. We even saw a
section of a branch of a Deodar tree which was born in 1858. That has been
preserved till now.
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The flora there consisted of
mainly tall Deodar trees, maple trees, horse chestnut trees, Juniper trees which
marked the tree line at the higher altitudes and even Silver Birch trees with
their barks as thin as paper. During the entire trip I saw birds like Himalayan
vultures, Golden Eagle, Buzzard, Himalayan Woodpecker, Monal Pheasant (the state
bird of Himachal), Blue-throated barbet and its call, parakeets and jungle crows
(loads of them). I even saw a small hare and there were many lizards called the
Himalayan Agamas.
Every bit of the trip was truly
great and I remember each and every moment clearly – I so wish to go there again
and you should too.
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