The joys of nature

We (my parents, children and me) boarded the overnight train called Ranikhet Express from Old Delhi and were at Kathgodham at six in the morning ready for a sip of the station coffee.

Club Mahindra, the holiday resort we are members of, had sent a pick-up and the four-hour drive up the hills was the most refreshing sight I have laid eyes on in some time.

It was as though the slopes were decorated with a thick green carpet. Although it had been raining non-stop the sun treated us to all his glory on the day of our arrival.

The route weaved around the mountains and we found ourselves amidst a variety of vegetation, the most prominent being the grand teak trees with their elephantine leaves. The roads were not in the best of condition but who was complaining.

We drove past small villages and towns and crossed bridges and ranges. An unforgettable section of the drive was alongside the Kosi River that leads to Karna Prayag where Alakananda River meets the Pindar Ganga River (from the Pindar Glacier). It was a drive when I pleaded with my eyes to try and remember every view of this magnificent hillside.

This was the beginning of the time spent breathing pure fresh oxygen, soaking up the crisp mountain air and forest smells and admiring the magnificence of nature.

All of a sudden everything was as it was supposed to be. I was surrounded by nature. I walked where my feet led me, climbed slopes and trekked the forest. There were no malls to go to or speeding cars to disturb the peace. There were no deadlines to meet and no one was in a hurry.

I met children on the road who spend on average two to three hours walking to reach their school, herds of cows and goats, women balancing expertly on the slopes cutting grass for their cattle and smiling villagers who happily chatted with us and enquired after us.

Buzzing bees, bird song, twittering butterflies, chirping crickets, snaking earthworms, twinkling stars (yes, I could actually see them) and the tall pine trees - all had a calming effect on my soul.

While it is possible to take day tours to Almora, Jageshwar and Patal Bhuvaneshwar, we decided not to get distracted by several tours. On rainy days we spent the time playing scrabble, ludo and Chinese checkers.

On clear days we walked. We braved the night trail, a 3km walk up the slopes without a torch or light at 7.30 in the evening. It was not the best of ideas but nevertheless a fantastic experience. All I could make out was my guide's white trousers and, when I was brave enough to look up, the stars in the sky.

My mother, who at 62 was possibly the oldest city dweller to go on this adventure trail, was scared to bits. We passed streams, staggered across slippery paths and were worried that we would come face to face with a leopard. We were very glad to arrive back at the resort.

I must add here that Binsar has a sizeable leopard population. Every local will confirm that these silent beasts are regularly seen in the villages hunting for a stray goat. However, we did not have any such luck. The only four legged wild creatures we saw on our entire trip were grey langurs (monkeys) and a couple of foxes. During the rains scorpions and leeches are also common.

The best trip we took was to the Binsar wildlife sanctuary spread over 50sqkm at 6.30am. Describing the pleasure of walking between oaks on a pathway made by thousands of nature lovers is not easy.

Our guide urged us to be quiet and we listened to the noisy birds and tried to spot the various types he pointed at. Sprawled across the sides of the path were rhodendrons, wild mushrooms, herbs used by locals for curing diabetes and kidney stones, mosquito repellents, turmeric - the forest is a pure delight for a botanist. The rain stayed at bay while we learnt to sidestep the moss and walk on our toes.

We got to the zero point, the highest point in Binsar where we were treated to the most magnificent view of the Himalayas. If it was the spring we would have been surrounded by rhodendron flowers and if it had been winter it would have been covered in snow.

We trekked over four kms on an empty stomach but we did not feel hot, tired or sick. Hunger struck us when we finally got into our car on the way back to the club.

While commercialisation has a way of creeping into the remotest of places I can only hope and pray that nature always rules these grand mountains and I can be starry eyed yet again on my next trip.

On Binsar

Binsar, a trekker's paradise, is perched on top of the Jhandi Dhar hills, 33km north of Almora town in the Uttarakhand state of India.

From 'Zero Point' at Binsar one can see the panoramic view of the Himalayan peaks like Kedarnath Peak, Shivling, Trisul and majestic Nanda Devi.

It was the summer capital of the Chand Kings, who ruled over Kumaon, from the 11th to 18th Centuries AD. Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary was established in 1988, for the conservation and protection of the shrinking broad leaf oak (Quercus) forests of the Central Himalayan region, and is inhabited by 200 bird species.

Khali estate in Binsar was once the home of Sir Henry Ramsay, who was the commissioner of Kumaon from 1856 to 1884 and popularly known by British authors as 'King of Kumaon'.

Fact-file

Getting there

Binsar is 380km from Delhi, capital of India. You can drive 10 hours, take a flight to Pantnagar or take a overnight train to Kathgodam.

From here you can take a tourist bus, taxi or drive up via Almora.

Best time to visit

October to November

Places to stay

Mountain Resort, Khali Estate

www.resorthimalaya.com

Club Mahindra Valley Resort

www.clubmahindra.com

KMVN Resort

www.kmvn.org