The Pabbar near Sandasu |
I had spent several days at the government guest house in Sandasu along the Pabbar river waiting for my trekking companions to turn up, keeping myself fit with long walks. A day before our planned meeting I was informed that the trek had been cancelled.
I decided to explore Pabbar valley on my own. At the dhaba across from the guest house I learnt that it was possible to trek up the Pabbar valley to Chandra Nahan, a series of lakes that fed the Pabbar river. Guides (usually shepherds) could be found in Janglik, the last habitation on the Pabbar. I made a plan to visit Janglik the next day. What follows is the record from my diary.
6th June: Sandasu - Tangnu - Janglik - Sandasu
View from Tangnu |
After walking 2 or 3 km, we get a lift in a jeep. We pass a dam site with construction in progress. Retaining walls along the side have collapsed - I learn during the floods of last year. This is a mini hydel project - 2*25 MW, one of many along the Pabbar and its tributaries. Construction seems lackadaisical - there are few workers to be seen, structures are incomplete and rubble strewn around the sites with none of the original greenery left. Metal roads have been turned into dusty tracks exposing road users to a constant cloud of dust.
Tangnu and its fields |
Janglik is on the right bank of the Pabbar like Tangnu, but separated by a deep chasm created by a tributary of the Pabbar, the Supin Khad. The road to Janglik winds down from Tangnu to bridge the chasm and then rises again. The short cut I take cuts through paddy fields to the bridge. On the other side, the road has turned to mud and rubble from the movement of heavy equipment. There is a dust haze over a barren area with warning signs and heavy earth working machinery. The Pabbar lies to the right. The road ascends a steep hill to the left to Janglik village.
Village temple, Janglik |
The entire hillside has been taken over by the hydroelectric project to house workers and equipment. The project goes by the name of Tangnu
Dhamwari (Romai) hydel project executed by the Tangnu Romai Power Generation Pvt Ltd. ( apparently a special purpose vehicle of PCP International Ltd and the NSL group). It is one of the many projects coming up on the Pabbar river.
The waters of the Supin Khad are diverted into a tunnel three km upstream of its junction with the Pabbar. The tunnel goes through the hill on which Janglik village is located and deposits the waters of the Supin Khad into the Pabbar a little upstream of the natural confluence of the two, where a barrage dams the waters of the two rivers.
It is extremely unpleasant walking on the dusty road under a hot sun up the hill. I find shortcuts used by the workers and scramble up till I reach what is presumably a canteen for project workers. Here I find a Janglik villager who is prepared to take me to Chandranahan the next day. We settle on his fee and the logistics for the trip after which he takes me on a tour of the village.
My guide, Shish Kumar has some sort of casual employment at the project - he claims to be a supervisor of a work gang earning Rs 12000-15000 a month. He is willing to absent himself without giving notice to go with me. At his home I meet his wife and his 80 year old father who is wrinkled beyond imagination. Waiting for the lunch - khichidi - to be prepared, I have some time to get acquainted with Shish Kumar.
View from the road near Tangnu |
Janglik school has only one teacher. Shish Kumar prefers to send his children to a private school and they stay with their aunt away from the village. He does not get much income from his land - the apple trees are only 10 years old and not mature and the condition of the roads makes it difficult to transport and sell cash crops like potato and onion. So these are mostly consumed locally. Shish's ancestors are shepherds and he still owns a large flock though he has outsourced its care.
One end of Janglik |
In spite of maintaining a brisk pace and using all available shortcuts, I miss the 2.30 bus out of Tangnu. After walking a bit, I get a lift in a jeep that acts as a school ferry, transporting teachers from a school near Tangnu back home closer to Rohru. Two women police constables board the jeep. They have been recently posted from Mandi to the project area. Smartly dressed, confident, bright, they hold their own among the male government officials in the jeep. The main problems they have to deal with, I learn, are fights between workers and stealing of company property.
Shish Kumars House, Janglik |
It is a slow day. I walk to Chirgaon and do some shopping in preparation for the next days trek. That evening, I return to Janglik and stay the night with Shish in his 2 story wooden house. He has arranged a sleeping bag for me that we will carry. Hiring a tent turns out to be very expensive, so we plan to stay in shepherd shelters.
8th June: Janglik (9300 ft) to Litham Thatch (11600 ft)
Dayara |
Shepherds camp at Dayara |
We resume our walk. Further ahead, looking up into the Pabbar valley, Shish points out the Gunas pass - a flat top towards the right. Buran pass is hidden by a turn the valley takes to the left. By 1.45pm, we are at another meadow named Litham Thatch (3550m). This is our destination for the day.
We sit down in front of a shelter where we are joined by a couple of shepherds. The shelter is made entirely of flat stones piled one on top of another without the use of any cementing material. We take out our packed lunch - boiled eggs and roti with egg bujiya, sharing it with the others.
First view of Gunas pass |
I am tempted to attempt the pass the next day. A major part of my luggage is still in Shish's place in Janglik. But there is a solution for that - the shepherd who has come from Sangla is heading for Janglik anyway. He is willing to go there and come back with my bag in time for us to leave next morning. He is also willing to guide us over the pass and carry my bag over, though he will not come all the way to Sangla.
View of Gunas pass from Litham |
Soon it is time to prepare dinner. For the shepherds, it is going to be chapati and a curry made from the brain of the sheep that was slaughtered earlier. I am content with a tasteless khichidi that Shish cooks for me using one of the few vessels that the shepherds possess. I have to quickly eat it up as the same vessel will be used for making the brain curry. The head of the sheep is placed over the fire to remove the skin and hair. The skull is then smashed into small pieces and thrown into a broth.
As the evening progresses, there is a strong bitterly cold breeze blowing and I am chilled to the bone. The shepherds see me shivering and give me a blanket to cover myself. The breeze apparently starts up the same time every evening but thankfully subsides after a while. Otherwise I would be frozen stiff tonight.
The shelter at Litham |
The rotis are cooked on a fire inside the shelter. A fat lump of dough is patted down by hand and baked over the fire for the oldest dog, a 14 year old and wearing a jagged metal collar as protection against wild cats.
I am informed that he is very fierce and readily takes on wild animals - he has been mauled once by a big cat. The other dogs are just given lumps of uncooked dough - they are fit and can digest it. The shepherds then set upon the brain curry, leaving the chewed up bones for the dogs.
Dinner over, I slip into my sleeping bag. The others - Shish and two shepherds - share a huge blanket. One of them is a old man - perhaps over 60 years. He has been doing the cooking. The other is a tall and handsome young man - Prem I will call him - who has been spending time with the sheep all evening. (Prem was actually his brothers name. I met him while walking from Tangnu to Janglik)
Long shot of Chandranahan waterfall from Litham |
There are exactly 865 sheep in his flock, and four shepherds are taking care of them. Two have gone back to Janglik for a rest, while Prem and his elder companion remain with the herd. Every few days, there is a change of hands and another batch of four shepherds will replace them. The sheep belong to various families in the village. About 40, if I remember right, belong to Shish kumar. The flock under their care consists of both sheep and goats.
Looking up towards Chadranahan from up closer |
I learn that the sheep spend the summer in these high altitude pastures, moving from pasture to pasture every few days when the available fodder gets exhausted.. Villages have their own reserved pastures.The winter grazing grounds are in the foothills. So there is an yearly migration. Around Oct 15 to 20, they start on a trek to Paonta Sahib via Khara Patthar. The journey takes 30 to 35 days. A permit is needed for grazing in the forests of Nahan near Paonta Sahib. The permit costs 30-40 p/cattle and 70 p/sheep.
Half way up to the waterfall |
It is a steep climb alongside a frozen stream. Our target is the head of a water fall visible from Litham thatch. We make our way up skirting the hard snow but are forced by the topography to cross the steep frozen surface several times. During one crossing, I slip and just manage to dig in my trekking pole into the snow to provide an anchor. It is 9 am when we reach the head of the waterfall, marked by prayer stones. We have climbed to about 3950 m.
Litham from the head of the fall |
Sheesh informs me that beyond this point, according to local custom, we cannot proceed wearing leather shoes. It is out of the question to walk on the ice without footwear. I am inclined to believe that Shish is making things up a bit. I am aware that local custom prohibits leather articles at Chandranahan, but it seems to me that we are still some distance
Chandranahan ? |
from the lakes. Anyhow, I decide to humor Sheesh and return; inwardly I am fuming. By 10 am, we are back at the shelter. Sheesh tells me stories of the misfortunes that have befallen people who have violated the 'no leather' code at Chandranahan including being pelted by massive hailstones and meeting with various accidents. The elder shepherd at the camp agrees with Sheesh and adds his own stories.
Litham - evening view |
I take leave of the elder shepherd - Prem is away with the flock - and we start on the return journey. After a while, I hear loud hailing from a height over the trail and see Prem running down the mountain slope towards us slithering and sliding away but without reducing his speed. We bid goodbye to each other promising to meet in Janglik that night. Prem then runs back uphill with boundless energy to return to his flock.
Dayara - another view |
The morning climb to Chandranahan has tired me. The broken shoe does not help and my pace - though we are loosing height - is poor. We reach Janglik towards evening - 6 pm , 7 hrs into the trek. I am exhausted and stretch out on the boundary wall of Sheesh Kumar's house. He has work to attend to before he can get down to making our dinner. He has a couple of small gardens with vegetables adjoining his house and these need to be watered.
Janglik - another view |
I get up at 5 and go for a 'morning walk' with Sheesh. Only one or two houses in the village have toilets - the rest use a patch of forest beyond the village. I leave Janglik at 6 and reach the bus stop at Tangnu by 7.10 after a vigorous walk. By 10.15, I am at Rohru, have lunch at a dhaba and catch the 12.30 bus to Rampur. That evening, after taking up a room at the Rampur bus stand, I attend to the most pressing task on hand - getting my shoe resoled!
Himalayan Trek 11, June 2014
Hi, I am planning to do this trek solo. Can you please guide me. Do you have ant contacts of Guide?????
ReplyDeleteYou will get guides in Janglik village. Just make a trip up to that village and ask around. I do not have any contacts.
DeleteHI. I wanted to ask how do you commute from Rohru to janglik? and are there local buses from shimla going towards rohru?
ReplyDeleteThere are state transport buses from Shimla to Rohru. They start from Lakadmandi bus stand. Local buses ply on route from Rohru to Janglik. When I visited the place, buses stopped at Tangnu, the village just before Janglik. Shared jeeps are available in the Bhattwari - Janglik section
DeleteIs it possible to crossover Buran pass? Best season to visit..
ReplyDeleteYes, descending Buran pass leads to Karcham. The pass opens up around second week of June when the shepherds start crossing. I have not been over the pass. You can check with Pure Himalayas (https://www.facebook.com/PureHimalayas/) ... they organize treks over the pass
Deletehi!!! how much did the guide charged per day? we are tight on budget.
ReplyDeleteRs 800 per day, that was 3 years back.
DeleteHey is it possible to trek up without a guide? Means is the way confusing! And what if we take our tent. Is it safe to camp? And what is the approximate budget with and without a guide.
ReplyDeleteYou can trek without a guide. Route till Litham is well defined. From Litham, you will have to make your way along a side stream to your left till Chandranahan. You will very likely meet shepherds on the way. Camping at Litham will be no problem. I paid the guide Rs 800 per day but that was three years back.
DeleteCan the route from Janglik to Buran ghati be done by mules ?
ReplyDeleteBuran Ghati cannot be crossed by mules
DeleteHi..can we trek to the lake in 1st week of May?
ReplyDeleteYou can trek to Litham thatch for sure. There may be a lot of snow on the way up to Chandranahan from there...
DeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteWe are planning to take this trek without a guide around the 27th of August. Is it safe to go without a guide? We're planning on renting tents but are on a tight budget and can fit either the tents or the guide
Hi Kannan...
ReplyDeleteI'm planning for this trek on the very 1st week of September. So will this be a good time to trek here, since its rainy season.