Thanks Balkar ji for excellent educative introduction and lovely set of photographs. It seemed I was actually a part of this great trip. Hope to make one in next June-July.
-- Dr. Gurcharan Singh Retired Associate Professor SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007 Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018. Phone: 011-25518297 Mob: 9810359089 http://www.gurcharanfamily.com/ http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/ On Sat, Aug 18, 2012 at 10:04 PM, Balkar Singh <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear All > As announced by Dr Gurcharan Singh Ji, we are going to celebrate Valley of > Flowers Week from August 20 to September 2, 2012. All uploads of your > VoF trip should have a subject line "VoF Week:.....................(plant > name or unique ID code (ddmmyy+initials+upload number for the day) from > ................(Place)" As suggested By Dr Gurcharan Singh Ji. Here I > am giving a brief intro of Valley of flowers and Hemkund Sahib. > > VoF and other nearby places are situated in Chamoli District of > Uttrakhand State of India. Chamoli is the second largest district of > Uttarakhand. > Chamoli District is worldwide famous for its beautiful hill stations, > picturesque spot and religious places including very famous Pilgrimage > spots such as Badrinath <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badrinath>, > kerdarnath, Tungnath <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tungnath> and > Joshimath<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshimath>, > Hemkund Sahib. This area also have option for adventures people who are > fond of trekking in mountains such places are Devaria-Taal, Vedni-Bugyal, > Auli-Bugyal, Gurson-Bugyal and Roopkund. Name of Chopata, Chamoli and > Gvaaldam can be viewed as a Beautiful hill stations. > > Valley of Flowers, Auli and Hemkund Sahib are > situated around Joshimath. we may reach to joshimath by local transport > like Buses shared taxies/sumo or by own vehicle. Road from haridwar to > joshimath is good besides having landslides at few places. Landslides are > also not a big worry as this road is maintained by Border Road > Organisation. After landslides BRO clears this road within hours. The > distance from Haridwar to Joshimath is about 280 Kms. from Joshimath we may > go towards Badrinath Dham or Auli andd towards Valley of Flowers and > Hemkund Sahib via Govindghat. Buses Taxies etc Runs only upto Govindghat. > You may park your car there in big parkings for 4-5 days by giving one time > charges 500 Rs. > > After Govindghat for reaching Ghangriya we may hire mules @Rs > 720 (Govt approved rate) for one mule. Or may book seat in Helicopter @ Rs > 3500/ Or may go by foot. This distance of 13 Kms from Govindghat to > Ghangriya can be covered in less than 5 minutes by Helicopter, in about 3-5 > Hours by Mule and from 6-12 hours by foot (12 hours by foot if doing > photography in the way). For this 13 kms way you can also book porter > (Kandi) for childern and Palki (carried by 4 persons) for adults. However > charges of the palki are higher. You also have to book your luggage on > mules on sharing basis. > > In Govindghat for stay there is a big Gurudwara with all facilities > (even better than Hotels there) and more than 100 rooms and many halls for > groups. Hotels are available there on double or triple sharing basis > starting from the range of Rs 100 per bed to 500 per bed per night. This > rate may be high in june as June is the very crowded season there. In > Ghangriya the charges of the hotels are slightly higher than Govindghat and > here also a big Gurudwara is there with better facilities. Ghangriya is a > base camp for both destinations ie valley of flowers and Hemkund sahib. You > can not stay at night in Hemkund Sahib as well as in VoF. > > From Ghanghriya the entrance of valley of flowers is about 1 Kms and > after this gate main valley starts after 3 kms and you may go upto 5 kms > more (Total 1+3+5 Kms). facilities of mules are not available for VoF. > However upto the main entrance of Valley (3Kms from Gate) we may hire Kandi > (A porter with back basket for carrying luggage as well as persons). In > main valley one has to go by foot only. Daily after 2:00 PM or even before > usually rain starts (particularly from 25 June to end of August) so one > should go as early as possible. Valley opens daily at 7 AM in Morning. The > entry charges for Indian Nationals are Rs 150 for 3 days. The valley > remains open from 1 June to 31 October every year. The flora of valley > changes from June to October a lot. Flowers one can find in June will not > be there in end of july or august. For covering whole flora of valley > atleast 4 visits are needed first near 15 June second near 10 July > Third around 5 August and fourth around 1 September. As per my opinion > about 600 species of flowering plants may be there in VoF, Hemkund Sahib, > Auli and Badrinath area (Total area of all these spots is within 50 Kms > range in Nanda Devi Biosphere reserve). We could find about 300 species > during this tour. Flora changes a lot from place to place. Plants were > different in all ways ie from way to Govindghat to Ghanghriya, from > Ghangriya to VoF, Ghanghriya to H sahib. Even plants were different in > different areas of Valley. > > Trekking to Hemkund Sahib is of abut 6 Kms and mules are availble for > Hemkund Sahib. Mule charges about 500-800 for H sahib. Trek to H sahib is > more difficult to climb than Govindghat Ghangriya and VoF. Climbing is > steep and zigzag. The way to H sahib is also very beautiful;l and one can > see thousands of Brahm Kamal there. The height of Hemkund sahib > is around 4300 meters. We could find about 80 flowers different than that > of VoF on H sahib trek. Scenic beauty of Hemkund sahib is Picturesque. The > Gurudwara closed daily at 2:00 Pm and all have to go to Ghanghriya daily as > no option of stay is there in H sahib. The Langar we received there in > Gurudwara was very good and delicious. On the way to H sahib there are many > tea stalls for tourists where you can have snacks and beverages. > With this mail I am attaching some pictures of Beauty of places and way. > Hope I will be able to through some light on the flora of valley in next > mail by today evening. > Thanks > > -- > Regards > > Dr Balkar Singh > Head, Deptt. of Botany and Biotechnology > Arya P G College, Panipat > Haryana-132103 > 09416262964 > > -- > > > > --
