View from a Guest House in Auli

Why Visit

Known as ‘Bugyal’, meaning meadow, in the regional language, Auli is located at an altitude of 2915 to 3049 m has one of the best slopes in the world offering skiing from mid-December to March. Tourists come to Auli to ski on a 3 kilometre long slope while taking in majestic views of Central Himalayan peaks such as Nanda Devi (7817 m), Kamet (7756 m), Mana Parvat (7273 mtrs) and Dronagiri (7066 m). The skiing centre was set up in Auli in 1984 and is professionally run by GMVN.

Auli is connected to Joshimath with a 3.92 km long cable car as well as a 14 km long road. There is also 500 metre long chair lift linking the lower and upper slopes.

Rock climbing In Auli

What to Do

1. Skiing: Auli has started gaining popularity as a prime skiing destination. Skiing facilities are available from GMVNL which offers certificate and non certificate course ranging from 4 days to 14 days. The courses include stay, food, ski gear charges and guide. Some enterprising and talented locals also provide ski equipment and instruction to tourists.
2. Artificial lake: A small lake located adjacent to Hotel Cliff Top is the world’s highest man-made lake. It was primarily developed with the objective of creating artificial snow on the new ski slopes in the event of low snow fall. The water from this lake will be used to feed the snow guns stationed along the ski slopes and thus provide a good skiing surface and an extended ski season.
3. Photography: a 270 degree view of the Himalaya from Auli is a photographer’s delight and enough to make you forget the long and tiring ride to reach Auli. Ski lift rides in the evening are a must for the great views of snow clad mountains and the ever changing colors as the sun sets.
4. Trekking: Apart from skiing there are some trek options available. The following is a list of some of the more popular day hikes: Auli – Gorson trek (7 km); Gorson – Tali trek (6 km); Tali – Kuari Pass trek (11 km); Kuari Pass – Khulara trek (12 km); and Khulara – Tapovan trek (9 km).
   

   Guest House in Auli

5. Religious connections: Auli-Joshimath lies on the way to the Badrinath route and during the winter, Badrinath and the temple are closed for 5–6 months due to heavy snow fall. However, the deity statute is brought and kept in a temple at Joshimath. In Auli there is a small Hanuman temple and its said that Hanuman halted at Auli on the way to get the herb ‘Sanjivani’ found only on Sanjivani mountain.
6. Other activities: There is a training facility of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. This force is responsible for guarding Indian borders at high altitude. Five kilometres towards Badrinath is a Hydro Power project on the Alaknanda river
7. Places around Auli:  Vishu Prayag, where the Alaknanda river meets Dauli Ganga; Joshimath, also known as ‘Jyotirmath’, the place of Jyotirlinga of Shiva and Badrinath, is one of the four Dhaams. 15 km from Auli is Tapovan, which means meditation forest, where one can visit a temple and a hot water spring.

What to Know

View from a Guest House in Auli

Duration of stay: a two night three day stay is recommended.

How to Reach

Air: The closest airport for Auli is Jolly Grant, Dehradun located at a distance of 298 km.

Rail: The nearest railhead is 276 km from Auli at Rishikesh, and since not many trains travel to Rishikesh, it’s better to take a train to Haridwar.

Road:  Joshimath is the nearest town with frequent bus service to and from Dehradun. One can also take either a cable car or hired jeeps/taxis from Joshimath to Auli.

View of the Himalaya from Chakrata

Why Visit

Chakrata, known earlier as Jaunsar Bawar, is a quaint little hill station and cantonment area situated between the Yamuna and Tons rivers. Located in Dehradun district at an elevation of 2,270 meters, Chakrata has a spectacular view of the mighty Himalayas. To the east of Chakrata, lies the famous Mussoorie and to the west lies kaleidoscopic Kinnaur.

Chakrata is an ideal spot for nature lovers, bird watchers, and adventure seekers who are keen to explore the Jaunsar landscape and learn more about the local culture. One can also go for trekking, village walks, jungle walks, skiing (in winters), and camping. An interesting fact about Chakrata is that he literacy rate is 75% which is more than then national average. Foreigners have restricted access to the military cantonment of Chakrata and must obtain a permit from the Commandant 22 Force c/o 56 APO.

Chakrata countryside

What to Know

1. During the colonial period, Chakrata was the furthest one could access in the upper Himalayas via a motorable road and hence it emerged as a major trading town.
2. In the foothills of Chakrata, Kalsi contains remnants of the Ashoka period as evident from a Pillar Rock edict made up of quartz is 10ft in length and 8ft in breadth, built in 450 B.C.
3. Polyandry was followed for quite some time as per Jaunsari customs and traditions. It is said the custom has been followed since the Mahabharata period.
4. Temple architecture in the area is quite unique; typically with two stories, the ground floor is generally used for storage place and the first floor housing the deity.
5. Temples of Lakhamandal are said to date back to the Mahabharata period where the famous Lakshagrah episode happened.
6. Heun Tsang, a Chinese traveller visited Chakrata in 635 A.D.
7. There are numerous places of interest in and around Chakrata, such as Tigerfall, Deoban, Kanasar, Mundal, and Chilmiri Neck.

Duration of stay: a 3 night 4 day is recommended.

Stay options: from Rs 300 per person onwards. Visit RTNE for details.

Colonial Hotel in Chakrata

How to Reach

By Air: The nearest airport is Jolly Grant in Dehradun from which a bus or taxi is required to reach Chakrata.

By Train: The nearest railway station is Dehradun where bus and taxies connect to Chakrata. If coming from New Delhi, the Jan Shatabdi Express (2055) to Dehradun is the best option.

By Road: Chakrata is 92 km from Dehradun via Kalsi and 335 km from Delhi.

The road to Chakrata

What to Note

• There is no petrol pump in Chakrata; the nearest petrol pump is at Vikas Nagar, 50 KM before Chakrata.
• If driving, be prepared with snacks in case of road closures due to land slides or traffic jams due to inclement weather.
• Chakrata can get cold, especially in the winter, so bring woolens.

For more information on Chakrata, please visit RTNE.

A cabin and camp elephant in the K. Gudi Wilderness Camp

Seven tigers in one day. That was the record among the current group of guides at the Kyatadevara Gudi (K. Gudi) Wilderness Camp in Karnataka’s Biligiriranga Swamy Temple (BRT) Wildlife Sanctuary. It was our last night in the sanctuary, and the affable camp manager, Ashish Tirkey, was regaling Jennifer and me with safari stories that were nearly as enjoyable as the camp chef’s freshly made gulab jamun. Unlike India’s famous tiger reserves, such as Jim Corbett and Kanha National Parks in Northern India or the much closer Bandipur and Nagarhole National Parks, the heavily forested and mountainous BRT Wildlife Sanctuary has never been known as a tiger Mecca, so seven in one day was an impressive and envious day.

We had finished our third and final jeep safari earlier that evening and had seen not even a trace of a tiger. Our last chance at a sighting would be during our morning trek through the forests above camp. Then it was back to Mysore for the overnight train to Chennai. Tigers were really never the goal of our trip to the wildlife sanctuary. We were drawn to the sanctuary’s lush mountainous forests with over 800 species of plant life, its diverse wildlife teeming with elephants, leopards, sloth bears, wild cattle, langur monkeys and its small ridge top camp offering solitude amidst the unfenced wilderness. A tiger sighting was to be the cherry on top, the gulabjamun of our trip.

Located in south-eastern Karnataka near the Tamil Nadu border, the BRT Wildlife Sanctuary, which encompasses 540 sq. km, is featured in very few travel guidebooks and is completely ignored by Lonely Planet’s current Indian edition, save for a meager listing on its map of Karnataka. Lonely Planet readers’ loss is our gain, as there are only two other guests enjoying the camp when we arrive on a Thursday. The camp, however, remains popular with the weekend warrior set from Mysore and Bangalore and was fully booked on the Saturday of our departure.

Elephant in the BRT Wildlife Sanctuary

Even when fully booked, the camp, with eight double-bedded tented cottages and three log cabins, never feels crowded. All tents and cabins have attached baths (and hot water in the morning) as well as roomy porches looking out into the forest and down to the plains below. Although electricity is available for just a few hours in the morning and in the evening, it is never really missed. Jennifer and I shared a log cabin near the edge of the camp, and we could have been content to spend our entire stay on our front porch, letting the wildlife come to us. The camp’s elephants were fond of grazing directly outside our cabin while families of wild hogs nervously ran the footpaths and barking deer moved stealthily through the forest just below. According to Ashish, leopards and tigers have also been spotted in the camp.

A stay at K. Gudi camp includes all meals and two safaris each day, one at 6:30 am and another at 4:30 pm. Jennifer and I arrived in the afternoon and no sooner had we dropped our bags and enjoyed warm mugs of chai and coffee than we were shuffled into a waiting jeep for our first safari. Leaving camp our eyes were locked on the forest speeding by as just the day before a tiger was spotted from the road not far from camp. Once deep in the forest the jeep rambled along the rugged road from water hole to water hole. The drive is continuously interrupted by the sharp eyed guide and driver who are both able to spot wildlife hidden deep in the bush. The highlight of that first safari was the herd of 10 female elephants we found playing and bathing in a small watering hole.

Forest Trek in the BRT Wildlife Sanctuary

The highlight of our stay at K. Gudi was the morning trek on our last day. Just Jennifer, myself and our guide Lokesh on a misty, cool morning, it felt great to hit the trail and stretch the legs especially after three consecutive jeep safaris. There is a feeling of intimacy while walking through the forest that is missed in a jeep bouncing between water holes on bumpy forest roads. One can feel the softness of the earth underfoot, the denseness of the jungle and the thrill of not knowing what might be lurking around the next bend. Unlike the jeep safari, the focus of the trek wasn’t solely on spotting wildlife but on understanding the ecology of the forest. Sure, it would have been epic to have spied a tiger bounding down the trail. Yet following faint elephant tracks through the cool jungle while langurs played in the tree tops before having to descend to the humid plains below was as satisfying as any tiger sighting.

For information on the BRT Wildlife Sanctuary and K. Gudi Wilderness Camp, visit the Jungle Lodges website or Ashish Tirkey’s wonderful photoblog.

KGFS and RTNE’s presentation at Uttarakhand’s World Tourism Day Celebration

Villages are not mini-Disneylands created for the pleasure of visitors. They are home to several hundred people who love where they live. In recent times these people have opened their gates for tourists to visit and explore their lifestyles and share the joy of living together true to the Indian sensibility of “Athithi Devo Bhavah”. Uttarakhand Forest Department has been very proactive in promoting sustainable tourism in the state and is committed to ensuring tourism has a low impact on the local culture and environment while helping to generate income and employment for local people. To further this initiative World Tourism Day was celebrated in Dehradun organized by GTZ and Uttarakhand Forest Department. The event was inaugurated by the Governor of Uttarakhand Mrs. Margaret Alva.

Sahastradhara KGFS with RTNE jointly participated in the event. A kiosk was put up where both entities showcased their work. All prominent agencies working in the space of rural tourism and conservation in Uttarakhand participated in full strength. Different rural tourism themes such as cultural tourism, ecotourism, spiritual tourism and adventure tourism were on display by several organizations working across Uttarakhand. The Governor and Chief Minister of Uttarakhand took a keen interest in understanding the various initiatives.

Governor Margaret Alva made the most befitting remark delineating the need to develop tourism in accordance with the ethos of environment. She rubbished the idea of building five-star hotels in the hills saying, “we need small environment-friendly hotels, clean self-service restaurant which should have clean water and medication facilities jelling well with the concept of preserving the environment of the area.”

Rural tourism’s greatest potential benefit is its ability to generate money which can translate in to numerous positive economic opportunities for locals and their communities. For locals the first benefit of tourism development is an increase in livelihood opportunities within the tourism sector. Tourism development means more income and profits for tourist related business. If local income from tourists is spent within the local area this would result in a multiplier effect leading to an increase in local income and opportunities. The tourism industry is a major contributor to the economy of Uttarakhand. In the year 2009-10 the total population of Uttarakhand was 84.89 lakhs while the number of tourist travelling in the state was 232.72 lakhs (Uttarakhand, directorate of Economics and Statistics 2009-10). Although tourism is the major economic activity in Uttarakhand, rural tourism is still in a nascent stage in the state.

All organizations at the event emphasized on access to finance and marketing as the key challenge

The idea of this joint participation between RTNE and Sahastradhara KGFS was to create awareness about the entities and explore potential partnership and investment opportunity in the field of rural tourism with NGOs, tour operators, entrepreneur and government agencies. In a SWOT analysis the following day which was presided over by Mr. Rajiv Bharthari, Director Ecotourism, all organizations at the event emphasized on access to finance and marketing as the key challenge.

Most of these initiatives have been supported by the state government and donor agencies and fall apart once support is withdrawn. The challenge is creating sustainable businesses. It was also felt that government policy is not clear on the definition of rural tourism and that the support available for such initiatives is piecemeal. Pricing of rural tourism products is also high and mostly caters to international market. Attempts need to be made to design products in sync with the four A’s (Adaptability, Affordability, Acceptability and Availability) of rural marketing as well as to tap the increasing spending power of the burgeoning Indian middle class.

The two day event ended on a positive note. A rural tourism forum for Uttarakhand has been created of which both RTNE and Sahastradhara KGFS are a part. The event generated a good response for both organizations and carved a way forward for the two to work jointly on the creation of rural tourism products in the state as part of the “Uttarakhand Simply Heaven” story.

For a country that liberally promotes its wildlife, the list features not a single game park. I would have though either Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand,  Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh or Bandipur National Park in Karnataka, all world class wildlife reserves, would have made the list.

Also conspicuously absent is the mother of all Indian destinations, Agra – home of the Taj Mahal and a modern wonder of the world. Perhaps it’s not all that surprising considering that many people opt to day trip to Agra from Delhi and often return underwhelmed by the Taj and more impressed with nearby Fatehpur Sikri.

Bangalore is another head scratcher. Sure it experiences some of the best weather in the country, is in a state with some of the most liberal liquor laws and serves as a great jumping off point for Southern Karnataka, but I’m not sure I’d place it in my top 25. Also questionable is the choice of both Haridwar and Rishikesh, considering that they’re only about 25 km from each other. And where is Varanasi?

Moving on to the top world destinations, only one Asian destination, Tokyo at six, manages to make TravelAdvisor’s top 25 list, which is suspiciously dominated by well-worn Western European hot spots.

Perhaps most surprising, though, is that not a single Asian destination was picked in TripAdvisor’s Top 10 Emerging Destinations list, six of which are in Western Europe and the rest in Central and South America. Eastern Europe maybe, but how can any place in Western Europe be considered emerging? The heavy European and Latin American bias in both lists makes one wonder who are these travelers? My guess is  tea partiers from Middle America…

It’s a difficult task for sure, but if I had pick my top 5 emerging destinations in India, the list would have to include:

So what are your top 5 picks for emerging destinations in India?

Panoramic View

Mahabaleswar, popularly known as the Queen of Hill, is a must visit not only in the hot summer months but also during the monsoon. Nestled in Maharashtra’s Sahyadri range at an altitude of 1,372 m, Mahabaleswar is only a six hour drive from Mumbai and 2hr drive from Pune.

Named after Lord Shiva, who is also known as Lord Mahabali, Mahabaleshwar is a paradise on the Western Ghats and has something for everyone young and old: trekkers, shopaholics and travellers looking to simply relax and admire Mother Nature. Among Mahabaleshwari’s many attractions are:

Lodwick Point: named after General Lodwick, the first English officer to climb the hill in 1824, the point offers a bird’s eye view of the valley.

Splendid Hills

Elphinstone Point: a great spot for lounging and admiring the valley view, Elphinstone Point is ideal for picnics.

Wilson Point: with three observation towers, Mahabaleswar’s highest point offers a spectacular sunrise view and is aptly nicknamed Sunrise Point.

Veena Lake: With its picture-postcard sight, boating facilities and stalls for games and snacks, this place keeps busy late into the night. For children, a ride in the mini train is an added attraction.

Mahabaleshwari’s bazaar: located in the center of town, the bazaar is a pedestrian-only street with shops selling everything from fancy locally-made walking sticks to snacks and the specialty of the region – roasted chickpea nuts.

Pratapgadh Fort

Pratapgadh Fort: famous for its story of victory of Shivaji over Afzal Khan, the fort’s detailed architecture, from the hidden cave at the entrance to the strategically placed watch towers, is fascinating.

Mahabaleshwar is also known as the Land of Strawberries. So don’t forget to enjoy strawberry ice cream, strawberry milk shakes and strawberry fudge.

For more info and a list of great stay options, please visit RTNE.

Market access has always been an issue with stay options located in remote rural locations, but this would not be the same in future. In its efforts to provide market reach to remote rural stay options, RTNE has partnered with Magic Rooms Solutions (India) Private Limited providing a home stay instant access to more than 5000 travel agents and many mainstream travel portals.

Magic rooms will distribute the inventory of rural accommodations seamlessly across thousands of travel agents and online channels across the world. The integration allows users to view all available room inventories across all hotels in India onto a single window, thus allowing users to access room availability, make instant bookings, confirm and conclude transactions in minutes.

MagicRooms is conceived and developed by a group of leading players in the travel and IT industry. The team is headed by Niranjan Gupta, the owner of one of Bangalore’s leading travel mart chains, and the founder of flightraja.com, India’s leading B2B airline booking website. The company received Venture Capitalist (VC) funding earlier this year and has also undergone a re-branding strategy keeping in mind the future growth potential of the hotel GDS. Initially, the company will target travel agents from metro cities to book hotels through Magicrooms.in, and will later tap agents from Tier I and II cities.

Saurabh Jha, Team Member, RTNE said, “With increasing popularity of Rural Tourism in India, more and more travel operators are focusing on this segment. However, due to scarcity of accommodation options in rural destinations, it is tough to sell these destinations. Thus, by aggregating all budget accommodation options, we are building a GDS to enhance the Rural Tourism segment and also provide budget accommodation to travellers in metro cities.” 
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