Trip to the Land of Mountains - Himachal Pradesh

Shoja - A Naturalist Delight

When I tried switching on the A/C in the Scorpio, it wouldnt work. So tried to down the windows electronically. That wouldnt work either. As there was no mechanical option to down the windows, we were now in a car which had literally become a furnace with the Chandigarh sun blazing fiercely. Not a great start to the journey!!! Our driver managed to find a mechanic, who checked the fuse, realised it was blown and replaced it. We started off at around 10:30 from Chandigarh on the way to Shoja.

We had arrived the earlier day at Delhi from Bangalore. We were met by the driver of our vehicle arranged by Banjara Camps people. He first drove us to Chandigarh, where we halted for the night and had food at a South Indian restaurant which was charging sky high rates !! The plan was to leave by 9 o clock the next morning to this place called Shoja but due to the aforementioned troubles, ended up leaving only around 10:30 am.

The drive was along the road to Kullu. We passed the towns of Bilaspur and Mandi. On this road, instead of taking a left and going into a tunnel towards Kullu, you need to go straight to reach Shoja. The scenery till this point isnt really breathtaking and doesnt prepare you for what lies ahead. Only after we cross this place, Himachal started to slowly reveal itself. We went into the Tirthan Valley. The river was crystal clear and lot of pine trees started appearing. The sun was on the last leg of its descent and the air was slowly cooling down. Around 6:30pm we stopped for some tea and it had become real cold. The air was chill and the cup of hot tea was very welcome. The place where we had tea, was surrounded by mountain ranges filled with pine trees and there was a small mountain stream flowing nearby. After the tea, we proceeded to the Banjara Camps resort at Shoja.

The setting of the resort blew us off and the scenery around the area casually brushed aside the tiredness we were feeling till then. The room we stayed was on a ledge of a mountain. From your verandah, which is covered with glass windows, you have the view of a pine covered mountain opposite to you. You also get a great view of the valley beneath and the snaking road which gets you up. You get to see a whole range of mountains, some of them covered with the coniferous forests, some of them on which some agriculture is taking place, some which have meadows on the top and some of which, at a distance, are snow covered. Gayathri and I, after seeing the place, simultaneously exclaimed, "Lets not do anything. Just lets sit and relax". Shoja will have this sort of impact on you. An extremely calm place, with very less of civilization around, no distractions like TV, this is the best place to be if you want to get away from all the urban sounds !! We did exactly that, which is to relax, on the day we landed. They had a bonfire going and we had some nice soup around the bonfire. After this we proceeded for dinner, which was delicious.

We decided to start the next day leisurely and we implemented the plan. After a leisurely breakfast we set off to a place called Jalori Pass. Preetam, who was our host, drove us there. The drive to Jalori pass was a short one but within those 5 to 10 mins, I could see a variety of trees around. I have no clue of their names but the brouchers mention names like Deodar, Pine, Fir, Cedar etc etc. I am sure all of these were around and lots more !! A naturalist would have died of sheer delight here. Added to this, we also were blessed with cloudy and pleasant weather.

The Jalori pass has nothing great around but you can trek from there to the Servalsar lake. We went to the meadows nearby and saw some shepherds coming down from the mountains with their mountain goats. Looks like these guys dont stay at one place and keep moving to lower altitudes in winter and go the other way during summer. Ranjani and Harini loved the goats and kept touching them. The goats were of a different kind and had a covering of wool quite different from what we would see around here. We took snaps of the shepherds and showed them the photo on the digital camera's display.

On the way back from Jalori pass, we stopped at a place were there was some snow, not lots. Ranjani and Harini played with snow for some time while I took photos of the mountains around. Again I was stunned by the range of trees around and was able to get some shots with trees of different colors in the shot. I am sure this area will be superb during autumn when the leaves change color.

A small distance before the resort is a trail through the pine forest which leads to a waterfall. The trek is supposed to take around 45 mins to 1 hr. We started and went around 500 mts when we saw lightning and heard the thunder. It was quite dark and the prospects of rain were bright, while the weather was not !!! So we decided to head back to the camp. As we were coming back, we encountered two dogs, one of which the kids had seen earlier at the resort and had made friends with. Ranjani and Harini were very thrilled to see these dogs and wanted to get the dogs back in our Scorpio so that they didnt get drenched in the rain. We had to explain to them that dogs took much better care of themselves and knew how to protect themselves from the elements. They half heartedly left the dogs behind and got into the car. As soon as we reached the resort, it started pouring. For once we had made the right decision :)

Had a nice lunch, rested for some time and then Preetam took us for a village walk. By this time some more families had come in and all of us went to this walk together. This walk took us to the village which is adjacent to the Banjara property. The trail we were walking threw up some amazing scenes of beauty around that it would have been very easy to exhaust the memory of your camera in a matter of few minutes. The lush green fields, the garlic plants, the various trees, the setting sun lighting up the mountains beautifully and the charming village. It was a small but memorable walk. The kids in the village were playing cricket with a ball made of thick rubber bands and paper !!! I tried my hand at bowling to a kid. I tried my off spin but the ball wouldnt spin !! Most of the people went back but Preetam, I and another gentleman trekked up a small hill nearby. A steep but a nice climb.

At Shoja, there are quite a few activities that you can indulge in. There is a mountain with meadows on the top offering a 360 degree view of the whole place. This takes around hour and half trek from Jalori pass. Looks like there is a steep climb for around 20 mins to reach the summit. The other option is to trek to the Servalsar lake from Jalori pass. Or trek to the waterfall from the resort itself. Ofcourse there is also the village trek that I spoke about.

When we got to Shoja and to the Banjara Resort, we met Rajesh Ojha, who is the co-founder of Banjara. I can only describe him as a very natural person. He is very casual, knows a lot about the area and is extremely friendly. My daughters took an instant liking to him. He can give you a lot of information about the areas there and also about the Himalayas.

The other thing the kids love here are the dogs that keep coming in. Lot of them seem to be some sort of sheep dogs. They belong to someone in the village but they keep coming to this resort and are extremely friendly. The kids love playing with them and feeding them. My kids were constantly asking for the dogs and when we were about to leave they didnt want to leave till they had said their goodbyes to the dogs.

There was a bonfire that night. The kids enjoyed themselves by playing dumb charades and by feeding the dog, named Johny. (The dog that met us during the trek was called Roney). They also played carroms, which was kept outside the dining room. After a nice dinner, we went to sleep, preparing ourselves for the drive to Sangla the next day.