HIMALAYAS: Serenity and Diversity: Beauty and Perfection: The Gaurishanker Himalayas

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.

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.

A view of Charikot, Dolakha and the Kalinchok Area

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.

Holy Kalinchok Temple Complex

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):

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:

A view of Kalinchok area decorated by the Rhododendrons

Kalinchok forest Landscape captured with Rolwaling Himalayan Range

A Rhododendron tree at full blooming stage

An interior view of Kalinchok forest

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:

Rhododendron arboreum bud

Rhododendron campanulatum bud

A white flowered Rhododendron

Rhododendron campanulatum

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.

Mt. Sumeru Parvat; a holy mountain

A South-East View from Kalinchok Area

A North-West View from Kalinchok

A Southern View from Kalinchok

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.

Destruction in Kalinchok Area

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.