Tuesday, December 8, 2009

4 Days Trekking in the Himalayas

Thursday morning Ankit drives my mother, Panki, Kitty, Eloise and myself to Sai Ropa (southern parts of Kullu Valley) where we meet our trekking team; a crew of 4. My mother and I are a bit amazed as the only things we have to carry are our clothes and sleeping bag. The crew carries our food, cooking equipment, tent etc. Talk about service! The trek happened liked this; the first day we walked to the gate of the protected area. This means that no humans are allowed to live within this area in order to protect the wildlife there. The second day we walked up to a top close by and then straight to camp site number 2 which is about 45 minutes from camp site number 1. Day 3 we climb the highest peak of our trek and sleep at camp site number 2. Day 4 we pack up and go back the same way as we came. We walked in Thirton Valley area and were camping by Thirton River.

Day 1:
The first day we walked only 10 km, but it was in a beautiful area. When we got to camp site 1 we had our packed lunches, looked a bit around and when it was getting time to make a bonfire; we collected wood. My mother and I shared a tent, and Kitty and Eloise shared one. It was weird having a crew that fixed everything for us. It was like we were trekking with a restaurant or something. Everyday we got some light food when we got back from the hike, then tea, and dinner. They also packed lunches for us, breakfast was amazing; everything from pancakes to porridge! They would even wake us up at 7 to give us hot ginger water. But back to day 1, for the camp fire there wasn’t really anywhere to sit, and when collecting wood, my mother and I came across this huge log that was perfect for two Norwegian females to sit on. We brought it back and now, when someone else comes; they have a nice place to sit.
Day 2
Here we walked to a valley that had small, small villages on the mountainsides. Our highest point of the day was 2900 meters, and the view was beautiful from there. It was rather steep to climb up, but we had a nice pace. Before leaving Panki had warned us there might be bad weather, but we were extremely lucky during our whole trek; sun all the time! At about 2700 meters there was a primary school that has about 12 pupils. It seemed quite remote, but it still had electricity and some boards showing the English alphabet, the Hindu alphabet and one showing an overview of how to get proper nutrition.
When going to camp site 2 poor Kitty slipped on the rock when crossing the river, so her legs got soaked. We also met some cows and bulls, and Eloise got in between the bull and a calf, so the bull started threatening her with its horns. 3 times it tried to stag her; it was quite scary when it happened because it was the end of the day and we were a bit tired, but when thinking about it afterwards we realized it just wanted to scare her, not really hurt her. Because if it would have wanted to; it would have. And it could have done so easily.

I didn’t get to bring my camera (But Kitty brought hers) this day because Panki needed to borrow it as him and the rest of the crew (Except Sanju who went with us) went looking for a medicine that grows on the mountain side. The medicine grows in a dead zone; this means that if you fall down from there you die. So it was quite a mission, but that managed to collect some and get pictures of it. Apparently, there are no official or published pictures of this medicine known to the world. So Panki will be the first one, and he did it with my camera! I have the pictures, but I don’t want to put them online. I am sure you can understand why.

Arriving at camp site 2 we decided to wash in the river, but that was freaking cold, so we just ended up with a cat wash as we say in Norwegian. Which is a really, really quick wash where you don’t get to use soap or anything. We had to cross the river midways as the sun was shining on an island there. My mother stayed on the other side, there was a small spot with sun there. Anyways, on the way back, Kitty wants to throw her shoe over to the other side (remember how they are soaking wet after she fell earlier during the hike). Well, that did not turn out great. I stand on the other side ready to catch, but the shoe goes straight up in the air and plop, down in the river. I rush to one of the stones, throw myself down on the stomach; stretch out my arm just as the shoe is coming. Unfortunately, my arm is to short. I swear; if it would have been 2-3 cm longer I would have gotten it. But off it went. We look for it a bit further down and, man, was Kitty lucky. The shoe had gotten stuck in a whirl pool close enough by some rocks for Kitty to be able to reach it.
Day 3
This day was the peak of our trip, we climbed 1000 meters in height, and the highest point we went on was 3200 meters. This top was called Shilth, and the view was beautiful. It took us a good 3-4 hours to get to the top (if I remember correctly), but it was tiring. We just went up, up and up in zig zag the whole way. But quite so often, these birds flew from their trees to warn off other animals that we were in the area. They are called Monal(s in plural), and Panki said he had never seen this happening so frequently during one trek. It was really cool and it cheered you up a bit seeing as we didn’t get much view in the beginning as we were surrounded by trees.

When at the top we were amazed. You know these old movies where a girl or a boy is walking with the sheep in the mountains; well that was the feeling both my mother and I got when looking at the view. It was as if we were in one of those movies. It was so surreal and beautiful at the same time. My mother and I walked a bit further up, and up that hill we found a place with lots and lots of bird feathers, and here and there, there were holes. We pondered a bit about them and then my mother realized they were tracks from a bear. Panki had told us earlier that the area we are trekking in has a lot of black bears. That was really cool, but we didn’t see any though.
Walking down, my mother had already gone ahead as the rest of us had an extra short break. I followed Sanju, whilst Kitty and Eloise came a bit later with Panki. Sanju taught me the techniques him and the rest of the crew uses for walking down. It is as if you run down the mountain with bent knees and the butt down; it went so fast. We even caught up with my mother! Almost down the three of us waited for the rest, and suddenly my mother tells us to be quiet. She had heard some sounds that could come from an animal. Sanju who has a bit of a more trained eye than us, spotted a deer not to far away, it was really cool. I had my binoculars with me as well so that we could see it better. Shortly after Kitty, Eloise and Panki arrived, but then the deer had already gone.

Day 4
As usual we are woken up at 7 am and given hot ginger water in our tents. But this morning, Sanju sees some deer on the other side of the river as he gives my mother the two cups. I had now seen two deer on the trek! I love seeing animals that don’t interact that commonly with humans.

After having breakfast and packing up, we take a group photo and start going back to Sai Ropa where our transport is waiting. We go with our head cook, but it’s not long until the rest of the crew catches up with us. Then my mother and Sanju goes faster to see if they can get some local hand made mattresses (made out of some special leaves) because my mother wants to bring one home.

I walk with the head cook as he would most probably be able to spot things I wont just because I am to busy looking at where I am walking. And, man, did I make a good choice; suddenly the head cook stops and points right ahead where a small mountain leopard runs down the mountain side. Just 10 meters away from us! I wasn’t fast enough to get my camera out, but it was really cool. That just made the trek even better.


So, do I recommend people to go trekking in the Himalayas? Why, yes of course!

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