An Ultimate Guide to Plan Your Leisure Trip in Havelock

 

Swaraj Dweep or Havelock Island, is one of the most beautiful islands in the entire Andaman and Nicobar archipelago.

Situated approximately 40 kilometers northeast of Port Blair, Havelock is 92 Sq. KM in area, spanning 18 km in length and 8 km in width.

Havelock is famous for some of the best white sand beaches in the world. The color of the water in and around Havelock is simply breathtaking. With myriad hues of aquamarine, teal, and turquoise blending together, the water here is so beautiful it's really hard to describe the color in one particular shade. In my opinion, the unique shades of the Andaman sea in Havelock, should have its own name of Havelock Green.

Andaman Sea at Havelock

How to Reach Havelock

Ferries provide a very easy connectivity from Port Blair to Havelock. We visited Havelock on April 2022, and after the lifting of COVID restrictions, we saw a number of private operators running their ferries in the Port Blair-Havelock route. Makruzz, Green Ocean, Nautika are some of them.

Makruzz Gold

We availed the Makruzz Gold, and it was really good. We booked the deluxe class, which is on the upper deck. We booked the 2*2 seats, and had great visibility from the large windows. Even though you can't go outside at the deck, the visibility from the large windows from your seat is good enough for capturing snaps or recording a video. In my opinion do not book the royal class which is a cabin of 8, but only 2 seats among them have window access. The premium class on the lower deck, looked a bit busy, and unless you are restrained with your budget, I would recommend to avoid it.

All the private operators now operate from Haddo Jetty, which is the most developed port of Port Blair. Please note previously they were operating from Phoenix Bay jetty, however recently this has changed.

In the Haddo Jetty, you will be asked to show your RT-PCR test report or double vaccination certificate, so please keep them handy.

The Journey towards Havelock

The ferry time  from Port Blair to Havelock was around 1 hour and 15 minutes for us. The sea was pretty calm when we travelled, hence we reached 10 minutes before time. The journey through the deep blue ocean was very beautiful, and we didn't experience any turbulence. Most of the passengers also looked very comfortable, and the stories of sea-sickness didn't really look applicable at least when the sea is calm. The Makruzz leaves Port Blair, and sails past the north bay island. You get a great view of the dense palm tree plantation of the north bay island and the lighthouse in this trip.

View from Makruzz - North Bay Lighthouse

The color of water in the deep sea is blue, however as you approach Havelock, due to the presence of corals underneath, and due to the shallowness of water, the colors get changed dramatically.  You can see those beautiful aquamarine shades, as your vessel approaches havelock jetty.

The embarking and disembarking from the vessel is hassle free. After collecting our luggage and taking few photos of the jetty, we came out of the jetty area. Numerous auto rickshaw and car drivers will be waiting for you, when the vessel  reaches Havelock, so no advance booking of transport is necessary. Drop to any hotel near Vijaynagar or Govindanagar beach, costs you 200 rupees from the jetty, it's a fixed price in Havelock, so don't worry about bargaining, just take a cab and reach your hotel. It will take 10 to 15 minutes to reach your hotel from the jetty, depending on the location.

View From Havelock Jetty

Beaches of Havelock - Kalapatthar Beach

Whenever you are visiting any of the Andaman islands, please keep a note of the high and low tide timings. This plays a huge role in your travel experience. The beauty of the beaches is very much dependent on this, so please keep this handy.

Please note apart from Radhanagar beach, which always receives sea waves, beaches like Kalapatthar and Vijaynagar, becomes dry in low tide, and hence should be avoided during this time.

Immediately after checking in our hotel, and after a quick bath, we started for Kalapatthar beach. The high tide time for that day was around 11.30 a.m. When we reached the beach, it was 1.30 p.m. and the timing was just perfect for visiting the beach.

The route from Dolphin resort to Kalapatthar beach is around 5 km, through the Palm and Beetle nut plantations which are in abundance in Havelock. It takes around 15 minutes to reach Kalapatthar beach. The amenities setup by the tourism department is pretty decent. They have made few beach huts and sea beds for relaxing in the shades. However when you have such beautiful water in front of you, you can hardly resist the temptation of feeling the sand and water beneath your feet.

View from the beach huts - Kalapatthar Beach

Kalapatthar is an east facing beach, so 1 p.m. that day, was the perfect time for visiting the beach. The sunlight was coming just at the perfect angle from the back, to make the water look even more prettier. The high tide had receded an hour back giving back a broad section of white sand beach, which was just perfect for walking. We found the color of the water in Kalapatthar beach as most beautiful, in the entire Andamans. Its a gorgeous shade of bright teal. The white sand beach against that teal color looked mesmerizing. 

Color of Ocean - Kalapatthar Beach

From the busy section of the beach we walked around a kilometer on the right hand side, and found out some seclusion. We just setup our camera on the beach for shooting videos, and laid back on the beach. The sweet breeze coming from the sea was so relaxing, you will hardly realize the heat. The thick mangrove forest along the Kalapatthar beach is extremely pretty and we found a shade underneath that foliage, sat on the soft white sand, and just relaxed.

The ambience was therapeutic, as the gentle waves, sweet breeze and complete seclusion will provide you one of the most peaceful experiences you can ever have beside the ocean.

Boulders at Kalapatthar Beach

Kalapatthar gets its name from some big black boulders on the beach, which probably are some outcrop of the hills in Havelock. The rocks look really pretty, and is a favorite instagrammable location among the travelers. There were some exotic looking driftwood on the beach, and really looked picturesque.

Surreal Beauty of Kalapatthar beach

The coconuts in the Andamans are really supreme. The Nicobari Queen Coconut, which is orangish in color, have the sweetest of water I've ever tasted. So do not miss on that.

Kalapatthar beach has some stalls setup by locals for food and souvenirs, so if you want, you can buy something as memories. 

Radhanagar Beach - The king of all Beaches

Havelock rose to prominence as a world class destination because of Radhanagar beach. It's a dream beach, within any island. The beach is vast almost 3 km in length, and extremely broad, with soft powdery sand to walk on. However the most gorgeous part of the beach which we felt, is its location. It's on the western side of the island, which is actually a reserve forest. There are very few public beaches in earth which actually is inside a thick jungle, and Radhanagar definitely is one of them. The tall Sea Mohua trees, that fringe the forest looks absolutely thrilling against the white sands of Radhanagar.

Forested and Secluded Radhanagar Beach

After spending couple of hours in Kalapatthar we started around 3.30 pm towards Radhanagar beach. Radhanagar beach is almost 18 km from Kalapatthar beach, so it will take around 35 minutes time to reach there. The last part of the journey is through a forested area which looks very beautiful.

After reaching the beach, we as usual left the busy area to find some seclusion. This time we walked on the left hand side, towards the hill, which kind of guards Radhanagar beach from the rest of the island. The walk through the soft sand, with the thick foliage behind was absolutely pristine. The aroma of the foliage mixed with the sweet smell of the sea breeze created magic. We walked through the beach, sometime waded through the gentle waves, and enjoyed the ambience. Radhanagar beach is perfect for sea bathing and swimming so we saw some people enjoying the water.

The white sands of Radhanagar

After exploring the left side of the beach, we started to come back to the right hand side of the beach, from where you can see the famous sunset of Radhanagar. When we arrived at Radhanagar, around 3.30 pm there were very few people in the beach, but by the time we returned to the main busy section, it was almost 4.40 pm and people have started to gather to watch the sunset. In the main beach section there is a beautiful wooden watchtower constructed by forest department, which provides a bird's eye view of the entire beach. We enjoyed the view of the beach from the watchtower, it was really beautiful.

View of Radhanagar Beach from Watchtower

After coming down from the watchtower, we ditched the crowd once again, and started walking towards the right hand side, to find a secluded spot to enjoy the silence, which thankfully you can find easily in Havelock. The right side of the beach seemed even more picturesque with even thicker forest cover, so we decided, that we will come back to this side next morning during the high tide. We sat on the soft sand, and waited for the sunset.

Sunset at Radhanagar Beach

Unfortunately there were some clouds on the western part of the sky, so the sunset was not as beautiful, as we thought of, but that happens with nature. However the ambience of a golden sky flanked by clouds and the gentle golden waves of Radhanagar beach was beautiful nevertheless.

Since the beach is within a forest, the authorities do not allow people to stay at the beach beyond the sunset, so we left the beach and returned back to Dolphin Resort, which was our accommodation for the 3 days we spent in Havelock.

Food Options in Havelock

That day after returning to Dolphin resort, we had our dinner at the hotel restaurant, It's a pretty decent restaurant with the option of North and South Indian food along with Chinese. We had couple of more meals at this restaurant and will definitely recommend this.

Apart from the restaurant inside Dolphin resort, we also had a lunch next day at Full Moon Cafe. It was walkable distance from Dolphin resort. We really liked the food over there, we had fish and chips and also a Bengali style paturi (fish wrapped in banana leaf and steamed), both the dishes were awesome.

A walk on the Kalapatthar Beach

For a better fine dining option,  you may visit the Bonova restaurant at Sea Shell, Havelock. We had a dinner at their restaurant, and it was worth the price, with beautiful ambience and music.

VijayNagar Beach

Dolphin Resort, has their own private beach access towards the Vijaynagar beach. In fact in the Vijaynagar beach area, it is very difficult to find a public access to the beach, as most of the Vijaynagar beach are part of the resorts setup in the locality. This provides a very private experience of enjoying the beach for the hotel guests, which is otherwise very rare, in mainland India.

Palm Fringed Vijaynagar Beach

Dolphin resort is a vast resort sprawling over a huge land, and it has a lovely access to the beautiful Vijaynagar beach. Vijaynagar beach is a bit rocky, however looks beautiful in the high tide, when the rocks are hidden underneath the turquoise green water. The beauty of Vijaynagar beach is in its palm fringed coastline. neither Kalapatthar nor Radhanagar has this palm fringed coastline, so Vijaynagar beach has its own beauty in this regard.

A revisit to Neil's Cove during high tide

Next day at around 11 a.m. we once again visited Radhanagar beach, to enjoy the high tide and the color of Andaman sea during the high tide. While Radhanagar is famous for sunset, we liked the beach more, during the day time, as the beach is almost empty, and the sound of waves crushing against the shore really created a perfect symphony. As planned last afternoon, this time we decided to explore the right hand side of the beach, which is longer than the left hand side. The crescent shaped shoreline with thick forest cover looked absolutely beautiful. It's more of a cove on the right side, and is also known as Neil's Cove.

Pristine Neil's Cove at Havelock

We crossed the entry of the famous Barefoot Resort, and continued to walk through the soft sands. After walking for another 500 meters we found a driftwood on the beach, it looked so scenic on the empty beach, that we decided to seat there, and take some photos with it.

Incredibly beautiful Neil's Cove

Weather in Andaman Island is unpredictable. Here bright sunny days often gets short spells of a splashing shower. We were relaxing at the Neil's cove, suddenly we saw some dark clouds hovering in the distance over the ocean. It was raining heavily on the ocean, but we were still sitting dry, just a few hundred meters away from it and were enjoying the unexpected rain.

Rain on the Ocean - At Radhanagar

Slowly we saw the clouds sailing inside the island, and within a few minutes it started drizzling on the beach too. We took shelter inside the deep forest which is just beside the beach. Those, who were on the beach, also ran for cover. When the drizzle stopped and we once again came out on the beach, we experienced something magical. The beach was completely empty, there were no one except the two of us on the vast white sands of Radhanagar. the fragrance of the rain drenched forest and the sounds of high tide was a magical combination on that complete isolation. It felt like we have been cast away on a desolate island for days, where in front of us there's nothing except green sea and white sand. It was simply an amazing moment.

Cast Away - in Havelock

Dolphin Resort and Other Accommodations

Dolphin resort maintained by Aniidco is one of the better options to stay at Havelock. We stayed at the deluxe category rooms, which is extremely spacious, with a big balcony from where you can have a nice view of the ocean. There are executive rooms and VIP cottages also. VIP cottages have the best location, and newly built, however they come at a premium price of 15K + Tax per day.

There are some very good resorts which are within walkable distance from Dolphin resort, such as Coral Reef Resort, Tilar Siro by CGH earth and Sandy Waves Resort. All these resort looked beautiful from outside and they also have a private beach.

View of Radhanagar Beach - Near the Barefoot Resort

However the Barefoot Resort has the most beautiful location within Havelock. It is situated on Radhanagar beach, so one can visit the beach any time during the day, if staying in the resort. The resort's location within the forest provides a beautiful experience. In our opinion if budget permits, one should stay a night at Barefoot, for truly experiencing the mesmerizing beauty of Havelock.

A Summer Trip to Spiti Valley

Incredible Spiti

Spiti means the 'Middle Land' in the Tibetan language. The beautiful Spiti region is situated between Tibetan and Indian Himalayas, and kind of acts as the geographic and cultural bridge between the two regions for centuries.

For years, Spiti has been in our wishlist to experience the trans Himalayan landscape. I have always believed Spiti is more beautiful than Ladakh and relatively less commercialized, which gives you the option to customize your trips and explore the lesser known destinations in more details.

Contrary to popular route via Shimla and Kinnaur, we did a Spiti round trip based out of Manali, which gave us a lot more days to explore the Spiti region itself, rather than spending 2/3 days in Chitkul, Kalpa and Nako enroute.

Kinnaur itself is a beautiful region and should be done separately. Since we already have covered Sarahan, Kalpa, Sangla, Chitkul in our previous trip to Himachal, there was no need for us to travel in the same route.

In our Itinerary given below, we covered the entire Spiti Region within a week. spending 6 days in the high altitude valley.

Day 1 - Sissu, Trilokinath Temple and Mrikula Mata Temple

Day1 was more of an acclimatization day. Manali is around 7000 feet and Kaza more than 12000 feet, so for acclimatization we decided to stay a day at Sissu, which is around 9500 feet in elevation. We also planned to visit the famous Trilokinath and Mrikula Mata temple in the Lahaul region from Sissu.

Even through Lahaul is situated in a rain shadow region, but unlike Spiti, Lahaul is much more greener in the monsoon.

We crossed the Atal tunnel and reached Sissu from Manali within an hour. After checking into the hotel, we started our journey towards Trilokinath temple.

We were driving along the famous Manali Leh highway which is beautifully maintained by BRO. Alongside us river Chandra was flowing on the northern direction. First we climbed down till Tandi. At Tandi Chandra river meets with Bhaga river, which comes from Barlacha La, and becomes Chandrabhaga river. From Tandi we once again started climbing uphill along the Chandrabhaga valley. We could see vast valleys alongside the Chandra river, where cauliflower, peas, iceberg lettuce have been harvested. 

Trilokinath Lahaul

Within an hour we reached Trilokinath. Situated just below the mighty Pirpanjal , Trilokinath is a mesmerizing valley. The mountain slopes where thickly covered with Deodars and looked fascinating. Trilokinath temple is a beautiful melange of Hindu and Buddhist culture, where within the  same temple complex, Lord Shiva and Gautam Budha both are worshipped. 

After visiting Trilokinath we then moved towards the Mrikula Mata temple in Udaipur. Udaipur is around 15 kms. from Trilokinath and is a sub divisional town. Legend says Lord Vishwakarma carved the beautiful Mrikula Mata temple, within a day, from the woods of a giant tree. The inside of the temple is absolutely stunning, with intricately carved motifs. 

Mrikula Mata Temple Udaipur

Here also you can see the mélange of Hinduism and Buddhism, as within the temple you can see motifs of Lord Buddha created on the wooden panel. The temple priest was very humble, and showed us all the decoration inside the temple with a lot of patience and described the history of the temple.

We paid our homage to Mrikula Mata for a safe journey towards the Spiti region and came back to Sissu by evening.

Day 2 - Driving from Sissu to Kaza

This was going to be a long day. The distance is merely 156 kms. however almost half of the road from Gramphu to Losar is an unmetalled dirt road, passing through some of the highest mountains of the region.

Khoksar

We started at 5.30 a.m from Sissu, and reached Khoksar within half an hour. Khoksar, situated just below the Rohtang pass is a beautiful place in itself with lovely combination of rugged mountains, meadows and snow peaks. We had our morning tea, at a road side dhaba, and started towards Gramphu. 

Our honeymoon with well paved highways, ended in Gramphu, as we entered the infamous Gramphu - Batal - Kaza road. The road is only seasonally opened from Mid June to Mid October. Heavy snow closes the highest point on this route - Kunzum Pass, which is situated at 15000 feet, and hence detaches Spiti valley from Manali side for the remaining of the year.

Beautiful Views Around Gramphu

The road is unmetalled, however in a SUV with high ground clearance, it should not be that tough to negotiate. The golden rule for crossing any Himalayan pass is, you have to start really early. There will be water crossings created by melting glaciers, and the later you cross them, the more you risk yourself, as the water level increases as day progresses.

Gramphu to Chatru route has beautiful views of Chandra River Valley. The lofty mountains across the valley has beautiful meadows in between. In the summer time, its a favorite place for the Gaddis. They have flocked in numbers with their animals, and we could see a number of sheep and goat on the mountain slopes, grazing the grass.

Gaddi with their animals in Pir Panjal

In Chhatru we came down to the banks of cascading Chandra river. Chhatru is the first settlement in this route which has some basic dhabas. We had our breakfast at Chhatru.

From Chhatru the road condition kind of deteriorates, as the road actually passes through the Chandra river basin, crossing over boulders. In my opinion the next 32 km roads till Batal is the toughest section in this route. This will take atleast 3 hours to complete. The views in this section though are outstanding. The Deotibba peak, visible across the beautiful Chandra river is mesmerizing. 

Deotibba seen from Batal

After this grueling 3 hours stretch we stopped for a break at Batal. In Batal you will find the famous Chacha Chachi Dhaba, which is serving delicious food even in this remotest Himalayan village. We had our lunch at Batal, with Dal - Chawal, and it was really like home cooked food.

From Batal we now once again climb uphill, as we now leave the Pir Panjal range and enter into the Greater Himalayan Range. The Chandra river disappears below, as we continued to gain altitude. The snow in the mountaintop also increased considerably, indicating we are climbing uphill. After driving for one more hour we reached the highest point of this route - Kunzum Pass. 

Beautiful Kunzum Range

Kunzum pass is a breathtakingly beautiful place. We have now entered the Spiti region, which can be very well understood by the change in the colour of the mountains. Previously it was green and grey, but now its more pale yellowish. At the first glimpse Kunzum pass looks like a piece of land from Mongolia, with vast alpine meadow and fluttering Buddhist prayer flags. The Kunzum Maata Temple situated on the top, makes you believe you are still in India. We paid our homage to Kunzum Maata. The temple also served beautiful warm halwa as prasad to the travelers. On that cold weather it was really a gift from the god.

Kunzum Maata Temple

Just after descending couple of hairpin bends from Kunzum pass, you will get your first glimpse of the Spiti river. Spiti river originates on the Kunzum range, and will now accompany us through the entire Spiti valley. The meandering river, through the rugged floors of Spiti valley looked absolutely beautiful.

As we climbed down, the Spiti valley opened up, with gorgeous rugged mountains on both sides, and the meandering Spiti river on the middle. Shortly we reached Losar. From Losar we thankfully got back onto the metaled road. The entire unmetalled stretch from Gramphu to Losar was close to 80 km and it took us almost 6 hours to negotiate.

First Look of Spiti River

From Losar we drove alongside the spiti river, and reached Kaza, by 4 p.m. It took us almost 10 hours to complete the Sissu to Kaza journey, it was tough, but negotiable, but we thoroughly enjoyed the adventure and the outstanding landscape of the route.

Day 3 - Langza Hikkim Komic and Demul

Next day we visited the popular trio of Langza Hikkim and Komic and with that also a lesser known village called Demul.

The reason we wanted to visit Demul was to travel on the Komic to Demul link road, which goes through some of the highest mountains of Spiti, and provides breathtaking views of the mountains and occasional glimpse of wildlife.

Langza Village View

Our first destination was Langza, which takes around 45 minutes from Kaza. Langza is a beautiful village set beneath the famous Chau Chau Ka Nilda peak. The view of the peak, from the village is beautiful. The soil around Langza is blackish, which is good for farming. We saw a lot of pea farming done in and around the village.

Langza is famous for its Buddha statue which is believed to be more than 1000 years old. The beautiful idol of Buddha, facing the snow clad mountain really generates a sense of spirituality.

It feels like Buddha is standing their for centuries as a custodian of the village.

Famous Buddha Statue at Langza

From Langza our next destination was Hikkim. Hikkim is famous for the highest post office in the world at 14567 feet.  The post office building is small but beautiful. The Post Master is a very humble person. We bought some picture postcard from the nearby cafe, and posted it to our address at home. The post master happily stamped those postcards. As I'm writing the blog, I'm still waiting for the postcards to arrive.

A closer look of Hikkim Village

From Hikkim we then went to Komic. I didn't like Komic that much, it's said to have the highest restaurant in the world, but apart from that, it doesn't have much specialty, the village itself looked a bit shabby. The restaurant is well managed though. We had a cup of Lemon Ginger Honey Tea, it was a lovely drink.

From Komic we took the Komic to Demul dirt track which goes through some of the most spectacular views of Spiti. This route is definitely less travelled, as we didn't see a single vehicle in that route. We just drove within complete isolation, in one of the most rugged landscapes of Himalaya. 

Yak grazing near Demul

As we climbed altitude, more and more snow clad mountains opened in front of us. The high altitude valleys in between the mountains where a nice grazing ground for the yaks and the donkeys, as we could see a lot of them, grazing in their natural habitat.

Aamzing views enroute Komic to Demul

Komic to Demul takes more than an hour. Before reaching the village on a mountain top a Chorten has been erected. The villagers were performing their rituals, when we visited the chorten. The place was extremely windy, but beautiful. From there we could see the Demul village a little below. On the backdrop the Chau Chau Ka Nilda peak was visible like a crown.

Demul Village

Demul also has good farming land around the village, where we could see people harvesting the peas, the main cash crop of the region.

From Demul we once again climbed down to the valley, alongside the Spiti river, and drove back to Kaza. We visited the Kaza bazaar which is pretty well stocked, and also had our lunch at the famous 'The Himalayan Cafe'. Considering the remoteness of Kaza, the food was real good.

Day 4 - Tabo Gue and Dhankar 

Next day was dedicated to visit the famous Tabo Monastery. Tabo is around 40 km from Kaza, and takes around 2 hours. The road goes alongside the Spiti river, and provides breathtaking views of the Kinnaur Mountains and the Manirang peak.

The view of the rugged mountains in this road is absolutely spectacular. Tabo is situated on a much lower altitude than Kaza, and hence is much greener. Tabo has sprawling apple gardens which adds to the beauty of the place. 

Manirang Peak from Spiti Valley

However the main attraction of Tabo is the famous Tabo Monastery built in the 9th Century. Built completely in mud, the Monastery architecture is a piece of gem. The old buildings, the chortens made of mud all looked absolutely stunning. Tabo has some exquisite frescoes depicting the life of Lord Buddha inside some of these buildings. 

Beautiful Chorten at Tabo

We visited the painting gallery, and was completely awestruck by the use of colour and the detailing on those paintings. Photography is strictly prohibited inside those rooms, and rightly so. These are national treasures, and should be protected.

Tabo Monastery

The day we visited Tabo was Dalai Lama's birthday. The followers were celebrating his birthday by arranging a program. It was a holi day for them, we could see local people dressed in their ethnic wear, coming to the monastery and taking part in the function.

After spending couple of hours in Tabo, we then moved towards the famous Gue Mummy temple. Gue is an unique destination in itself where a mummy of a Buddhist monk has been preserved. The mummy was found during an excavation on 1981 when ITBP was trying to create a bunker in the village. Research suggests the mummy dates back to 1430 A. D 

The mummy was of a Buddhist monk who can be seen in a praying posture, when possibly due to a sudden earthquake the entire village was buried. Even after 600 years the mummy looks so well preserved, that it can definitely be said as a miracle of nature. A beautiful temple on a mountain top is getting constructed to showcase this piece of wonder to the entire world.  The Gue village itself is very pretty with apple planation all around, and gurgling brooks flowing through the heart of it. 

Gue Mummy Temple

Gue is the last motorable village on Spiti, after that the mountains climb rapidly towards Tibet border. From Gue we once again climbed down to Sumdo, the border of Spiti and Kinnaur, and then started our return journey towards Kaza. During return, we visited the famous Dhankar Monastery, which can be reached by taking a detour from Shichling, and climbing around 10 kms. uphill.

Spectacular Dhankar Monastery

Situated on a cliff the old fort and Monastery of Dhankar is a sight to behold. It is indeed one of the most fascinating landscape in the entire Spiti. The dilapidated fort was constructed on a cliff, giving a birds eye view of the entire region. The old monastery within the fort said to have a lot of ancient thankas of Buddhism. The mountains around Dhankar monastery is extremely rugged, and has a completely different texture than rest of the region. They look like gigantic pillars made of sand. 

Himalayan Red Fox at Spiti

While coming back from Dhankar to Kaza, we encountered a rare sight of a Himalayan red fox. The fox was crossing the road, when our car arrived at the location. It quickly escaped to the bushes grown on the Spiti river basin, but kept on observing us. It was probably waiting for us to leave, so that it can once again cross the road, and go to the other side of the valley. We also kept on observing the lovely animal, and was expecting if it can come out of the bushes completely so that we can have a full view of it. But the fox decided not to come out. Nevertheless watching Himalayan red fox in its own habitat was certainly a lifetime experience for us.

 Day 5 - Key Monastery and Tashigaon Top

This was our penultimate day at Spiti. We decided to visit Key monastery first and from there we would visit the Tashigaon village and the Tashigaon top. 

Key monastery is around 15 kms from Kaza, and can be reached within half an hour. Perched at a hilltop the monastery is built like a fortress and provides a breathtaking view of the spiti river and the valley below. Key is one of the longest serving monastery of the region has a rich legacy attached to it. It was frequently attacked by the Mongols and the Dogra army, and hence gone through a lot of building and rebuilding process.

Key Monastery on a hilltop

The Lama's in key monastery are extremely friendly. They greet you into the premises. When we visited a prayer was going on within the main holy temple. It was a sight to behold. The gongs of drums, chimes of bells, and the recitation of the mantras by the monks created a divine atmosphere. The lama's invited us to the upper floor of the holy temple, offered herbal tea and biscuit, which was really very kind of them. From the rooftop of Key monastery the magnificent views of the region is simply superb!

From Key monastery instead of visiting the popular Kibber village we decided to visit an offbeat place, called the Tashigaon village. Tashigaon is the highest and remotest motorable village in Spiti with only 4 houses in the village. It's actually famous for the highest electoral booth in the world. During election govt of India sets up a electoral boot only for the people of the 4 houses. The road to Tashigaon is completely wild, there is no proper marking, and there is ample chance of getting lost in the mountains.

Yaks at Tashigaon Top

Its a 12 km non existent road that runs from Kibber to Tashigaon. We were continuously climbing uphill, however was not very sure whether we were going in the right direction. There were not a single human being on that road, and meeting one was also extremely unlikely. We did lose our path a bit, as we first reached the Gete village which is below Tashigaon, and thought it as Tashigaon. However the villagers corrected us and showed the route towards Tashigaon. Thashigaon is a fabulous view point. Even almost at 15000 feet above sea level, the village looked green enough, with the skyline dominated by the Chau Chau ka Nilda peak. With the green pastures below and the stunning snow clad mountain on the horizon, Tashigaon just looked a stunning piece of landscape.

Kanamo Peak at Tashigaon

The people of Tashigaon are very friendly and they were really happy that travelers like us have come to visit their village. They showed us the only homestay in the village, and also said, in coming years all of the houses will be preparing to host guests like us.

From Tashigaon village we climbed another couple of kilometers uphill to come to the breathtakingly beautiful Tashigaon top. From Tashigaon top you get a clear view of both Kanamo and the Chau Chau ka Nilda peak, both of them are among the highest mountains of the region. The green pasture just below the snow peaks was a perfect grazing ground for a herd of yaks. We could see hundreds of yaks grazing and munching on the green grass just below the snow laden Himalayas.

Ibex at Tashigaon

But our surprise was not to be ended there. Suddenly we saw a flock of Ibex in the adjacent hill. They were almost 30 in number, and was completely oblivious of our present. They were playing within themselves, climbing up and down the slopes of the mountain and feeding themselves with the mountain grass. Watching ibex is really a rare sight, and we could consider ourselves extremely lucky that we got a glimpse of these elusive animal just at the end of our trip. We were expecting if a snow leopard could also be seen in the vicinity, but it was too much of a desire. 

Day 6 - Back to Manali

Day 6 was once again the long journey back to Manali from Kaza. We started early from Kaza at 5.30 a.m., had our breakfast at Losar village, and lunch at Chhatru. With a more or less non stop drive we came back to Manali by 3.00 p.m.

The six day trip to the Spiti region was a perfect late summer break for us. The magnificent landscape of the region, the rich Buddhist legacy, the incredible paintings in the tabo monastery, the smiling people and above all an unexpected encounter with the wildlife really made the trip a special one. It will remain as a lifetime memory for us to cherish!

A Spring Break at Neora Valley

Mouchuki Beat Neora Valley

Neora Valley National Park is one of the last few virgin forests of India. Due to its location which is  primarily on the higher reaches of eastern Himalayas, it has been able to preserve its pristine beauty.

Neora valley national park is divided into two ranges. The lower range can be accessed from Samsing, the headquarters of Lower Neora Range, and the upper range can be accessed from its headquaerter Lava.

Our first destination was Samsing. Samsing is a beautiful forest village on the foothills of Himalaya. 

Road from Metteli to Samsing

The journey to Samsing is always delightful. From Metelli, the remaining 10 kilometer road wanders its way past some of the beautiful tea gardens in the region. The forest village is situated just after crossing the Jalpaiguri district, and inside the Kalimpong district. We stayed our first night on the beautifully decorated WBFDC forest rest house in Samsing.

Althrough most of the tourists stay at Sunatelykhola which is 4 kilometers uphill from Samsing, I have always preferred staying at Samsing forest rest house.

There are only 8 rooms on a two storied bungalow in the middle of the forest in Samsing FRH. The rooms are wooden finished and really big. The caretaker here really takes care of the guests, and prepares some delightful food. There is no set menu, so you can request for the local food, which will be beautifully prepared by them. We just loved the local chutney they served with Aloo paratha, during the breakfast.

WBFDC Samsing Forest Rest House

The other benefit you get by staying here is, the office of the lower Neora range is just a 5 minutes walk, so you can easily obtain the permits for entering the Neora valley forest from here.

We stayed for 1 night in Samsing forest rest house, and visited the usual popular sight scene spots such as Rocky Island and Laliguras. Laliguras provides a beautiful view of the dooars region below samsing. The place is situated inside a tea garden. From here you get to see the beautiful Murti river flowing down the valley and also the nearly hills. Its a beautiful sunrise spot as well. In fact the sunrise at Laliguras is as beautiful as from many of the popular sunrise spots in India.

Beautiful Hills at Laliguras

Next day we walked down to the nearly forest office, and obtained the entry permits for going inside the Mouchuki forest rest house. Mouchuki forest rest house is situated in the Mouchuki beat, inside the Neora Valley NP. The place is 8 kilometers inside thick forest and the ride through the forest is absolutely thrilling.

From Samsing you have to first come to Fari Busty, and from there you have to take the unmetalled road towards Mouchuki. Its a proper off-roading track, as most of the route is made up of rocks, and you really require a skilled local driver and preferably a 4WD car to negotiate this stretch.

Road to Mouchuki Forest Rest House

From Samsing the elevation changes sharply, as you continuously climb uphill. Because of the road condition, climbing the road with speed is difficult, so a 4WD always helps to get the proper traction.

However we were not complaining. Seldom you get a chance to travel through such a road, and the beautiful thick forest which was surrounding us made the entire place drop dead gorgeous. The weather was cloudy that day, so as we were climbing uphill, fog and cloud started to engulf us. It was really a surreal feeling.

Beautiful Lower Neora Range

We stopped at numerous occasions to enjoy the forest. When you switch off your engine, inside the forest there is complete silence. Only the rustle of leaves and occasional tweets of the hill birds were breaking the silence. The forest is absolutely pristine , with a dense undergrowth of fern and other shrubs. In such a forest it is very difficult to spot wildlife. However if you want to enjoy the beauty of tall trees and dense foliage, this is the place for you.

Samsing to Mouchuki takes more than an hour, because of the road condition. Just before Mouchuki Forest rest house, there is a checkpost where you have to show your permit.

Mouchuki Beat Checkpost

After showing our night stay permit at the checkpost, we drove for another 10 minutes, and reached Mouchuki Forest rest house. One of the reasons to visit this place, is the outstanding rustic charm of the Mouchuki Forest rest house. Built like a chalet, the wooden structure blends beautifully with the surroundings. 

Mouchuki Forest Rest House

Its situated on top of a hill, and from the rest house you get a beautiful view of the Samsing village below, and the dense woods of the Neora valley NP.

On the backside of the rest house are lofty hills of Bhutan. On that particular day, those mountain tops were covered with dense clouds, making it look even more beautiful.

The Clouded Hills of Bhutan

There are only 4 rooms in the rest house. all double bedded equipped with western toilets and geyser. However please understand, the facilities here are basic as the place is extremely remote. Please use the water sparsely, as there is water shortage. However the hospitality of the staffs are very good.

On our arrival, we got our rooms readily, and the caretaker immediately prepared a beautiful Darjeeling tea for us. on the first floor there is a common living space, with a big window, where we sat and enjoyed the sublime mountain views.

View From Mouchuki Forest Rest House

After lunch we rested for a while. In the meantime, it rained and luckily the weather cleared up, revealing the beautiful vistas around.

Views Around Mouchuki

Benjamin, the caretaker, showed us the trek route that goes from Mouchuki beat to Lava via Thosum beat. Its a hard trek route, which takes couple of days. The route is absolutely surreal. From here you can also trek towards Rachela Peak, at almost 11000 feet, it's the highest point of Neora Valley NP.

There were thick bamboo groves, a natural habitat of the elusive red pandas. Red Pandas are extremely shy animal and mostly ventures out at night, so in day time, its almost impossible to get a glimpse of them on those deep forests.

Mouchuki to Lava Trek 

 Some of the areas are so dense that hardly any sunlight enters the forest floor. This is the reason Neora valley is very moist, and a heaven for the leeches. Whenever you are trekking through these kind of routes, beware of the leeches, they are kind of omnipresent here. We walked on that route for half an hour enjoying the beautiful views and the thrill of the forest. Slowly its was becoming tough for us, as the gradient was increasing, so we decided to came back.

The rest of the day were spent sitting on the living room, with typical adda, music and sharing travel stories from our past experience. Places like Mouchuki are meant for that. There is no network, So you can get the gift of digital detox, and connect with people, share your experience and breathe nature!!