High Altitude Jognis of Great Himalayan National Park

Dhela Jogni

Tirath Jogni

Because of the remoteness and inaccessible mountain terrain a distinct culture and religious practices have been developed in this part of Himachal Pradesh and high altitude areas are often associated with many sacred places .

In Great Himalayan National Park , there are many JOGNIS ( outdoor prayer sites ) which are associated with mother Goddess . During summers local deity ( Devta of the area) and villagers visit these places . Some of the prominent Jognis in GHNP are –

Tirath Jogni

Raktikhol Jogni

Raktiser Jogni

Supakuni Jogni

Sara top Jogni

Thini top Jogni

Socha thach Jogni

Rakhundi top Jogni

Socha thach Jogni

Shupakuni Jogni

Raktiser Jogni

Raktikhol Jogni

Rakti Jogni

Rakhundi Jogni

Shakti Maror trek of GHNP

View of Raktiser area from Gugnadhar

Shakti and Maror are the remotest villages of Kullu District . Shakti is around 17 km and Maror about 24 km from road head . Due to their isolation a distinct culture has been developed in the area . Devta ( Local deity ) is very powerful and govern almost all the aspects of local people's life.

Entire 17 km trek from Niharni to Shakti passes through dense forest along the Sainj river ( Great Himalayan National Park and Sainj Wildlife Sanctuary )

Area is also heaven for bird watchers , we recorded more than 40 bird species along the trek .

Water fall near Shakti village

view from Shakti trekking Hut

Temple at Shakti village

Dhela Thatch ( alpine pasture) of Great Himalayan National Park

Dhela Thatch area of Sainj valley is one of the most beautiful places of Great Himalayan national Park. Though it is a bit difficult to reach there because one has to trek 40 Kms from Neuli (road head) .

My recent trekking in GHNP

First Day
We started trekking from Gushani and my first halt was at Rola . .When we arrived Rolla , all of us were very tired and hungry too after walking whole day (around 12 km) . The helpers in our team made the surrounding comfortable by making fire and serving us hot food. Though it was simple but we found it very delicious… After discussing the details of next day programme we all entered our tents and slept in our cozy Sleeping bags. We could hear the howling sound of Tirthan River which often made us difficult to sleep….But we were very tired…so don’t know when all of us…closed our eyes and went into deep sleep…Though It was a very cold and chilled night .

Second Day
The morning was also very cold …after taking our quick breakfast we moved to our new destination …It was shilt. After trekking for 6 hrs we reached Shilt at 4 PM but there was no water so we moved further and reached Chhordwar. It was also very cold ( Altitude was more than 10000 ft) There we spent whole night in open sky as there was no shed. and tents were limited and all of us could not be accommodated. That night was very cold and I could not sleep and spent whole night gazing the sky , which looked darker and stars seemed brighter . In the moonlight, Asurbagh area of the GHNP was looking magnificent .

View of Asurbagh area from Chhordwara

View of tirthan sanctuary from Shilt

Third Day

We started our journey at 8 AM and went upto Rakhundi top area and during our trekking we recorded many direct and indirect evidences of wild animals . our plan was to visit the Guntao but due to paucity of time we could not visit that area and returned back to Chhordwara camp . Around 4 PM sky was very cloudy giving us alarm of snow…so we started our return journey to Rolla camp immediately and reached Rolla at around 7 PM .

Rock engraving near Chhordwara

Near Rakhundi

Fourth Day
Around 7 AM in the morning when we were planning to visit/trek Vasu forest suddenly snow flakes starting touching our head and faces and we took pace to reach the gate of GHNP before the poor weather could make our trekking/returning difficult..

Great Himalayan National Park

Last one month was very busy and I was too tired to update my blog as often as I want to. However during this period I visited so many areas of Great Himalayan National Park and other areas of Kullu and Mandi district . Last month I along with field staff of National Park trekked Tirthan area ( origin of Tirthan river ) of Great Himalayan National Park . It was 5 day trek and we travelled around 125 km in the interior areas of park . It was nice experience as terrain was difficult but it was very beautiful and full of surprises . We also spotted few wild animals including Western Tragopan but I could not take their photos

However I captured various shades of nature in my camera .

Gusaini Temple

Temporary bridge Near Rolla

view from Nada thach ( Altitude 3200 mt )

View from Majhoni ( 2nd day camping place , altitude 3500 mt )

Bhimdwara ( near tirthan )

Origin of tirthan river