Auli skiing

Happy New Year (2016). Uttrakhand state offers you many tourist destinations during winters.  The destinations are Mussoorie, Nainital, Joshimath, Auli and the list goes on. Dream Mountain offers you several packages to fulfill your desire to explore the beauty of this hilly region of Uttarakhand. One of the most sought after destinations during last few years or say couple of decades, is Auli. Auli is famous for its meadows and skiing in winters. Recently, Yahoo published an article on Auli considering it as an alternative to a European destination for skiing. Yahoo certainly is not wrong and one should visit this place to have the experience of the journey.

Auli is located at an altitude of 2744 mtr. and 14 km from the town Joshimath. One can also reach Auli using ropeway having 3.75 km in length. Every year many ski enthusiasts visit Auli. There are many courses of skiing, starting from minimum 4 days.  The packages consist of food, lodge and skiing activity. Apart from skiing, there are many other sports activities like trekking, rock climbing, motor biking etc.

The other place near Auli is the famous town, Joshimath also known as Jyotirmath. There are many scenic and historical and religious places in and near Joshimath. The people who visit Auli, also visit the sacred and religious places in Joshimath. The Narsing temple, Adi Guru’s seat, Tapovan hotspring etc. are few examples. No doubt, Auli and Joshimath give you all the necessary elements to fulfill your desire of enjoying adventure and family holidays.

Auli can be reached within 10 hours drive from Rishikesh. The distance of Rishikesh from Delhi is around 225 km which can be covered in 6-7 hours. The distance of Auli from Joshimath is around 265 km. One does not need to go Auli directly and can make Joshimath as halting station. From Joshimath, Auli is like a picnic spot just 14 km away.

So, plan your trip to Auli with your family and friends this year with winter snow and skiing.  

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Beatles' ashram in Rajaji national park opens

Increased tourist footfall at Beatle’s Chaurasi Kutia Ashram in the Rajaji Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand may soon become a problem for the reserve animals, Uttarakhand wildlife experts said on Monday. The famous rock band stars of the 60s had visited Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram in 1968 to learn meditation. They stayed in 84 huts for three months and wrote many songs. The ashram, lying abandoned after its lease expired in 1980 when Uttarakhand was the part of Uttar Pradesh, was thrown open for public from 8^th December 2015.

Rajaji Tiger Reserve (RTR) director admitted that there has been rise in the number of visitors after the reserve has been thrown open to the public, but she denied there was any danger to the wildlife. What concerns the wildlife experts most is the tourists can drive their vehicle straight into the reserve to the ashram in their vehicles after obtaining the permit from the gate. The roads which are used by the tourists are crossed by the animals like elephant, leopard, tigers etc. to drink Ganga water. The increased traffic has become a threat to the animals.

National Tiger Conservation Authority has given the permission to renovate, maintain and use the Beatles ashram for touring purpose and a budget has also been allocated for this purpose. This has been done to promote the tourism and also to keep a focus on wildlife conservation. 

As per one expert the vehicular movement should be minimized in the area which would be hurdle to the animal to access the water. The other thing which has to be kept in mind, that the tigers can be present near ashram within 500 meters range.  The reserve is battling with the human intervention in the areas meant for the wildlife. The western part of the reserve along with Gohari range has human settlements.     

Ban on camping on Rishikesh stretch

The National Green Tribunal on Thursday (10th December 2015) decided to ban camping in Rishikesh, a major tourist hotspot in Uttarakhand. It also clamped a blanket ban on the use of plastic and regulated mines on Ganga in order to the pollution of the river. The ban would be in effect from Feb 1, 2016.

The decision came on the lines pushed forward by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’ clean Ganga project – the NGT said “No camping activity shall be carried out in the entire belt of Kaudiyala to Rishikesh and the government would abide by its statement made before the tribunal on March 31^st 2015, till the regulatory regime in terms of this judgment   comes into force and is effectively implemented.” The rafting activity can be carried out according the decision.

The panel also constituted a committee of officials representing Uttarakhand and central government to submit a report on regulatory regime within three weeks to the tribunal.

It also directed a blanket ban on the use of plastic from Gaumukh to Haridwar along the river. Besides, the tribunal ordered the mining on the river bed shall be carried out in a highly regulated manner under strict supervision.

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Alkapuri glacier - Origin of Alaknanda

Ganga, Yamuna, Alaknanda and many other rivers origin from Uttarakhand. Finally all these rivers merge with Ganga at Allahabad. Like Gaumukh which is the source of the sacred river Ganga, the Alakapuri glacier is the source of Alaknanda river. Alakapuri Glacier, in district Chamoli of Uttarakhand state, is located at the base of the Balkun Peak, 6067 mtr above sea level, is 15 km from Sri Badrinath and 3 km from Laxmivan and is the abode of Kuber, the Yakshas and Gandharvas.

          The glacier spreads into two valleys that lead to Satopanth and Gaumukh.  The Narain Parvat almost divides the glacial zones of Alakapuri and Gaumukh.  The entire region between Gaumukh and Alakapuri is a glacial plateau. From the north of this plateau, emerges the Bhagirathi and from the south east the Alaknanda flowing out in different directions.  It is said in the Skand Purana that the Ganga, on descending from the coils of Shiva’s hair was caught on the Sumeru Parvat (Narain Parvat) and flowed out in seven streams—two of which are the Bhagirathi and the Alaknanda.

          The Alaknanda emerges from as many as five snouts, dotted along an ice and rubble wall, one kilometre wide, which is located between two moraines.  Inside the snouts, the stalactites resemble crystal chandeliers suspended above the blue waters.  Four of the snouts are wide cave-like openings and the fifth is just a narrow outlet.  Born of the Alakapuri Glacier, the Alaknanda after touching the feet of Lord Badrivishal, flows on to Devprayag where it merges with Bhagirathi to form the fabled Ganga.

          To the right of the glacier, the Nilkanth Peak and several unnamed peaks can be seen.  Further to the north, one can view the Chaukhamba Peak in all its majesty.  The entire setting—the fabulous glacier, the cradle born Alaknanda and the glorious snow peaks—are really exalting and blissfully beautiful.

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Uttarakhand and spiritualism

Uttarakhand boasts of wonderful and fascinating places. There are several world fame religious and spiritual places, but the most talked about are Rishikesh and Haridwar towns. Many renowned celebrities and known persons have visited these twin towns and are the regular destinations for spiritualism. Following are the few examples:

Julia Roberts ;

Julia Roberts played a character, Liz Gilbert, in the film ‘Eat, Pray, love’ who came to India for some answers. In real life too, Julia has shown interest in the spiritual practice. The shooting for this movie was done in 2009 in India and while doing shooting she said, “I can see something like that (buying a house here) happening in the future. I would love to live near Haridwar or Varanasi, since they are such holy spots for Hinduism. I've heard land prices are astronomical high here, though.” Julia Robert has converted to Hinduism which may keep you guessing the reason.

The Beatles :

The well known group Beatles had a great fascination for Rishikesh. The Beatles took a trip to Rishikesh in Feb 1968. They took a meditation training session at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Ashram (now known as Beatles Ashram) for seven weeks. John Lennon, Paul Mc Cartney, George Harrison and Ringo were the members.  Lennon had even composed a song called ‘The Happy Rishikesh’ to show his affection for this town.

Stallon’s son’s shraadh in Haridwar :

Sylver Stallon and his family performed shraadh for his son, Sage, in Sep- Oct 2015 in Haridwar who died in 2012 of a heart attack.

The Kate Winslet waterfall :

Kate Winslet had visited Rishikesh inMay 1998 and took a bath in the Garud Chatti locality, 7 km from Rishikesh. Local people refer that waterfall as Kate Winslet waterfall.

Prince Charles and Camilla:

Britain’s Prince Charles and his wife Camilla Parker had visited Parmarth Niketan, Rishikesh two years back in 2013 to participate in Ganga Aarti. This visit took place just after Keadrnath tragedy of 2013. In the visitor’s diary, Prince Charles wrote, “I wish I could have never left Rishikesh. Fell in love with the holy aura of this city."    

There are many other places know for spiritualism in Uttarakhand. Dream Mountain also receives queries from different parts of the world for these holy towns. Some day in future, you might find a soul searching celebrity on our blog.

Birding paradise in Uttarakhand

Conservation of bird needs a lot more effort than just merely projecting them as a visual treat for the tourists. Uttarakhand government has been making planning to promote the state as ‘birding paradise’. There has not been a methodological approach towards the bird conservation as per the experts. Since, the plan to develop the state as bird watching destination for the revenue purpose so the strategy should be made accordingly.

The bird watching would be more beneficial if a proper knowledge is spread amongst the tourists about this species. Uttarakhand is blessed with natural diversity including variety of different species. There are several species of birds in the wilderness of Uttarakhand which can be a major source of income for the tourism and forest sectors.  The stress should be laid on the policy, conservation etc. for proper execution of this segment of the tourism.

Dr. Dinesh Bhatt, professor of zoology and environmental science and dean, faculty of life sciences at Gurukul Kangri University in Haridwar, is among 12 scientists selected for 27^th International Ornithological Congress to be held in Vancouver, Canada in Aug 2018. According to him the research on birds is the least concerned area of science in the state. Amateur birders go into the wild and list the bird species based on their presence but the listing should be based on ecology, breeding, global warming impacts and habitation. It is a sad situation that we do not know whether the bird species are flourishing or declining.  He said that the two species – River Lapwing and Painted Stork – need immediate attention because of the poaching threat.

Bhatt also raised the problem of lack of interest shown by the government in this area and not supporting to field scientists. The process of seeking the permission to conduct the research in the wild is so cumbersome that the experts drop the idea of doing it. So, the first priority should be to make the procedures simple to conduct the research.

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Eco-tourism and its impact

In recent times, apart from the traditional tourism, the eco-tourism has also become popular among the people. The people visit from oasis in Egypt to snorkelling sites at far flung and isolated destinations to avoid the mundane tourist crowd. However, according to the latest study it is being suggested that the interaction between the wildlife and the tourists puts the wildlife at the risk of predation due to bigger animals.

According to the researcher Daniel Blumstein of the University of California, USA, nearly 8 million people visit these kinds of protected areas in the name of eco-tourism every year. If all the humans on earth visit these protected areas, the interaction would make a big difference to the environment. The massive demand of eco-tourism and other nature based activities may add up the long list of environmental changes brought about by the humans. The report published in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution, views into the long-term effects of eco-tourism and urges the managers of all these protected areas to take these factors into account to assess the sustainability of the area. The researchers have laid stress to the fact that the objective of eco-tourism is to increase the biodiversity of the reserve, and not to diminish it.

Blumstein said that when humans and animals interact in a benign way, they might start to feel getting into comfortable zone and further feel bolder in other situations. When this boldness transfers to real predators, then they will be subject to higher mortality when they encounter real predators. The researcher also adds that the presence of humans might discourage natural predators and hence make smaller animals bold as well. This type of transfer in the system by the human puts animals at a greater risk in the presence of their natural predators and poachers.

The new study is being done on different animals to see their conditions due to the visitation by the human beings. In addition, Blumstein also wishes to see the level of exposure at which the animals start bringing the change in behaviour and bringing themselves into the danger.