There
are several folds of experiences to pour on this blog. Whenever I got spare
time, even few hours, I always wander around the laps of Himalayas. It was the
summer of 2007 when I had my first formal trek into the high altitude
landscapes. Since then, I had travelled extensively mainly for research, and
few for fun and recreation. Increasing the number of travels, number of stories
increases. Only few stories are stored in notebooks, however, all are safely
stored in mental chip and still fresh and complete!
When
I started this blog, I thought of presenting my travelogue only through an ecological
point of view. However later I realized that presenting just an ecological facet,
without their host landscapes and socio-cultural values would never be a
complete travelogue. You might have noticed these flavors in "Mustang"
posts as well, though I have not been able to fully incorporate the culture and
its significance to Nature. You know I am not a professional writer, and am
gradually learning the literate styles of writing. Therefore, I am thinking of
increasing the number of photographs in my posts for the greater understanding
out of my inattentive writings! I believe that 'a picture worth's a thousand
words', and you would love to see the scenic beauty in and around the Himalayas.
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| Closeup view of Gaurishanker Himalaya (a part of Rolwaling Himalayan Range) |
Let's
begin a brand new session of this blog (actually I am posting this post after
almost 2 years!) with a new piece of beautiful geography of Central Himalayas. I
am delighted to introduce you an entirely new and untouched (by the nasty
modernism) destination - The Kalinchok-Bigu Gumba Area of Northern Dolakha. I
will be presenting these landscapes into two different posts; The Kalinchok and
The Bigu Gumba (Monastery).
A.
Kalinchok Area
Locality:
Charikot,
Dolakha - a beautiful town at the top of midhill at an altitude of 1980 meter
from sea level on the lap of Gaurishanker Himalayas is 135 Km North-East from
the capital city, Kathmandu. Though it's a boarder of subtropical and temperate
climatic zones, it extends further to meet the high Himalayan alpine climate in
Kalinchok Peak, which is situated in an altitude of 3750 m. Political division
considers this peak as a reference point to separate two districts
Sindhupalchok and Dolakha. It takes almost a day hike, 6-7 hours to be precise,
to reach the peak. If you can't walk, please do not worry. Bus can drive you to
the foot of the Kalinchok (Kuree) from where walking just an hour is enough to
summit Kalinchok peak. There are several Hotels and Guest Houses at Kuree, so
do not worry about the accommodation. You can be choosy and enjoy a range of
hotels, cheap motels to expensive resort.
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| A view of Charikot, Dolakha and the Kalinchok Area |
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| Kalinchok Area during snowfall; captured on 17 February, 2013 |
Sanctity
Imagine
a mountain peak with just a few square meters at the top but have a highly
respectable and historic temple (called Kalinchok Temple) from where anyone can
have 360 degree panoramic view of Himalayas and its foot hills. Being a temple
at the peak with small space only is not the matter of surprise, however having
a small pond (Kunda) in the center of temple with water throughout the
year is really a center of attraction to everyone. Nobody adds water to that
pond rather every religious pilgrim extracts water believing that as sacred water;
splash of which purify and swipe away all your misdeeds.
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| Holy Kalinchok Temple Complex |
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| Holy Kalinchok Temple Complex, with a view of Gaurishanker Himalaya in background |
Religious
History:
It
is believed that Goddess Vagawoti had emerged from the Kunda. A fairy
tale relates the appearance of Goddess Vagawoti in Kali Avatar in ancient time
was to kill the demons called Sunda, Munda and Mahisasur. According to
the fairy tale, these demons were giant and deadly, and destroying human
civilization and killing everyone down in the villages. The Goddess Vagawoti
took the Kali Avatar to fight against them for the protection of Human beings.
The fairy tale further explains that, when Kali came down the Kalinchok peak at
Kuree (a small flat land at the bottom of peak), a troop of demons attacked
her. The fight lasted for few days and finally Kali killed them all. During the
time of war the blood of demons, due to massive massacre by Kali, got a form of
Small River to flow down the Valley. Local people relates this with a small
river (stream) flowing through Kuree Valley. Please see the picture below to
generalize how Kuree Valley looks like when captured from Kalinchok Peak
(Temple):
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| A view of Kuree as seen form the Kalinchok Temple |
Diversity
I
had been there quite a few times and every visits made were in different
seasons. So I was lucky to experience freezing cold to mild temperature, dry
rough topographic pastures to lovely green pastures full of natural herbs to
decorate landscapes with different flower colors, pleasant view of scenic
beauty sculptured by the blooming rhododendrons and the impressive snowfall. Anyone
can guess how difficult it is to summarize the delightful feelings within the
words. So I do not want to limit you in words rather would like to leave you
free for the lovely imaginations. Please have a look at the pictures capturing
the different aspects of Kalinchok:
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| A view of Kalinchok area decorated by the Rhododendrons |
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| Kalinchok forest Landscape captured with Rolwaling Himalayan Range |
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| A Rhododendron tree at full blooming stage |
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| An interior view of Kalinchok forest |
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| Peoples living around Kalinchok Area |
Ecology
As
a natural science scholar, the two weeks I spent, along with Mr. Janardhan
Mainali - Ecologist cum GIS Analyst, during the summer of 2010 remained highly
valuable. We had been able to record 241 plant species from the area; which
includes small delicate herbs to tall giant pine trees. It is interesting to
note that we have recorded 6 different species of Rhododendrons from the forest
of Kalinchok. Of these, few species for example, Rhododendron arboreum, R.
campanulatum and R. barbatum found to have few thick bands
presenting as a dominant species of different mountain forest types.
Especially, R. campanulatum is the one which constitutes pure stands in
different aspects to develop a separate forest type. This is the same species
which decorates Himalayan landscapes in spring when it is in full bloom with
different beautiful colors. See few glimpses below:
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| Rhododendron arboreum bud |
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| Rhododendron campanulatum bud |
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| A white flowered Rhododendron |
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| Rhododendron campanulatum |
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| A whitish-red flowered Rhododendron arboreum |
Scenic Beauty
As
mentioned earlier, we can have 360 degree view from the top of Kalinchok. We
can easily have a view of Rolwaling Himalayan Range and Ganesh Himalayas Range,
Sumeru prvat and some Tibetan mountains towards the Northern and Eastern
direction. A beautiful vista of valleys and series of mid hill landscapes can
be observed towards Southern and Western direction. Local peoples said that one
can easily see Dharahara at Kathmandu from the top. However this view is rare
these days due to the dense haze layers in environment. This can be a good
example of regional effect of Asian Brown Air and Pollution of Kathmandu
Valley.
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| Mt. Sumeru Parvat; a holy mountain |
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| A South-East View from Kalinchok Area |
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| A North-West View from Kalinchok |
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| A Southern View from Kalinchok |
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| View of Sun-Set as seen from Kalinchok Area |
Responsibility
The
forest of Kalinchok is experiencing severe pressure these days due to
unsustainable timber harvesting and illegal trade. Similarly the forests of R.
campanulatum, the landscape decorator, are under pressure due to their
excessive use as a fuel wood in the hotels at Kuree. The uncontrolled solid
waste pollution in one hand threatening local flora and fauna, and on the other
hand ruining the natural beauty of the landscapes.
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| Destruction in Kalinchok Area |
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| Forest encroachment in Kalinchok Area |
So, we should seriously think about the problem and act against pollution, otherwise we may lose several natural beauties in days to come and won't be left anything to handover to our future generations. Government of Nepal must initiate conservation and awareness campaigns immediately. The hotels running in Kuree should also be responsible to keep the beauty of Kalinchok intact. I also urge you to be a responsible CITIZEN/VISITOR/TOURIST.
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| Dependency on Forest Resources in Kalinchok Area |
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Primula : A FLOWER APPEALING FOR THE CONSERVATION OF ITS HABITAT
LETS JOIN OUR HANDS FOR THE BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION !!! |
